LTC#09 - Move Request to Another Team
How to discover what's behind a request to change teams? What risks to avoid? How to ensure project delivery is not impacted, and the team dynamics don't deteriorate?
Hi, this newsletter is a weekly challenge for engineers thinking about management.
I’m Péter Szász, writing about my engineering leadership experience on my blog, training aspiring and first-time Engineering Managers on this path. See more about what I might offer you at leadtime.tech.
In this newsletter, I pose a weekly EM challenge and leave it as a puzzle for you to think about before the next issue, where I share my thoughts on it.
Last Week's Challenge
Last week, we looked at a situation where a valuable team member expressed interest in moving to another team within the company. Read the details here if you missed it.
I'll frame my approach in four steps:
Goals: what I want to achieve in this situation
Risks: what I want to avoid and should be mindful of
Questions: what do I need to discover to make the right decisions
Goals to Achieve
Execution: I need to ensure that delivery impact is minimized, by potentially descoping or reprioritizing work. The critical project is at risk, and I need to understand what can realistically be delivered within the six-week timeline without Jasmine.
Team/Organization: I should look at the bigger picture for the company. If Jasmine's skills are better utilized in infrastructure, the organization would benefit from this move, even if my team temporarily suffers. Given that I've only been with the team for eight months, I need to pay extra attention to the changing team dynamics this could cause.
Personal: Support Jasmine's career growth in the bigger context of business realities. Career development is crucial for motivation and engagement, which is key to high performance and retention.
Risks to Avoid
Execution: The project could be delivered late or with poor quality if not handled properly. Stakeholders might be surprised by the change, damaging trust. I should never surprise a stakeholder.
Team/Organization: This move could trigger a mass migration if other team members also feel their career aspirations are better served elsewhere. Jasmine’s motivation to leave the team might be hiding issues I haven’t discovered (or caused myself!) in my short tenure, issues that won’t be solved if I only focus on her move.
Personal: If I block or delay Jasmine's team change without empathy and a strong narrative, I will lose her trust and risk disengaging her completely. She might start quiet quitting and look outside the company instead even if she looks OK with the decision on the surface.
5 Questions
What's the real motivation behind Jasmine's request? Is it purely about her interest in infrastructure, or are there other factors in our team that might be pushing her away? Understanding this helps me address both her request and any potential underlying issues in the team.
What options exist for descoping or reprioritizing the project? While working on the details of a potential transition, I need to prepare for losing Jasmine. I should talk with the Product Manager about what's truly essential for the six-week deadline. What's the minimal viable product we can ship that still delivers value? This is critical regardless of how we handle the career move.
Could we redistribute work instead of people? My strong belief is that high-performing teams shouldn't be disrupted without good reason. Could we incorporate more infrastructure work into our team's scope instead? What exactly does the infrastructure role entail, and could we take on some of those responsibilities while offloading other work? This would make us truly own the full vertical of our product while giving the infrastructure experience that Jasmine's craving.
Who on the team could potentially step up if Jasmine leaves? This is both a risk assessment and an opportunity identification. Is there someone who could grow into Jasmine's responsibilities, even if it creates a temporary gap elsewhere? This could be the silver lining of a development opportunity for someone else.
How determined is Jasmine, and what transition timeline might work? If this specific opportunity doesn't materialize, would she look outside the company immediately? Could we structure a gradual transition that allows her to start a new role while completing critical project components? Maybe satisfy her motivation to learn with specific infrastructure-related development goals and an assigned mentor within the company? Understanding her urgency and flexibility helps craft a workable solution.
Did I miss any important considerations? How would you handle this situation? Let me know in the comments!
This Week's Challenge
You’re a senior developer in a tech scaleup. On a skip-level 1:1 with the VP of Engineering, she confidentially shared that the Engineering Manager of your team will be leaving for another job. She offered you the opportunity to step into the EM role, mentioning she’s been impressed with your technical leadership and task management abilities. While you've done architectural work and have experience breaking down and coordinating tasks across the team, you've never had people management responsibilities before.
You're motivated by the opportunity but at the same time, worried this might be a career-impacting mistake. You don't want to fail the team, damage your reputation, lose hard technical skills, and shrink your future career options.
What do you do?
Think about what your goals would be and what risks you'd like to avoid in this situation. I'll share my thoughts next week. If you don't want to miss it, sign up here to receive those and similar weekly brain-teasers in the future.
Until then, here's a small piece of inspiration to match last week's challenge:
See you next week,
Péter