Managing change for technology teams

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Change in business drives innovation and growth

For technology team members, change inspires professional development Whether you are a leader

or an individual contributor, knowing how to effectively plan for and adapt with change based

on the needs of your team or organization can make your work more effective, successful, and rewarding.

How can you best leverage your strengths? Are you lean and agile or strong in numbers? Are you an X-Wing fighter or the USS Enterprise?

This guide explores actions available to all members

of a technology team working to successfully navigate change.

Managing Change

for Technology Teams

“THE X-WING FIGHTER VS USS ENTERPRISE”

HOW CAN YOU BEST LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS?

ARE YOU LEAN AND AGILE OR STRONG IN NUMBERS?

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LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

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THIS GUIDE EXPLORES HOW TECHNOLOGY TEAMS CAN SUCCESSFULLY

NAVIGATE CHANGE.

CONTENTS

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O1 : GETTING FOCUSED

Decision-Making

Change requires a decision

to act Often, conversations

take place but there is a

reluctance to commit to the

work discussed Perceived

risk or lack of consensus

may contribute to inaction

Ultimately, a decision needs

to be made

Trust Support

Planning

Change puts trust to the test For managers, rely on the strengths of your team, stake-holders, and other managers

to ease the pressure

Change is difficult when employees affected aren’t aware it’s coming Their value

to an organization becomes less clear For managers, supporting a team is a key responsibilty They also should support stakeholders, other managers, and clients

Change requires planning

Adjusting roles or switching directions without a plan breeds chaos A plan won’t outline everything It’s not the law It’s a guide As it unfolds, unknowns come into play

Have a plan, but don’t be chained to it

Getting Focused

4 KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Change is demanding When managing change for a technology team, it’s important to know where to focus

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O2 : SIZE DETERMINES STRATEGY LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

Size Determines Strategy

“THE X-WING FIGHTER VS USS ENTERPRISE”

How change is best handled depends on an organization’s size

Startups and small businesses, medium-size companies, and large enterprises all function differently.

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Startups and small businesses are affected by the same dynamics that characterize X-Wing fighters in Star Wars At the other end of the spectrum, large organizations embody characteristics of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek

In Star Wars, small and incredibly fast X-Wing fighters hold a single pilot

They can quickly maneuver in new directions to complete their missions

But they aren’t very powerful And due to their size, they are vulnerable

In Star Trek, the USS Enterprise is large and typically slow but powerful

When its hundreds of crewmembers work well together, the ship can travel

at amazing speeds It becomes a formidable opponent with equally powerful offensive and defensive capabilities

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The industry shifts and the solution needs adjusting, so the company pursues

“establishment change” to adjust its initial work and gain a market foothold

The change here is localized among a handful of employees who can individually

or through lightweight collaboration react, plan, and execute

O3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS

The Small Business GETTING ESTABLISHED

Let’s look at a hypothetical startup or small business building a mobile application for an emerging industry

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vp marketing

vp product develpment

quality engineer

office manager

developer

The Small Business

O3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS| PAGE 07

The CEO works directly with two vice

presidents to communicate and accomplish

change

The vice president of product development functions as product

manager, architect, and development manager, and can realign the solution from all three of those perspectives

—explaining the new strategy to the developer and quality engineer

For the developer, the directive originates

from a single person and is one level removed from the source of the change, the CEO In all likelihood, the message is clear and actionable

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O3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS

✓ Use small size to an

advan-tage Communicate and

collaborate to understand

the decision-making process

✓ Identify key factors affecting

a decision (Decisions are

usually made by the CEO

in an organization this size.)

✓ Clearly define goals

✓ Use defined goals to build your planning process Post the goals on a wall, and refer

to them often

✓ Build a technical roadmap with clear milestones Check each one to ensure it aligns with goals

✓ Build the need to correct course into your plan Your team is small, so you can navigate unknowns well, but only if you aren’t overwhelmed

✓ Support your colleagues universally Change at an organization this size is a big risk, and you need to help everyone

✓ Consider how you can embody change Is there something outward-facing you can adjust? Take advantage

of this time to do that, and share it with your team Make

a culture of change something that is embraced

✓ Trust your colleagues to use their expertise and amplify their commitment Remember, trust got you this far

✓ Trust the work that goes into making the change Since the organization is small, you are able to contribute greatly to the decision-making process

The Small Business

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O4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS

