Change in business drives innovation and growth. For technology team members, change inspires professional development. Whether you are a leader or an individual contributor, knowing how to effectively plan for and adapt with change based on the needs of your team or organization can make your work more effective, successful, and rewarding.

How can you best leverage your strengths? Are you lean and agile or strong in numbers? Are you an X-Wing fighter or the USS Enterprise?

This guide explores actions available to all members of a technology team working to successfully navigate change.

Managing Change for Technology Teams“THE X-WING FIGHTER VS. USS ENTERPRISE”

HOW CAN YOU BEST LEVERAGE

YOUR STRENGTHS?

ARE YOU LEAN AND AGILE OR

STRONG IN NUMBERS?

| PAGE 02LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

THIS GUIDE EXPLORES

HOW TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

CAN SUCCESSFULLY

NAVIGATE CHANGE.

Getting Focused p.04

Size Determines Strategy p.05

The Small Business p.0 6

The Medium-Size Business p.09

The Enterprise p.12

Conclusion p.15

CONTENTS

0 1

03

02

04

05

06

O1 : GETTING FOCUSED

Decision-MakingChange requires a decision

to act. Often, conversations

take place but there is a

reluctance to commit to the

work discussed. Perceived

risk or lack of consensus

may contribute to inaction.

Ultimately, a decision needs

to be made.

TrustSupportPlanningChange puts trust to the test. For managers, rely on the strengths of your team, stake-holders, and other managers to ease the pressure.

Change is difficult when employees affected aren’t aware it’s coming. Their value to an organization becomes less clear. For managers, supporting a team is a key responsibilty. They also should support stakeholders, other managers, and clients.

Change requires planning. Adjusting roles or switching directions without a plan breeds chaos. A plan won’t outline everything. It’s not the law. It’s a guide. As it unfolds, unknowns come into play. Have a plan, but don’t be chained to it.

Getting Focused4 KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Change is demanding. When managing change for a technology team, it’s important to know where to focus.

01

| PAGE 04LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

O2 : SIZE DETERMINES STRATEGY LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

Size Determines Strategy“THE X-WING FIGHTER VS. USS ENTERPRISE”

How change is best handled depends on an organization’s size. Startups and small businesses, medium-size companies, and large enterprises all function differently.

| PAGE 05

Startups and small businesses are affected by the same dynamics that characterize X-Wing fighters in Star Wars. At the other end of the spectrum, large organizations embody characteristics of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek.

In Star Wars, small and incredibly fast X-Wing fighters hold a single pilot. They can quickly maneuver in new directions to complete their missions. But they aren’t very powerful. And due to their size, they are vulnerable.

In Star Trek, the USS Enterprise is large and typically slow but powerful. When its hundreds of crewmembers work well together, the ship can travel at amazing speeds. It becomes a formidable opponent with equally powerful offensive and defensive capabilities.

02

The industry shifts and the solution needs adjusting, so the company pursues “establishment change” to adjust its initial work and gain a market foothold. The change here is localized among a handful of employees who can individually or through lightweight collaboration react, plan, and execute.

O3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS

The Small BusinessGETTING ESTABLISHED

Let’s look at a hypothetical startup or small business building a mobile application for an emerging industry.

03

| PAGE 06LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

ceo

vp marketingvp productdevelpment

qualityengineer

officemanager

developer

The Small Business

O3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS | PAGE 07LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

The CEO works directly with two vice presidents to communicate and accomplish change.

The vice president of product development functions as product manager, architect, and development manager, and can realign the solution from all three of those perspectives —explaining the new strategy to the developer and quality engineer.

For the developer, the directive originates from a single person and is one level removed from the source of the change, the CEO. In all likelihood, the message is clear and actionable.

| PAGE 08LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO3 : THE SMALL BUSINESS

✓ Use small size to an advan-tage. Communicate and collaborate to understand the decision-making process.

✓ Identify key factors affecting a decision. (Decisions are usually made by the CEO

in an organization this size.)

✓ Clearly define goals.

✓ Use defined goals to build your planning process. Post the goals on a wall, and refer

to them often.

✓ Build a technical roadmap with clear milestones. Check each one to ensure it aligns

with goals.

✓ Build the need to correct course into your plan. Your team is small, so you can navigate unknowns well, but

only if you aren’t overwhelmed.

✓ Support your colleagues universally. Change at an organization this size is a big risk, and you need to help everyone.

✓ Consider how you can embody change. Is there something outward-facing you can adjust? Take advantage of this time to do that, and share it with your team. Make a culture of change something that is embraced.

✓ Trust your colleagues to use their expertise and amplify their commitment. Remember, trust got you this far.

✓ Trust the work that goes into making the change. Since the organization is small, you are able to contribute greatly to the decision-making process.

Decision-Making Planning Support Trust

The Small Business

| PAGE 09LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS

The Medium-Size BusinessEVOLVING FOR NEW GROWTH

Let’s look at a hypothetical medium-size business of about 500 employees building a single successful product for an existing user base.

04

cto cmo

ceo

cfo coo

vp productmanagement

vp userexperience

vp productmarketing

vp engineering

developerlead

architectuser

experiencedesigners

productmarketingmanager

qualitylead

productmanagers

developers qualityengineers

campaignmanager

O4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS | PAGE 10LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

The Medium-Size Business

A product manager who works indirectly with a team to develop a product often identifies opportunity. The initial idea is communicated along a short chain across sections of the product development group as needed. If it is a larger project, multiple product managers work on com-ponents of the product and coordinate with multiple engineering teams.

The architect, developer leads, and quality leads must determine how the change will impact all aspects of the work ahead and plan for adjustments in development methodology and arch- itecture. User experience designers may be required to implement the change.

