Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 212 posts

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#31

Post by LoSboccacc »

Never let time pass. Project timeline slips one day at a time. As a lead your role is not to control scope, but if you feel your team will not be able to deliver by deadlines you have to make a case for it and you’ll need:

- A simple summary: we need to deliver by x but current estimate point at y being the delivery date.

- An estimate of delivery for each features you have visibility and their dependencies (not task, features. This email will escalate at some point and you need it be management friendly)

- A backing analysis to defend your task time estimate. Maybe as an external link or attachment.

- A suggestion on a set of feature you feel could be cut or postponed after release to keep the project within deadline.

The fire alarm need to be sounded immediately as you see smoke. Start with your direct manager, but first build consensus between the team: you’ll be squeezing the manager toward the owner, and for him tje path of least resistance will be to put pressure on you and the team.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#32

Post by Double_a_92 »

patan2 wrote: post #18

Whatever you do, DO NOT ADD new team members to an already delayed project. It will delay it further. Break down the project into simpler tasks that can be assigned to a team member and be tracked. Attach strict responsibility of task to team member. And last and most important, talk to your Management about timelines. Make it very upfront that it will take X number of days and no lesser.

That's rather stressful for your team members though. Especially if the tasks are too much outside of everyones comfort zone. At best you will get hacky code that only properly works on first sight, just so they fullfil their task.

It's like telling you that you have 3 months to achieve world peace, otherwise all the wars are your fault.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#33

Post by expertentipp »

lawyer up, hit the gym

On a serious side though, perhaps release a beta version in the following days with the current state of the service/product? Maybe even give the customers a preview? That would be a cold shower and wakeup call for all stakeholders.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#34

Post by rejschaap »

jacquesm wrote: post #14

It sounds to me as if you're doing a 'big bang' when you should be doing something incremental instead. Great way to lose your people because at some point the only way to make the artificial deadline is to increase the pressure on the team building it to satisfy the manager. Those that can move out will do so, you will be left with the people that do not have much in terms of options to finish the job. This movie ha…

Incremental is key here, 'modernization' sounds like a large and blurry goal.

You need to get this under control as soon as possible, definitely don't "give it a couple of weeks and see if the team picks up pace". Start making lists, what has been done, what needs to be done, prioritize and start tracking that.

Don't create big tasks that are measured in percentages (frombulating the gizmobob is 42% done). Make small tasks that are either done or not done (0 or 1). Small tasks meaning measurable in hours, not days, let the people who will do the work make the estimates. Don't worry, this is not micromanaging, this is properly managing a project, and yes, it will take some of your time keeping track of all of this.

There is also the question whether should you be doing this or should the product owner be doing this? Obviously the PO is not doing this, and you have a leadership position, so I would not hesitate too much.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#35

Post by raverbashing »

> At what point should I start sounding the alarm?

Last week ideally. But now is fine.

> give it a couple of weeks and see if the team picks up pace

They won't if nothing changes.

What do you mean by "outside of their comfort zone"?

Is it a technology that people don't master yet? Do you have experts on that technology already on the team?

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#36

Post by Double_a_92 »

1) Tell the manager that "sold" it to the customers

2) Create a clear list of planned features with him (if you haven't already)

3) Priorize the features. I.e. find out the ones that where really promised to the customers (the manager knows). Usually it's just 1-2 key features that sell the product.

4) Focus just on those and code properly. Especially if you are doing a rewrite / modernization. What's the point of having a new product, that is hacked spaghetti code from the beginning?

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#37

Post by blahblahblogger »

jasonm23 wrote: post #16

Assess the product delivery in terms of risks. Look at what's on the roadmap and build a 2x2 matrix of the intended features. Get some post-its and write down each feature. Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.) Setup a meeting with your products owner and others to try and get a good deal of feedback and communication, reorganize the 2x2…

> Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.)

Not to sound like an idiot here or anything, but does that mean something like this: Risk | Complexity ---------------------------------- BiZ desirability | | ---------------------------------- Cus desirability | |

Can't an item be in many of these squares?

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#38

Post by tinco »

blahblahblogger wrote: post #37
jasonm23 wrote: post #16

Assess the product delivery in terms of risks. Look at what's on the roadmap and build a 2x2 matrix of the intended features. Get some post-its and write down each feature. Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.) Setup a meeting with your products owner and others to try and get a good deal of feedback and communication, reorganize the 2x2…

> Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.) Not to sound like an idiot here or anything, but does that mean something like this: Risk | Complexity ---------------------------------- BiZ desirability | | ---------------------------------- Cus desirability | | Can't an item be in many of these squares?

The X axis would go from low risk+complexity to high risk+complexity, and the y axis from low biz+cus desirability to high biz+cus desirability.

You are correct that the way you described wouldn't work.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#39

Post by arendtio »

boffinism wrote: post #19

> we're not going to make the release > At what point should I start sounding the alarm? Immediately. IMMEDIATELY

Well, ring the bell NOW so you still have time to act. Make sure you bring all the facts you have that make you think that you will miss the release. Ask your team what they think how much time it will take them, given that new evidence.

Then get everybody onboard (your direct manager first). Talk about the problems you have and how you can solve them. Make a plan that everybody believes in and set a new release date together.

In general, modernization projects are not about timing, but about high quality. So cost are the only variable here, making it important to know how much that project is worth for your organization. Is it just nice to have or critical for the development of the next years as it cleans up a lot of technical debt? Keep that in mind as the consideration of stopping a project is always on the table when it leaves its frame.

Re: Ask HN: As a team lead how to handle project going off the rails?

#40

Post by kd5bjo »

blahblahblogger wrote: post #37
jasonm23 wrote: post #16

Assess the product delivery in terms of risks. Look at what's on the roadmap and build a 2x2 matrix of the intended features. Get some post-its and write down each feature. Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.) Setup a meeting with your products owner and others to try and get a good deal of feedback and communication, reorganize the 2x2…

> Organized on the 2x2 with these axes X: "risk/complexity" Y:"desirability" (that's business & customer desirability.) Not to sound like an idiot here or anything, but does that mean something like this: Risk | Complexity ---------------------------------- BiZ desirability | | ---------------------------------- Cus desirability | | Can't an item be in many of these squares?

What's being described is an X-Y scatter plot:

         Necessary
             ^
             |
  Simple  Complex
             |
             V
        Nice to have
Post reply on HN