Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

Problem

My company hired an EVP of engineering who worked in the role above me for a while. When she started in her role, I had a team that was just beginning to grow. While I had some leads, I hadn't really built up my team yet, because the company wasn't that big. When the EVP came in, she didn't know the team well, so she decided to make some of the team members into directors, and decided to make one of my team members the Director of APIs.

Actions taken

In this role, he was expected to manage people and have teams underneath him. I told her that I didn't think this was a good idea - he worked remotely, had only ever worked as a contractor, and he was one of the best developers we had. He was very smart, and a very good debugger, but he'd never led a team before. As a contractor, he'd never really even worked on a team. However, I didn't fight her much on this point, as she didn't seem like someone you could fight.

"I didn't think this was a good idea - he worked remotely, had only ever worked as a contractor, and he was one of the best developers we had."

The result was a huge disaster. He was like a bull in a china shop – he was very intense, he had a big ego, and he thought he could push everyone around as he was now in charge. It took us a year before I finally said that it was enough. I saw the damage he'd done, and argued that he needed to be made into an individual contributor again. He was relieved, as he had been out of his element and he was getting a lot of pushback from others. I then put someone else in charge, who was able to lead more effectively.

Lessons learned

Sometimes you will face situations where you will be required to trust your gut and speak up. I didn't push hard enough, and I should have, as if I had, we would have been able to avoid the disruption that occurred.