How to navigate being a junior member of development team that is not doing good work and/or is a bad team Presentation for Coder Academy mentor session 10th Sept 2020

1. Working effectively in a bad
team
How to navigate being a junior member of development
team that is not doing good work and/or is a bad team

2. What makes me qualified to speak on this?
In my career I have seen plenty of teams. They’ve ranged from
excellent to outright toxic.
I’ve been in leadership and team member roles.
My opinion is based on my experience, your mileage may vary.

3. What makes a bad team?
To paraphrase a US judge: I can’t tell you exactly what a bad
team is but I know one when I see one. You will too.
Continually ask others in your network how their teams
operate and how they are enjoying working in them.
If in doubt ask: Do I want to go to work tomorrow?

4. It happens to nearly everyone
It’s not your fault. Nearly everyone hits a bad team.
A bad team can significantly derail your career if not
navigated effectively.
Try to learn about the root causes of the disfunction you
see, that’ll make it easier to spot next time.

5. Why are you STILL working in a bad team!?
You don’t always get to choose the perfect team or
organisation to work with or when to leave them.
Being able to work with a difficult team is a quality your
next employers will appreciate
Bad teams sometimes get better, so maybe you’ll get lucky

6. Tip 1: Nail stand-up each day
Lead by example, be: Positive, Succinct, Attentive.
Practice your stand-up each time. It’s one of the few times
you’ll have everyone’s attention.
Ask questions about other people’s stand-ups, people in bad
teams often think no one cares about their work.

7. Tip 2: Do great documentation
Good documentation shows you take things seriously.
Bad teams don’t usually do documentation well or at all. It
most likely is a sore point with management and newer team
members. You have a chance to impress and connect with the
people who are (most likely) trying to improve the team.

8. Tip 3: Keep asking questions
Good teams welcome questions. Bad teams discourage them.
Keep asking lots of questions. Don’t get discouraged if
they’re ignored. People will be watching.
It’s not the person repeatedly asking for more information
that is going to look like the problem.

9. Tip 4: Legacy is hard. And thankless
Legacy issues can breed bad teams. Understand the issues
before judging. Be kind. In 10 years you could be in their
position wondering why the junior dev doesn’t get it.
No one cares what Google did for their databases unless
you’re building a search engine. There's probably a bunch of
reasons ranging from reasonable to stupid you have the legacy
problems you do.

10. Tip 5: Have a thick skin, but call out bad behaviour
Don’t take anything too seriously. Bad teams are not nice
places to be and can make people who are not d***s act like
d***s
But…
Call out bad behaviour. It’s a low risk chance to practice
standing up to bad actors because you’re ultimately not
staying. You don’t often get chances to stand up for better
behaviour. Don’t let them slip by, you’ll regret it later.

11. Tip 6: Show you can learn from a mistake
You’re new. You will make lots of mistakes. Bad teams have
little to no patience.
Call out how you’ve learned from your mistakes. Loudly.
Bad teams shift the blame all the time. Don’t get caught out
being blamed as the reason the team missed a release date.

12. Tip 7: Take your time testing
As per Tip 6 you know you’ll make more mistakes than the
existing team members. Catch as many of those mistakes in
testing as possible.
Bad teams often skip testing. It really annoys their managers
and people who work with them. Often it annoys team members
who are not as vocal. It’s your chance to show you take the
quality of the work seriously.

13. Tip 8: Practice writing well
So much of a team’s communication is written; Slack, Email,
Documentation, JIRA, MS Teams etc.. If you write well then
you significantly decrease the amount of time team members
have to spend asking you follow up questions.
Become the easiest person to work with. Bad teams are filled
with people who are difficult to work with. You stand out by
being easy to work with.

14. Tip 9: Start looking for work straight away
Life is too short to work in a bad team. Leave as soon as you
can. Be honest why you are looking to leave: It’s a poor
culture and not somewhere you can develop your skills. People
get it; many have worked in bad teams.
Do not personally defame your colleagues. Don't let them off
the hook either. Bad teams sustain when people are too nice
to call them out on their behaviour or warn others.

15. Thanks for listening, find me on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsaul7/