When changing less bring more value?
When do we prefer to change one thing at a time?
Team performance is a holistic measure of how well a group of individuals collaborates and delivers results in pursuit of shared goals.
In a development team, constant factors hinder performance. Often, we can’t see or measure these factors, and we might not even know they exist. Typically, we use retrospective meetings to surface these issues. These meetings might take up to two hours and follow a 5-step standard process.
However, do we really need such a long, rigid process to uncover factors that hinder productivity? Is the team utilizing this time efficiently? Are we improving performance afterward? Most of the time, the answer to all these questions is no.
I would like to show you alternative and easier ways to improve the team, but let’s first understand if your team will benefit from this approach.
Do you know what you don’t know?
Let’s imagine you are the owner of an expensive restaurant. Your employees are organized by different tasks. Each employee needs to repeat similar routines daily. You have waiters bringing dishes to the tables, a receptionist organizing the capacity of the restaurant, cooks, etc.
Not only are their tasks repetitive, but each role also has a clear way to measure performance. Overall, your restaurant's performance will also have a way to measure how well it’s doing through the number of customers, revenue, time to serve food, etc. You can measure it regularly and figure out where the weak points are that affect the results. Once you know, you can take action on them, and your metrics will return to desired values.
Of course, there will be hidden factors that are harder to observe, but this is an example of a system that is very simple and predictable compared to development teams.
In a development team, it feels more like you have a team trying to solve a very big puzzle. Imagine one of those 2000-piece puzzles, those that you throw on the table and it creates a mountain.
It seems impossible to know where to start. Some pieces seem to have similar colors, but do they belong together? How much space will it need once it’s done? Should I first organize the pieces into groups? Should we split the work between people or work together in the same areas? How do we make sure we are productive and don’t lose time? Are we working at an optimal rhythm, or could we do better with a different strategy?
In this complex scenario, a metaphor for a development team, we face increasing uncertainty, communication challenges, and risks of misalignment, just to mention a few issues. Here is the reality: you will only know what worked best in retrospect.
Don’t get overwhelmed, focus on one thing.
What is the one thing all puzzles have in common? The one thing that you know certainly without any doubts? Your puzzle will have four corners. So just start there. Take one step that drives you in the right direction. Then go for the borders, easier to find and they frame your puzzle.
Make sure you take one small step in the right direction, even if there is still a pile of unresolved issues in your team. If you try to fix multiple things at the same time, you will find yourself mixing pieces of the puzzle and creating more overhead than is needed.
Some of you may already map my metaphor to common practices in your team: create small spikes when refining big topics, choose just one of the very few actionable points in your retrospective, etc. But in my experience, many teams still try to change too much and are not able to measure if the performance is improving.
If you find yourself in this situation, you will benefit from a short iterative approach. I propose to change very little, or just one thing at a time.
Conclusion:
Managing a development team is like solving a complex puzzle. Instead of tackling multiple challenges at once, a focused, iterative approach—starting with just one manageable issue—can lead to more effective problem-solving. This strategy reduces overwhelm and enhances productivity by achieving quick wins. Adopt this simpler method to make consistent, measurable improvements in your team's performance.