Re:Ask HN: Advice for a new manager whose team is fire fight...
by karmakaze on Saturday October 05, 2019 @05:08PM
(#21167968)
In addition to the other good comments, manage firefighting as it's own activity.
Create a time tracker where anyone doing unplanned work records it as either firefighting or other unplanned non-firefighting work. Whenever doing planning take the history of these times into account.
Assign one person to be the go-to for any and all fires, have them assess the situation bringing in select other team members as necessary. Having everyone respond to every fire with only a few key people actually doing the extinguishing leads to no scheduled work getting done.
Tech-debt. In my experience a lot of fires result from the tech debt of incomplete or poorly designed/implemented features. Schedule a certain number of hours to reduce this and have a groomed backlog of tech debt prioritized when prioritizing regular schedule work.
Create a time tracker where anyone doing unplanned work records it as either firefighting or other unplanned non-firefighting work. Whenever doing planning take the history of these times into account.
Assign one person to be the go-to for any and all fires, have them assess the situation bringing in select other team members as necessary. Having everyone respond to every fire with only a few key people actually doing the extinguishing leads to no scheduled work getting done.
Tech-debt. In my experience a lot of fires result from the tech debt of incomplete or poorly designed/implemented features. Schedule a certain number of hours to reduce this and have a groomed backlog of tech debt prioritized when prioritizing regular schedule work.