Sometimes, people just need permission to adjust their idea of good.
At Shopify, we’re remote-first; this means live and asynchronous demos of your work are incredibly important for two reasons:
- You share for others, not yourself, so they can understand, align with, or debate your work to improve it.
- You share for yourself, not others, so leaders see the value of your ideas and contributions.
But sharing demos doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Hitting record—or presenting live—can be intimidating. I saw many of my team hit this exact wall when I introduced twice weekly Office Hours for everyone to get together and share early or completed work.
The most common hesitation I heard? ‘I don’t know if my work is good enough.’ My reply: ‘You’ve seen my demos, right?
See, I come nearly every time with the smallest of demos. One week, I rambled about Mermaid diagrams. Another, I shared a simple Python script for GitHub data. Once, I just demoed Descript’s main features. I lower the bar so far, it removes the pressure to perform and helps everyone get in the practice needed for when the demo really matters.
Ultimately, I’m the warm-up act for the main event: my team of crafters showing off the incredible work they do every week. I’m redefining ‘good,’ lowering the perfection bar, and making space for every win—big or small.