How to be a team leader if you work with people from different food teams
I am the team leader of the operation team. And I work with five people from four different teams. I will tell you about the virtues and difficulties of working with a cross-team timlid.
In the classic view, a team leader is a manager. He is responsible for the work of the team entrusted to him, distributes tasks and, of course, writes a million reports. Timlid in Tutu.ru is not only a line manager, but also a mentor, coach, coach. The task team does not include direct control of children for all tasks performed. Timlid does not answer the question “What should an employee do?”, He answers the question “How to do it?”
The main tasks of the team:
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It all started with the fact that I was an ordinary software engineer. Every day we had to solve problems related to problems in the product, dig out complex cases, set up and improve monitoring.
At some point it became clear that I simply did not have enough hands. There were more tasks, and I had an assistant. We began to share the task of operation. While one was engaged in complex research tasks, the second assumed the flow of small tasks and issues that require frequent switching of attention.
With further growth in the number of employees, it became increasingly difficult to negotiate and share responsibilities.
At this point, I was offered to become the team leader of operation engineers in our Avia product. At this time, I also interacted with our contact center. I tried to convey information from one to another and solve their problems as much as possible.
Work on minor routine tasks diminished, but reading the reports, solving problems that prevented the unit from working, holding personal meetings were added. The sensations were strange - it was a bit scary and unusual.
The maintenance service grew. New developers came to the products who needed a hint or some kind of help. At the same time, the specifics of working in different products are different. At this point, from the Avia team I turned into a cross command. Here the most interesting thing began: if before that I knew and could answer all the questions on Avia, then now they started coming to me with problems in other products.
In Tutu.ru matrix management structure. There are product teams led by the owner of the product who perform tasks for the development and improvement of the product. Each product team contains experts of various functions: analysts, developers, testers, operation. At the same time, specialists have their own line department heads.
It is worth noting that, unlike the classical matrix, where employees gather for short-term projects, we have people distributed by product teams for a long time, rotation between products happens, but not often.
And, since the manager has many complex tasks that take up most of his time, he needs help in solving the problems of his subordinates and their development. It is in these questions that the timblid helps him. In product teams, testers, analysts and developers have their own team lead. But tmlidy in the development - it is, first of all, technical leaders who own their subject area. The Timlides in operation are leaders and coaches who must be able to interact with people from different teams, understanding the wishes and problems of each.
In the process of work, the guys have a lot of questions and various problems. What is the best way to write an incident report? What are our peculiarities of interaction with partner X? What book to read to better understand this or that process?
Questions related to my main product and the operation of the operations department are easy to answer. Difficulties arise when I begin to ask about the features of the work of another product, interaction with partners, or when the guys have problems in any processes of interaction with the development team.
The specifics of the operation of an operation employee very much depends on the product in which he works. For example, in Avia, this is an assistance to contact center operators in solving problems related to the exchange or return of tickets, and in Buses, the main difficulty is interaction with a large number of partners.
Other departments may have other problems and difficulties. And the team leader should always be able to help and answer any question.
The guys are asking for completely different questions.
There are simple:
And there are quite complex and interesting:
For example: “Sasha, can you tell us a little about AbTesting?” AbTesting is our service, which we use to collect data on A / B tests. As a rule, what I know is enough to answer the questions, but if more detailed knowledge is needed, then I, at least, know exactly who to turn to for them.
Communication helps us a lot. I try to be aware of all the key features of the products. The advantage of all this knowledge is that I can transfer to other teams "chips", experience and successful solutions tested in other products. I communicate with developers and product owners, I also maximize the use of coaching skills. Sometimes it is enough just to listen to the problem, ask a few clarifying questions, and the person himself finds the answer.
The most important thing is to understand: if a person came to you with a request or a question, it is not just that, he has a real “pain” and he really needs help.
For the team, I try to be available to the maximum. People can contact me at any time, besides, once a week I spend personal meetings with each of them.
They can discuss any personal issues, share feedback, draw up an action plan necessary for technical development, discuss which books to read.
Usually, in the process of work, the guys ask for help when “something went wrong”, and they cannot independently find a way out of the situation. I try to give not only the answer to the question that was addressed, but also charge with positive, cheerfulness and motivation for further work. In addition, the team leader brings to the team news and plans for the development of the entire department of operation. It is important that this also motivates employees to work more productively.
Cross-team tmlids make a great contribution to the development of the company. They improve the feedback system, accelerate solutions to problems, contribute to team cohesion and the development of communication between them.
As a result, no one is afraid to make their proposals for the development of products or share "chips" between different products Tutu.ru. This structure helps us to clearly understand our involvement in a big common cause and see how each work affects our entire service.
In the classic view, a team leader is a manager. He is responsible for the work of the team entrusted to him, distributes tasks and, of course, writes a million reports. Timlid in Tutu.ru is not only a line manager, but also a mentor, coach, coach. The task team does not include direct control of children for all tasks performed. Timlid does not answer the question “What should an employee do?”, He answers the question “How to do it?”
