Part 3 - Today fixed to build tomorrow
With the positive scenarios all the deviations and spatial challenges were coming to the surface. An environment that delivers with data points and fulfils the structure brings with growth, new demands. With demand we had power struggle. The lines in the priority were all getting knocked off significantly quickly and we started facing issues with external engagement and we were finding buried issues that were mistakes of the past coming to the surface.
When you start baselining expectations, people see the value in bringing sanity and semblance to the structure. The recognition, that a fault was found, was more of a relief than a shock. We did hit a couple of pretty big ones. Coverage was provided and team went about fixing the damage with diligence. This was a bank and mistakes can often cause financial losses which are hard. We agreed with the leadership that if the losses were recovered and minimized, we would caution the team instead of action. However, to ensure the messaging was strong, the folks were all asked to remain invested till the last cent was recovered. Which was a long, 8 week process in one case. What came out was a lesson, the team themselves started writing negative scenarios of testing and asking for recommendations to avoid issues. This became another win. ?
In another case, I once overheard a Developer make a comment in the discussion forums, “I had a chat with my friends who work at Bank A, and we spoke about the culture. He was surprised to know that we were shipping new changes every week. And the operations was involved in every change. At Bank A, they had waited for 4 weeks to get approval to deploy a release and even after that it was delayed and Technology Team was blamed”. He went on for a few minutes explaining how he had shared examples and finally how he was also involved in the hiring process. The intrigue of the interview process drew his friend and how this became more and more attractive for the people who were also listening. Resulting in him having 6 CV’s of his friends, recommendations to HR followed. I inquired, would he recommend his friend, His response was cautionary, he would like the team to assess his friend as a candidate and not a friend. I was impressed at the clarity and direction the Developer had, he did cite the need to maintain the transparency and candid approach, sustaining it was his preference and thus he wanted the right people in the team not friends.
Another area we started facing challenges was technology. The capacities were always planned for certain limits. And near those limits we needed to start looking at the future and start strategizing for the next phase of growth. We were predicting an accelerated growth as we were predicting 100% increase with the planned releases in 6 months. We had to have short term and long term actions. The business cases for people and technology capacity were run in parallel. Both needed some serious investment. This brought in the usual power struggle, the pot was limited and everyone had to dig in. The dedication and commitment required to thrust the team to next phase required persistence. The leaders did persist.
We saw 3 facets that were unique
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We celebrated successes and we had beer when we had failure. You cannot do it just with conversation, the fatigue and failures can cause deliberations and negativity. Often leaders take on the weight of negativity and remove the weight from the shoulders of the team, giving them relief. This has other impacts which can be managed by mature leaders.
The strategy was clear. Everyone was invested, the design of process was working. All we needed was a pivot. And we did get one.
We enhanced the capability of certain restricted accounts. And it just accelerated the usage. We grew by 25% in a week. All calculations and strategies went into overdrive. Excitement was high and Expectations higher. Targets were being revised and confidence was growing.
Everyone wanted to know what next!?!