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I have been brought in many times as a senior person to right a troubled ship. I can't think of a case where its turned out well...I'm hardly perfect - but its
by convolvatron 4y ago
I have been brought in many times as a senior person to right a troubled ship. I can't think of a case where its turned out well...I'm hardly perfect - but its very easy for the existing team to decide you're a weird pain in the ass, and very difficult to 'reach down' in a friendly and constructive way and slowly tease them into acting like a functional team.
- Ensorceled 4y agoSimilar experience. Often the entrenched interests have no idea how bad things are and will fight you every step of the way. I’ve had a couple of successes but in each of those cases the team was really hurting and glommed onto me like a life preserver.
- mattgreenrocks 4y agoThese situations always strike me as very difficult, as righting a team that is already on the rocks is much, much harder than steering it away from big problems. Sometimes I wonder if the real purpose of being brought in to those situations is to give management cover for ending the project.
- rootusrootus 4y agoI agree. I am brought in somewhat regularly to "unfuck" troubled teams. Most times, what my manager is actually wanting is for me to tell him why the project should just be abandoned and the team rebuilt for something else. When it goes well, everyone loves me. Especially the team. Because they've been saying all along what's going off the rails but nobody listens any more. But I can say it, and for a while at least everyone hears it.