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You're right. I've also often seen it where the disenfranchised people are the ones who wrote the original system we're replacing. And we need their help doing

by unoti 11y ago

You're right. I've also often seen it where the disenfranchised people are the ones who wrote the original system we're replacing. And we need their help doing extracts for data conversion, and possibly interfacing to special systems only they know about. Same situation-- it can feel like a demotion. It's important to take special care to get those people on board.

dllthomas 11y ago
Any tips for how?
- unoti 11y ago
  I suggest a few basic tips: 1. Make them feel like you like them. Show a real and genuine interest in and admiration for them and the work they have done, and look for opportunities to tell them how brilliant they and their work are. It's important to be genuine and not blow smoke up their ass too much; look for opportunities to be genuine about this. 2. Get them to say they are committed to the team, committed to the project, and will do everything they can to get it to succeed. Once someone says something, they tend to remain consistent with it. Getting them to publicly declare it somehow is good. Also getting them to declare publicly related things such as "I'm a team player" somehow can be very helpful and alter the course of their thinking. 3. Show how other people are pushing for the team, and build bonds between these people and their teammates. People will walk through fire for the love of their team. All if those ideas are elaborated on in the book "Influence", thee are 3 of the 8 or so major themes of that book.
  - jweather 11y ago
    What's the author's name? There are several books by that title.
    - Kalium 11y ago
      "How To Make Friends And Influence People". AKA Everything You Need To Know To Manipulate People.
    - unoti 11y ago
      It's Influence by Bob Cialdini. I've also read How to Win Friends and Influence people, and it's very weak in comparison. The Cialdini book is rigorously researched and backed by science.
- nethsix 11y ago
  There are 2 perspectives to be aware of: theirs & yours. You are replacing something they wrote. That in a way is saying what they wrote is obsolete. Ask yourself why are you and other new members are working on this project; for your own advancement or for the good of the company. If the reason is the former, there's going to be a big ego-clash. Look for win-win: * The original team wrote the system and have learned valuable lessons from it over time. Ask them if they could write it now using current tools, how would they improve. Sell them the vision that the success of the project depends on their knowledge, and they can learn new tools, language, patterns, from the new members. * The newer members can bring new ideas (backend, UI, etc). Sell them the vision that the success of the project depends on the new skill set that they bring. Since you cannot change the original team composition, balance it by choosing the new team carefully, e.g., choose people who are goal-driven, and result-oriented; they care more about getting things done then throwing their weight around.

by unoti 11y ago

dllthomas 11y ago

Any tips for how?

unoti 11y ago
I suggest a few basic tips: 1. Make them feel like you like them. Show a real and genuine interest in and admiration for them and the work they have done, and look for opportunities to tell them how brilliant they and their work are. It's important to be genuine and not blow smoke up their ass too much; look for opportunities to be genuine about this. 2. Get them to say they are committed to the team, committed to the project, and will do everything they can to get it to succeed. Once someone says something, they tend to remain consistent with it. Getting them to publicly declare it somehow is good. Also getting them to declare publicly related things such as "I'm a team player" somehow can be very helpful and alter the course of their thinking. 3. Show how other people are pushing for the team, and build bonds between these people and their teammates. People will walk through fire for the love of their team. All if those ideas are elaborated on in the book "Influence", thee are 3 of the 8 or so major themes of that book.
- jweather 11y ago
  What's the author's name? There are several books by that title.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    "How To Make Friends And Influence People". AKA Everything You Need To Know To Manipulate People.
  - unoti 11y ago
    It's Influence by Bob Cialdini. I've also read How to Win Friends and Influence people, and it's very weak in comparison. The Cialdini book is rigorously researched and backed by science.
nethsix 11y ago
There are 2 perspectives to be aware of: theirs & yours. You are replacing something they wrote. That in a way is saying what they wrote is obsolete. Ask yourself why are you and other new members are working on this project; for your own advancement or for the good of the company. If the reason is the former, there's going to be a big ego-clash. Look for win-win: * The original team wrote the system and have learned valuable lessons from it over time. Ask them if they could write it now using current tools, how would they improve. Sell them the vision that the success of the project depends on their knowledge, and they can learn new tools, language, patterns, from the new members. * The newer members can bring new ideas (backend, UI, etc). Sell them the vision that the success of the project depends on the new skill set that they bring. Since you cannot change the original team composition, balance it by choosing the new team carefully, e.g., choose people who are goal-driven, and result-oriented; they care more about getting things done then throwing their weight around.