Developers, quality engineers, and architects are all dependent on the product manager and the developer lead, who define and prioritize the scope of work and feature roadmap. Employee roles are specialized and not “doubled up” for any one person. An individual developer focused on one feature or component of the whole product communicates and collaborates with fellow developers as needed.

| PAGE 11LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS

✓ Voice risks, and be open to multiple options. You aren’t at a small company anymore. Agreement might not come by consensus.

✓ Build a case and communicate it effectively to the technology team, customer, and overall business. If a technology issue drives the change, you may own the decision.

✓ Accommodate multiple teams to build your plan. Your plan isn’t limited to your immediate team. Stakeholders will play a key role.

✓ Tap your infrastructure for help mapping out steps. You’ve already got a team, so use it.

✓ Develop an end-to-end plan, but take each step one at a time.

✓ Rely on your team, and lead by example to help support team members.

✓ Support managers as well. Understand their anxiety. Answer their questions.

✓ Create a safe place where concerns are heard and addressed.

✓ Tap the unique skills of employees in specialized roles, and encourage them to work together.

✓ Connect employees from disparate disciplines to encourage unique solutions. Invite varying points of view.

✓ Trust your stakeholders. Give them the autonomy to do their jobs clearly and with ownership.

Decision-Making Planning Support Trust

The Medium-Size Business

| PAGE 12LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO5 : THE ENTERPRISE

The EnterpriseSUSTAINING SUCCESS

Let’s look at a hypothetical large enterprise with employees in the thousands, or even tens of thousands.

05The company built a successful product and expanded its portfolio to three business units of products, services, and technologies. One product line nears the end of its life. The company needs to expand into a new area.

cto cio

ceo

coocfo coo cro cmo

svpdivision

svpproduct design

evpbusiness

unit

evpbusiness

unit

evpbusiness

unit

vpproduct design

productdesigner

directorproduct design

vpproduct

group

productmanagement

seniorproductmanager

userexperience

designer

productmanagers

developerlead

qalead

engineeringmanager

directorengineering

productmarketingmanager

campaignmanager

acquisitionsmarketingmanager

mediamarketing

vpengineering

group

vpmarketing

generalcounsel

architect

developers qualityengineers

The Enterprise

| PAGE 13LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO5 : THE ENTERPRISE

Business opportunity research, analysis, product design, marketing, and other functions are highly specialized. Product managers typically focus on components. They collaborate to coordinate feature roadmaps and prioritize across multiple sets of needs.

Impacts of change ripple widely. It’s a challenge to shift the focus of highly skilled professionals to something new. They have deep institutional knowledge

of an existing product built on years of architecture and technical debt.

Should the company transform the skills of its existing team, layoff staff and hire a new team, or pursue both strategies? Urgency, and the importance of the single revenue source, can impact this decision. If a company has multiple lines of equally successful products, the process can be evolutionary. If not, revolutionary change may be needed.

The scope of communication required is huge. Individual technology professionals must embrace an entirely new ecosystem of software development, customer needs, and feature sets. The change affects one business unit, but the interdependencies of technology and infrastructure mandate an epic plan that analyzes and accommo-dates impacts and communicates them to all stakeholders.

| PAGE 14LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO5 : THE ENTERPRISE

✓ Accept that decision-making is usually opaque, and move on. For managers, questioning the process takes time away from being a leader for your team.

✓ Ask questions. Which components of current products do others rely on? What dependencies will affect the roadmaps of other teams?

✓ Ensure you are not adding risk by reducing the maintenance of an existing product.

✓ Consider all available options.

✓ Accommodate training. It is part of the work.

✓ For managers, rely on Human Resources when transitioning employees out of the organi-zation. For those leaving, write recommendations and provide references. Be there for them, wherever they go.

✓ Trust that your organization’s established lines of business will help provide revenue.

Decision-Making Planning Support Trust

The Enterprise

Change is fundamental in business. You, your technology team, and your entire organization can be prepared.

At a startup or small business, quickly and adeptly address a market with scalable and adaptive technologies and platforms. At a medium-size business, understand how to evolve through observation, data science, or analysis. At the enterprise, encourage a culture of change and actively communicate across business units.

Whether your business is an X-Wing fighter or the USS Enterprise, your mission will be a success.

O6 : CONCLUSION | PAGE 15LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS

Conclusion06

LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMS | 16ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Winnie is director of content for the lynda.com Technology library at LinkedIn, and has worked in the software industry in multiple roles for more than 15 years. Through his work with companies like Lexus, Safeway, Hewlett-Packard, and Industrial Light & Magic, he has been recognized multiple times for industry awards, including two Webby Award nominations.

Prior to LinkedIn and lynda.com, Doug worked for many years at Adobe as a principal product manager bridging the gap between the needs and requirements of designers and developers, which resulted in many projects and applications. Currently, Doug lives in San Francisco. He is @sfdesigner on Twitter.

About the Author

About lynda.com

WEBSITE:

www.lynda.com/enterprise EMAIL:

enterprisesolutions@lynda.com REQUEST A DEMO:

www.lynda.com/request-demo

A leader in online learning, lynda.com helps anyone in any organization learn software, creative, and business skills to achieve personal, academic, or professional goals. With a lynda.com subscription, users get unlimited access to a vast online library of high-quality, current, and engaging video tutorials. Users of any skill level have the ability to watch bite-size segments for immediate problem solving or take comprehensive courses from start to finish—at work, school, home, or on the go. New courses and topics are added every week at no extra cost. We carefully select the world’s top subject-matter experts. They are passionate, and they know how to teach.

© 2015 lynda.com. All rights reserved. The lynda.com logo is a registered trademark of lynda.com. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.ABOUT LYNDA.COM