The Medium-Size Business

EVOLVING FOR NEW GROWTH

Let’s look at a hypothetical medium-size business of about

500 employees building a single successful product for

an existing user base

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cto cmo

ceo

cfo coo

vp product management experiencevp user vp productmarketing

vp engineering

developer

lead architect

user experience designers

product marketing manager

quality lead managersproduct developers engineersquality campaignmanager

O4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS| PAGE 10

A product manager who works indirectly

with a team to develop a product often

identifies opportunity The initial idea is

communicated along a short chain across

sections of the product development

group as needed If it is a larger project,

multiple product managers work on

com-ponents of the product and coordinate

with multiple engineering teams

The architect, developer leads, and quality leads must determine how

the change will impact all aspects of the work ahead and plan for adjustments

in development methodology and architecture User experience designers may

be required to implement the change

Developers, quality engineers, and architects are all dependent on the

product manager and the developer lead, who define and prioritize the scope of work and feature roadmap Employee roles are specialized and not

“doubled up” for any one person An individual developer focused on one feature or component of the whole product communicates and collaborates with fellow developers as needed

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O4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS

✓ Voice risks, and be open to

multiple options You aren’t

at a small company anymore

Agreement might not come

by consensus

✓ Build a case and communicate

it effectively to the technology

team, customer, and overall

business If a technology issue

drives the change, you may

own the decision

✓ Accommodate multiple teams

to build your plan Your plan isn’t limited to your immediate team Stakeholders will play

a key role

✓ Tap your infrastructure for help mapping out steps

You’ve already got a team,

so use it

✓ Develop an end-to-end plan, but take each step one

at a time

✓ Rely on your team, and lead

by example to help support team members

✓ Support managers as well

Understand their anxiety

Answer their questions

✓ Create a safe place where concerns are heard and addressed

✓ Tap the unique skills of employees

in specialized roles, and encourage them to work together

✓ Connect employees from disparate disciplines to encourage unique solutions Invite varying points of view

✓ Trust your stakeholders Give them the autonomy to do their jobs clearly and with ownership

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O5 : THE ENTERPRISE

The Enterprise SUSTAINING SUCCESS

Let’s look at a hypothetical large enterprise with employees

in the thousands, or even tens of thousands

The company built a successful product and expanded its portfolio to three business units of products, services, and technologies One product line nears the end of its life

The company needs to expand into a new area

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cto cio

ceo

coo

svp division

svp product

design

evp business unit

evp business unit vp

product

design

product designer

director

product

design

vp product group

product management

senior product manager

user experience

designer

product managers developerlead leadqa

engineering manager

director engineering

product marketing manager

campaign manager acquisitions marketing manager media marketing

vp engineering group

vp marketing

general counsel

architect developers engineersquality

The Enterprise

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Business opportunity research, analysis,

product design, marketing, and other

functions are highly specialized Product

managers typically focus on components

They collaborate to coordinate feature

roadmaps and prioritize across multiple

sets of needs

Impacts of change ripple widely It’s

a challenge to shift the focus of highly

skilled professionals to something new

They have deep institutional knowledge

of an existing product built on years of architecture and technical debt

Should the company transform the skills of its existing team, layoff staff and hire a new team, or pursue both strategies? Urgency, and the importance of the single revenue source, can impact this decision If a company has multiple lines of equally successful products, the process can be evolutionary If not, revolutionary change may be needed

The scope of communication required is huge Individual technology professionals must embrace an entirely new ecosystem

of software development, customer needs, and feature sets The change affects one business unit, but the interdependencies

of technology and infrastructure mandate

an epic plan that analyzes and accommo-dates impacts and communicates them to all stakeholders

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✓ Accept that decision-making is

usually opaque, and move on

For managers, questioning the

process takes time away from

being a leader for your team

✓ Ask questions Which components of current products do others rely on?

What dependencies will affect the roadmaps of other teams?

✓ Ensure you are not adding risk

by reducing the maintenance

of an existing product

✓ Consider all available options

✓ Accommodate training It is part of the work

✓ For managers, rely on Human Resources when transitioning employees out of the organi-zation For those leaving, write recommendations and provide references Be there for them, wherever they go

✓ Trust that your organization’s established lines of business will help provide revenue

The Enterprise

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Change is fundamental in business You, your technology team, and your entire organization can be prepared.

At a startup or small business, quickly and adeptly address a market with scalable and adaptive

technologies and platforms At a medium-size business, understand how to evolve through observation, data science, or analysis At the enterprise, encourage a culture of change and actively communicate across business units.

Whether your business is an X-Wing fighter or the USS Enterprise, your mission will be a success.

O6 : CONCLUSION LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS| PAGE 15

Conclusion

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LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS| 16

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Winnie is director of content for the lynda.com Technology library at LinkedIn, and has worked in the software industry in multiple roles for more than 15 years Through his work with companies like Lexus, Safeway, Hewlett-Packard, and Industrial Light

& Magic, he has been recognized multiple times for industry awards, including two Webby Award nominations.

Prior to LinkedIn and lynda.com, Doug worked for many years at Adobe as a principal product manager bridging the gap between the needs and requirements of designers and developers, which resulted in many projects and applications Currently, Doug lives

in San Francisco He is @sfdesigner on Twitter.

About the Author

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