When I applied to Unity, I had two interviews with Joachim Ante (who is very good at getting things done, by the way) for a position on his team. I specifically recall him saying that he was looking for someone that could “get shit done.” This was never something that I identified with, at all, but I was hired anyway and after a few months it was clear that I could indeed “get shit done.” My problem with “getting shit done” is that there is an implication that the outcome is, well, shit. It’s also not a very specific ask! Of course I understand that it’s not meant to be taken literally, and by now I also have an idea of what “getting shit done” means. So here are some alternative thoughts of what I think contributes to “getting shit done”:

  • Be able to catch a ball and run with it. I can toss a problem to you, and you run with it, take it to completion. When I come to you with a problem, you don’t tell me that you are not responsible or that it is beyond your skillset (within reason, of course): you are curious enough to at least try it, learn something new, maybe even share what you have learned. And if you fail, you figure out who can help you or who should take over.
  • Align on values, not schedules. Getting things done requires autonomy, the ability to understand what is important, and what the right decision or direction is. It’s vital to talk to people around you to understand the culture and values and make contacts, and it’s just as vital to look at the product to understand its principles and value proposition and get relevant context.
  • See things, report things, fix things. When you see something that is obviously broken or just a low hanging fruit improvement, you do not ignore it. You are pro-active. You take a stab at fixing it. If it is too far away from your sphere of influence or there is too much on your plate already, you report it so someone else can do it soon. The vast majority of things that are obviously broken are relatively easy to improve. They do not require a product manager to make decision or a producer to file a Jira. They require a tiny amount of work and not just doing them as soon as possible is creating more work for everyone else (and the problem is still there).

To be clear, I do not think that “getting shit done” is the only value to look out for, and there also positions where that is absolutely not what you are looking for. But hopefully the above gives an indication what is meant, at least.