The main tasks of the team:
')
- assist in the development of all members of the product operations team;
- to be aware of the work of the participants of their group and their problems, to maintain constant contact with them;
- be able to find the answer to the questions: “What to read?”, “What to pump?” and “How to figure out ...?”;
- assist in personal and technical development.
How to become a crossskomand timlid
It all started with the fact that I was an ordinary software engineer. Every day we had to solve problems related to problems in the product, dig out complex cases, set up and improve monitoring.
At some point it became clear that I simply did not have enough hands. There were more tasks, and I had an assistant. We began to share the task of operation. While one was engaged in complex research tasks, the second assumed the flow of small tasks and issues that require frequent switching of attention.
With further growth in the number of employees, it became increasingly difficult to negotiate and share responsibilities.
At this point, I was offered to become the team leader of operation engineers in our Avia product. At this time, I also interacted with our contact center. I tried to convey information from one to another and solve their problems as much as possible.
Work on minor routine tasks diminished, but reading the reports, solving problems that prevented the unit from working, holding personal meetings were added. The sensations were strange - it was a bit scary and unusual.
The maintenance service grew. New developers came to the products who needed a hint or some kind of help. At the same time, the specifics of working in different products are different. At this point, from the Avia team I turned into a cross command. Here the most interesting thing began: if before that I knew and could answer all the questions on Avia, then now they started coming to me with problems in other products.
Team structure
In Tutu.ru matrix management structure. There are product teams led by the owner of the product who perform tasks for the development and improvement of the product. Each product team contains experts of various functions: analysts, developers, testers, operation. At the same time, specialists have their own line department heads.
It is worth noting that, unlike the classical matrix, where employees gather for short-term projects, we have people distributed by product teams for a long time, rotation between products happens, but not often.
And, since the manager has many complex tasks that take up most of his time, he needs help in solving the problems of his subordinates and their development. It is in these questions that the timblid helps him. In product teams, testers, analysts and developers have their own team lead. But tmlidy in the development - it is, first of all, technical leaders who own their subject area. The Timlides in operation are leaders and coaches who must be able to interact with people from different teams, understanding the wishes and problems of each.
The difficulty of working with a scattered team
In the process of work, the guys have a lot of questions and various problems. What is the best way to write an incident report? What are our peculiarities of interaction with partner X? What book to read to better understand this or that process?
Questions related to my main product and the operation of the operations department are easy to answer. Difficulties arise when I begin to ask about the features of the work of another product, interaction with partners, or when the guys have problems in any processes of interaction with the development team.
The specifics of the operation of an operation employee very much depends on the product in which he works. For example, in Avia, this is an assistance to contact center operators in solving problems related to the exchange or return of tickets, and in Buses, the main difficulty is interaction with a large number of partners.
Other departments may have other problems and difficulties. And the team leader should always be able to help and answer any question.
What problems come with
The guys are asking for completely different questions.
There are simple:
- help analyze partner logs;
- check the script for errors;
- correctly compose the text of the letter for a question or answer partner.
And there are quite complex and interesting:
- assist in the mapping of the product coverage by monitoring;
- draw up a list of logs and metrics needed to launch a new "feature";
- assist in the analysis of the failure in the combat environment and write a report on it.
For example: “Sasha, can you tell us a little about AbTesting?” AbTesting is our service, which we use to collect data on A / B tests. As a rule, what I know is enough to answer the questions, but if more detailed knowledge is needed, then I, at least, know exactly who to turn to for them.
How we solve problems
Communication helps us a lot. I try to be aware of all the key features of the products. The advantage of all this knowledge is that I can transfer to other teams "chips", experience and successful solutions tested in other products. I communicate with developers and product owners, I also maximize the use of coaching skills. Sometimes it is enough just to listen to the problem, ask a few clarifying questions, and the person himself finds the answer.
The most important thing is to understand: if a person came to you with a request or a question, it is not just that, he has a real “pain” and he really needs help.
For the team, I try to be available to the maximum. People can contact me at any time, besides, once a week I spend personal meetings with each of them.
They can discuss any personal issues, share feedback, draw up an action plan necessary for technical development, discuss which books to read.
What gives a team leader
Usually, in the process of work, the guys ask for help when “something went wrong”, and they cannot independently find a way out of the situation. I try to give not only the answer to the question that was addressed, but also charge with positive, cheerfulness and motivation for further work. In addition, the team leader brings to the team news and plans for the development of the entire department of operation. It is important that this also motivates employees to work more productively.
Cross-team tmlids make a great contribution to the development of the company. They improve the feedback system, accelerate solutions to problems, contribute to team cohesion and the development of communication between them.
As a result, no one is afraid to make their proposals for the development of products or share "chips" between different products Tutu.ru. This structure helps us to clearly understand our involvement in a big common cause and see how each work affects our entire service.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/344668/
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