Performance Metrics

Process Improvement

When transitioning to a new company or leading a new team, it is important to consider alternatives and question whether the current process is the right one. There are a number of ways to improve processes, such as taking a pulse check on meetings and evolving processes as the company evolves. It is important to be transparent and communicate that process changes may not be perfect, but they will hopefully bring improvements. Improving processes is essential for a company to successfully scale and save time and money.

How To Deal With Unhealthy Team Dynamics

This article discusses the importance of healthy team dynamics and how to achieve it. A workshop was convened to discuss each person's KPIs, and each team member was asked to reflect on the team's role and contribution to the business. Through this process, the team was able to reach a consensus on KPIs, which was an important reference point. The article also highlights the importance of these workshops, as well as the challenges of organizing them regularly.

A new framework for organizational change

When the engineering team at a company grew from 7 to 18 people, the head of engineering realized that the structure was no longer scalable. To address this, they introduced two engineering leads to act as team leaders and developers, and organized teams based on competencies. This new structure allowed the leaders to act as mentors and for team members to switch teams without switching leaders, but it also made it harder for the leaders to see what their reports were doing.

Staying Afloat During Rapid Growth and Transformation

A new team of five people was struggling to keep up with the demands of a fast-growing startup. To address this, the team identified areas of responsibility, brainstormed solutions, prioritized tasks, and created space for two people to work on long-term projects. Through this process, they learned the importance of quick wins, taking action, and balancing research and development.

Preparing an Existing Internal Product for an External, Commercial Launch in the Future

As a product manager, the challenge was to balance the direction of the product between the specific use internally and making it sufficiently broad so that it could solve similar problems for external customers in the future. To overcome this, the product manager looked at similar products in the industry, spoke with customers, and built a tactical roadmap for each quarterly release while establishing a three year vision for the product. This allowed the development teams and architects to see what they were working on in terms of immediate use, as well as where the product would be ending in the long term. This external product was later put into use with General Electric and other outside companies.

Team Building Activities for Remote Teams

In response to the lack of informal interpersonal communication due to Covid-19, a team leader took action to replicate the rapport and camaraderie of team lunches and happy hours through virtual team building activities. These activities included Zoom happy hours with themes and games, a Halloween-themed virtual happy hour, and Wednesday non-meeting days. Additionally, pair programming was used to build connections and enhance collaboration. It was found that people are quickly adapting to the new reality and that trust is built through work and informal human interaction, both of which are hard to replicate virtually.