Management Myth Two: Only experts can do this.

Original Johannarothman

You need to do something specific, such as designing a new database or a special user interface, or you need a release engineer, or a UI designer, or you want to test a part of the system, but the person who does the job is not--how many times have you encountered it in your project? How is your project affected? Is it just waiting for the expert to come back?

When the project waits for the expert to appear, many managers feel can still be able to whirl on kick. They can make the project wait, or they can ask the experts to multitask, or they could pull another expert on top. After all, in any project, you don't always need experts. Kick still works, doesn't it? Aren't any database administrators, senior testers, or publishing engineers all the same (and on-the-go), even if they don't know anything about the past and future of your project?

No, it's not all that! It is inappropriate to start the project before the person who needs it is not landed. It is not appropriate to make a person multitask. Also, people who don't know your project are not really experts in your project.

You can do it differently. That is, there are many ways to reduce the need for experts. You can get experts to work with other people, you can have no experts at all on your project, or project portfolio management to stagger projects that really require specialized skills, and you can hire more experts.

Don't let the experts work alone.

Sometimes, the skills needed for a project can be learned by other people on the team. For example, maybe only one person is proficient in building a system, but everyone in a project needs to know how to use that build system. In that case, I would let the person who is proficient in building the system work in pairs with everyone on the team until each team member is familiar with building the system like that expert.

Don't let the experts work alone! In this way, you can have professional skills spread across the team. Depending on the specific situation of your skills, you may need to convene a seminar first so that everyone has a basic understanding of the tool or technology. Sometimes it's really necessary for the release engineer to start a workshop, spend hours explaining the internals of the build system, and then have him paired with everyone one by one to make sure everyone knows how to use that system. In terms of database management, you can use the same pattern many times.

This approach is effective if the expertise is primarily a tool-use aspect, or a skill similar to the existing skills of other team members. But if you're in a situation where you need expertise in critical areas to solve the problem (when people have to go deep into the "heart" of the codebase), you'll have to do something else, like internal abandonment.

Abandon an irreplaceable expert

Some people seem to be irreplaceable. If they are doing other projects and you want to move "their code", your project must wait for them to be free.

That's ridiculous, don't fall into that position! Abandon them! Or, if they are participating in your project, ask them to do something else. No matter what method you take, you need to get them out of your project right away. If the expert is doing other projects, but as long as he remains in the company, you still have the opportunity to turn to him. Someday, the expert will retire and sail in the Caribbean, sipping a delicious rum at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and you'll never find him again. When do you want your team members to exercise their professional skills? I want the team to get started when the experts are still here.

The team has an unhealthy psychological dependence on the experts, and the experts are a reciprocal relationship with the team. I'm not a psychiatrist, and I don't want to be a psychiatrist on TV, but in the field of project management, it's bad! The whole team is comforting him for the expert's self-esteem. This also prevents other members of the team from knowing their products.

If you work in a large company, as a manager, you can arrange for the experts to be transferred to another project. If you are in a small company, you can ask the experts to do a special project. Make sure that the special project has enough results to deliver, so that the expert will be very busy and leave him out of the old project.

The team will learn how to make progress together. Once you've ruled out the experts, the team has the opportunity to become a real team because the team members now have a common goal.

Once experts are excluded, team members will unite to quickly discover what they do not know. They will share what they know. However, you must allow experts to spend a little time each week to support the team. At first it could be one hours, and then, when the team is cornered, it's time to get experts. To understand how the product works, you should encourage the team to experiment without always asking questions.

Stagger the projects that need experts

Maybe your expert has no self-esteem problems. Maybe you do have a few security experts and you need them to be completely focused on a project. Maybe you expect the A project to be completed now, then you can start the B project. But the a project hasn't been finished yet. Well, this problem is easy to solve. If Project A is more valuable than project B, do not start Project B. If Project B is more valuable than project A, stop A to do B. Yes, it's so simple!

But, you would say, we haven't released the A project yet. Well, if you're using agile development methods on a project, maybe you've saved up enough valuable stuff to publish. But it may not be. That's too bad! In essence, project portfolio management is a zero-sum game. Therefore, you need to choose the best solution for your entire organization. You really want to make the organization a success, don't you?

Portfolio management is a difficult discussion at the organizational level to avoid doing two projects at the same time, or to drag two of projects down.

A project and B project, which is more valuable? Which project will push the organization forward? How can you make a valuable announcement at the lowest possible cost? Here are some of the questions you need to ask.

If you haven't adopted an agile approach to project A, it's not too late to start. Finish the functions that are about to be finished, and then measure the importance of the remaining functions. We hope that you begin to work with the importance of the function in turn.

Hire more Experts

If you really want to drive A and B projects in sync, you have to hire more experts. Even so, it takes time to recruit people and motivate them to be productive. However, hiring more people is really effective.

Understand the root cause

One of the reasons why we have so many parallel tasks in our Organization is that many of our experts have very narrow knowledge. The more limited their professional skills, the less they can be used for projects. But when you need that kind of person, you really are right and wrong.

There are many legends about experts and only experts who can do specific work. There are certain jobs that only experts can do. The real question is: How much is this kind of work? I don't expect developers to become testers, and vice versa. I also don't expect UI designers to become security experts. But as a manager, I want everyone in the project to be fully aware of the project and even be proficient in the whole project. Most importantly, I expect the experts to work with others to facilitate knowledge sharing.

The more people who are able to use a more generic approach in product development, the more flexible your project is. So, when I say, "work is flowing through the team," you applaud and say, "Of course." How else can it be? ”

You don't have to rule out experts. What you have to do is reduce the need for them and improve the technical skills of everyone in the organization.

Management Myth Two: Only experts can do this.