The Right People in the Right Places

Photo by Neil D Taylor

Large organizations often have large software development departments, and too often, large software teams. UX people are shared on project teams to keep design consistent across projects, so multiple UX people are needed on a single team to do the actual work.  Many developers are needed to write the code faster because of the size and complexity of the project and/or the skill levels of the developers.  Additional QA are added to do all of the testing.  Team size gets bloated quickly.  Why do we let this happen when wisdom and experience tell us that smaller teams are more effective?

Part of the problem stems from trying to optimize productivity of people rather than throughput of projects.  Build cross-functional teams that are right-sized (i.e. two pizza teams), and let the team members hold each other accountable for contributing.  Cross-functional is more than putting UX, developers, and QA people on the same team: do the team members have the skills needed to develop the product?  Domain knowledge and technical skills need to be reflected on the team, but especially for organizations that are undergoing an agile transformation, someone (or multiple someones) needs to be the agile mentor/evangelist.  A team with strong technical skills will flounder without someone familiar with the domain to help guide them; a team with strong domain knowledge will struggle without the right amount of technical skills.  And teams that are supposed to be adopting agile will encounter issues without someone to keep them from falling back into old habits.

Help your teams help themselves--put the right people in the right places.

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard helps overwhelmed technical leaders debug their management approach. She teaches them how to manage up, support people through change, and make time for strategic work. Her education in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University helps her connect technical work with people management. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Allison focuses on improving product delivery and leadership culture. Her experience includes work in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries. Allison regularly speaks at global conferences like Scrum Gatherings and Agile Alliance's Agile20xx. She promotes women's leadership as the program director for Women in Agile's Mentorship program. When she's not working, Allison likes to drink lattes and listen to Broadway musicals. Allison is a proud glasses wearer and co-owner of Middlegame Partners.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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