The second season of The Bear starts with the crew dismantling the shithole old joint (aka The Beef) and partaking in an impromptu budget/WBS meeting to conclude they need money and a project manager if they want to transform the sandwich shop into a new fancy restaurant (aka The Bear).
So now these folks have everything most projects have: an aggressive timeline, a tight budget (and a very difficult stakeholder that comes with it), a bunch of milestones, a shit ton of dependencies, a huge list of stuff that can potentially go wrong (aka risks), and a myriad of different personalities -plus their messed up backpacks- trying to work together. Do me a favor and reread this paragraph while listening to this song. Boom! Let’s go!
Note: same rules as in Part 1 apply to this text: yes, there will be some spoilers for season 2, and yes, The Bear is still very non-vegan. You have been warned.
Ok, so through this second season, we see our favorite bear people deal with schedules, dependencies, blockers, budgets, and whatnot. Still, the real focus this time lies in what they deliver to the customer and how they present it. In a nutshell, season 2 focuses on the product. Product people: ASSEMBLE!
The overwhelmingly good product
A lot of shitty products are delivered on time and within budget. Immaculate delivery (from a project management perspective) means nothing if the product is crap. In The Bear, the restaurant must comply with the law and open on time without draining Uncle Jimmy’s bank account. But most importantly, the food needs to be exquisite and the service spotless. And just like that, the show becomes an ode to the current culinary scene. Yeah, yeah, I am going to focus on the product management part of it, but if you are also interested in the food stuff, you may want to read this.
Ok, so what can we learn from the product approach in The Bear?
- When Sydney and Carmen are putting together the menu, they start small. They experiment. They try. They fail. They try again. And again. Then once more. When there’s something that works, they move from there and iterate. Sounds familiar? Yup, looks pretty Agile to me.
- They explore. They go and see what others are doing to learn and find inspiration. I love how Chicago’s fantastic architecture gets reflected in Sydney’s dishes and how Marcus spends his Copenhagen free time sampling pastries. In product management, it is super important to know your domain, to become an expert in your product and its environment. Your managers won’t always send you to Copenhagen to learn, but it’ll still be a fun job :-)
- They listen to their customers, then give them what they want or even something they didn’t know they wanted. We see this in my favorite episode of the season, the one I call Richie’s Adventures with Olivia Coleman (let’s bow before her), where we learn how extra posh restaurants research and listen to their guests to offer the most outstanding experience. They read the room, interpret facial expressions and verbal quizzes, ask questions (but not too many), remember names, and go above and beyond to make someone’s day by blowing their minds. If this is not amazing product work, throw a copy of Inspired at me as if it was a fork during Christmas dinner.
It is not casual that Sydney, Marcus, and Riche are the main catalysts for change this season, so I want to go deeper into how they have grown. Ready? Ok, let it rip!
The learning that never stops
Sydney
I find it incredibly touching that Sydney spends the season putting together the most amazing menu AND trying to learn how to be a leader. I wish Carmen had his shit together to be a partner Sydney could trust. Will we see him finally grow in a possible season 3? Who knows, but let’s go back to Sydney now.
The book she reads through the season is a real one: Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life. It emphasizes the importance of leading with passion, empathy, and integrity. I haven’t read it, but merging passion, empathy, and integrity looks like a pretty good approach to me.
The way Sydney acknowledges past mistakes and her humble but relentless willingness to learn made my week, and I love her. Be Sydney, my friends.
Marcus
Marcus’ Copenhagen episode is sweet AF. Remember that this guy started making Big Macs and is now creating the most amazing desserts. When Marcus asks his mentor, How did you get good at this? He replies in two parts, both of them golden:
- Part 1: He says: Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes.
- Part 2: He explains how he thought he was the best until he worked with a guy who was better than he would ever be and decided to stay by his side and learn from him.
So, adding personal interpretation: we should never stop learning. We are going to keep making mistakes. We need to learn from them and make better ones. We will never be the best. We need to keep learning.
Richie
Richie starts the season incredibly lost, frustrated, and without purpose. I guess one of the few things Carmen does right this season is to see the potential in him and send him to stage for a week at Olivia Coleman’s (let’s bow before her) super posh restaurant. Riche learns how vital hospitality is and becomes the best product person The Bear could ever have. Dang, he actually becomes a better person in general!
Like Syndey, we also see Richie reading a book: Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect.
The book emphasizes the value of going above and beyond, surprising and delighting guests, and creating unforgettable experiences. Yeah, this one goes directly to my list of books to read. I am also going to rewatch his episode again to replenish my soul. BRB!
Bonus track: the trust that needs to be earned
When Sydney goes around Chicago on her tasting-and-learning tour, she meets with a real culinary celebrity, Donnie Madia. He tells her: Make sure you have a great partner. Someone you can trust.
And the problem is that Sydney’s partner is not reliable. I won’t dwell on why, how, and whatnot because this is not a psychology newsletter. I’ll say two things:
- Trustworthiness and reliability are essential in the PM world (and everywhere, honestly).
- The most steady way to be trustworthy and reliable is to do what you say you will do—the exact opposite of what Carmen does.
Please don’t be Carmen.
Just one more thing before I shut up (for now): Carmen is the only one who seems incapable of enjoying or having fun with his work. That may be why he suffers so much.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe in that BS folks mean when they say find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Ugh.
As much as we love our jobs, they are often tiring, frustrating, and even disappointing. But jobs have to be fulfilling as well. If the balance between fulfillment and frustration is off, you may want to talk with a career coach, a therapist, or both. My personal experience is that it helps.
I hope there’s a season 3 and Carmen finally learns something.
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