While briefing a client:
– We have around 30 people in IT. We want to divide them into teams…
– Why?
– To improve manageability and speed up delivery… We’ll have team leads, and there will be less chaos. We want to free up the Product Owner and CTO from micro-managing tasks and people…
– So, to improve manageability, you want to create additional level of hierarchy? By the way, why do you think that would necessarily increase delivery speed?
We encounter such situations regularly. A crucial part of our work is setting realistic expectations. In this case dividing a department of 30 people into 3-4 teams won’t make anyone write code or test faster. It’s a good idea to free up managers from micro-management.
But here’s a question: What invaluable tasks will they be able to accomplish once freed?
And here’s another question: Can we achieve anything from this right now without creating teams?
In this situation, as in most similar ones, we’re dealing with the “illusion of slow delivery.” Most likely, people are already working under significant stress, pushing the limits of speed. And no team formation will expedite delivery. The main problem lies in the fact that truly important and valuable work is being blocked by a multitude of tasks with questionable value. If valuable tasks get lost in the stream of routine, and people lose focus, replacing one large task-laden structure with several equally overloaded small teams will only worsen the situation.
In such cases, slow evolutionary changes can prove much more effective than a revolutionary transformation of the structure. Collaborative teamwork is undeniably a highly efficient tool, but it requires thoughtful application.