2. 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
3. THIS GUIDE EXPLORES
HOW TECHNOLOGY TEAMS
CAN SUCCESSFULLY
NAVIGATE CHANGE.
Getting Focused p.04
Size Determines Strategy p.05
The Small Business p.06
The Medium-Size Business p.09
The Enterprise p.12
Conclusion p.15
CONTENTS
01
03
02
04
05
06
4. O1 : GETTING FOCUSED
Decision-Making
Change 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.
TrustSupportPlanning
Change 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 Focused
4 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
5. 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
6. 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 Business
GETTING 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
7. ceo
vp marketingvp product
develpment
quality
engineer
office
manager
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.
8. | 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
9. | PAGE 09LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO4 : THE MEDIUM-SIZE BUSINESS
The Medium-Size Business
EVOLVING 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
10. cto cmo
ceo
cfo coo
vp product
management
vp user
experience
vp product
marketing
vp engineering
developer
lead
architect
user
experience
designers
product
marketing
manager
quality
lead
product
managers
developers
quality
engineers
campaign
manager
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.
11. | 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
12. | PAGE 12LYNDA.COM | MANAGING CHANGE FOR TECHNOLOGY TEAMSO5 : THE ENTERPRISE
The Enterprise
SUSTAINING SUCCESS
Let’s look at a hypothetical large enterprise with employees
in the thousands, or even tens of thousands.
05
The 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.
13. cto cio
ceo
coocfo coo cro cmo
svp
division
svp
product
design
evp
business
unit
evp
business
unit
evp
business
unit
vp
product
design
product
designer
director
product
design
vp
product
group
product
management
senior
product
manager
user
experience
designer
product
managers
developer
lead
qa
lead
engineering
manager
director
engineering
product
marketing
manager
campaign
manager
acquisitions
marketing
manager
media
marketing
vp
engineering
group
vp
marketing
general
counsel
architect
developers
quality
engineers
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.
14. | 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
15. 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
Conclusion
06
16. 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
