After the last few weeks discussing our re-org, I've asked, "Am I being challenged enough? Are folks sharing enough constructive feedback and pushing back against my ideas as I approach a decision?"

Clear response that, yes, I've been more than sufficiently challenged: That's how we got to a place of strongly positive feedback!

Sort of an obvious feedback loop to build psychological safety and encourage candid feedback is to welcome all perspectives and specifically invite contrary ideas or what isn't working well, and follow through by showing gratitude and appreciation for that input (not just in the moment, also by openly calling out appreciation later on)

Month 15 managing a new team

And then there were 2: I published our new team composition plan, splitting my single (large) team into two medium-sized teams — with shockingly positive feedback!

Yet another first-time management experience that goes swimmingly well as though I've done this before

Might be worth writing about my approach, since I didn't find what I wanted to read on org design in a single place and instead knit together advice from several leaders and various mediocre resources

TLDR, roughly:
1. Define motivation, goals, priorities, and factors to consider. Use human input and feedback, but don't do org design based directly on existing current team members.
2. Break down existing charter(s) into domains & subdomains, and map to products, services, responsibilities, tooling, etc — and the expertise required for each.
3. Refactor those domains, combine & re-sort, set some aside to consider dropping or handing-off (don't worry yet about whether or where).
4. Then draw the rest of the owl: examine which domains naturally go well together, which puzzle pieces can be set off to the side more flexibly, and identify which islands of pieces have stronger or weaker dotted lines connecting them to other islands.
5. Write out a few options. Write out each domain & subdomain line-by-line and explain tradeoffs of where it does or doesn't fit. Or try a matrix of whatever dimension fits your brain. Consider what amount of structure makes sense for the function you're building, the wider organization expecations & culture you're part of, etc. Some places expect super well defined lines, definitions, boundaries. Some teams can operate with a more general charter and focus on how teams collaborate and abstract away individual responsibilities or reporting structures.
6. Go back to the goals, priorities, and factors. Which options might have clear missions & coherent charters that humans want to be part of and lead? Think long-term about how this evolves over multiple years, anticipating future needs and changes, and avoiding a future reorg.
7. Start fitting the humans back into the picture.

Month 14 managing a new team

Me, discussing SPOF & compensation: "I think a Single Point of Failure issue should come out of a manager's salary until it's fixed"

My manager: [violently agreeing facial expression]

Week 35 managing a new team

My own manager said that managerial support and team health were one of the main topics my team talked about with her

I asked if there were any particular aspects I should work on

She said my team is generally feeling great about the support that they're getting

Week 33 managing a new team

Every couple weeks it still feels incredulous that I would be responsible for this team of people and this function of the company

Rationally, I get it, it's sinking in. But emotionally? Still a regular wtf moment

Month 6 managing a new team

To onboard a new team member, I looked back at how I set up not only my first 1:1s but also how I introduced myself to our team

I was surprised at how good that approach was, so in a blog post I'll share the steps and reasoning that helped me

Week 18 managing a new team
#PeopleManagement