Reader Mailbag: Architect having a hard time letting go
A reader writes in with a challenging situation on a new team and an architect who is having trouble getting out of the weeds.
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Dear Jean,
I recently moved to a new team at work, our young AI platform team, as a high-level IC leader. While I really enjoy the people on the team, it's a mess. There are some tentpole technical issues, like code structure, lack of CI/CD, and process for data migrations (two backwards incompatible changes in the four weeks I've been there) that really need effort to mature.
There's also a people thing, as the architect for the team displays a good amount of NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome. He has had to be in the weeds for a long time tackling this difficult domain, and I fear he's burning out. I also know that if we keep doing what we're doing, we won’t get to where we need to be. A few ideas my colleagues and I have center around some very load-bearing ideas, and he should take the time to plot them out. But there are others we feel like we can't make progress against because he feels he needs to give input on anything substantial.
I was brought in to to bring some SWE process maturity to the group, but it goes deeper than that. It feels circular, that if I could get some wins with some of our technical issues, I'd build the capital to help take the load off my architect and let him do what he does best. But that's difficult because he feels so invested in each and every thing. Any advice about how to proceed would be wonderful, thanks in advance.
Scott
Hi Scott!
It can be hard to make technical improvements when a long-tenured architect is holding on so tightly to any and all changes! You mention both technical challenges and people challenges, but it sounds like the bottleneck is really working successfully with the architect, so I’ll focus on that aspect.
As a newcomer to the team, you have a really special opportunity to build some positive relationship credit upfront. All too often, people wait until there is conflict to talk about how to work together better.
Understanding the architect
When someone is behaving unreasonably, I like to remind myself that almost everyone thinks that what they are doing is reasonable and is the right thing to do. So really get curious about why it is he’s holding on so tightly. Some possibilities:
He doesn’t trust the team and feels like he has to be involved in everything
He likes feeling relevant and needed and being the go-to person for so many aspects of the system
He’s just burnt out and overwhelmed with how to hand off things, so just sort of juggling everything to stay afloat.
It would be super helpful to figure out what is at the root of his behavior, which will give you an in to help him hand some things off in a way that feels good to him as well.
1:1 prompts
If you haven’t already, invite the architect to regular 1:1s (or at least one to start!).
Here are some prompts for how to get things started:
Since we’re just starting to work together, I’d love to spend some time understanding what’s important to you in how we work together.
What does a successful working relationship look like to you?
As we figure out how to work together, what parts of your role do you enjoy? What do you wish you could do less of?
What do you want to get out of your time on this team / at this company? This can open up a conversation about what he wants to do next, which is always helpful to know.
It seems like you’re holding everything up yourself. What can I help with?
As much as feels authentic, build up some positive sentiment by noticing where he’s doing a lot of good work. Acknowledge his efforts and point out his strengths.
Positioning yourself as the new person on the team who thinks well of him and wants to work together to improve things, rather than new person who thinks he’s doing a bad job and is here to threaten his job, will go a long way!
Since you’ve been assigned to the team to improve process, if you haven’t already, you might consider adding a weekly or bi-weekly team retro. That can surface frustrations and wins, which you can then bring up in a subsequent 1:1.
Inviting him into the conversation
I didn’t catch any sense of your feeling like the architect was doing things that are foolish, just that he’s overloaded and it’s hard to move forward quickly. I do think it’s worthwhile to invest some time upfront on building up a positive relationship, as that can substantially smooth the way for the work.
From the 1:1s and retros, you’ll start to have more information about what motivates his behavior. Understanding what he wants gives you an opportunity to frame any feedback less as a criticism or slap on the wrist, and more like a way for him to get what he wants. For anything I can imagine he wants to grow towards, getting him out of minute details will free him up to move in that direction.
Invite him to work with you on how to streamline the team’s work.
What do you think would help the team move faster, without sacrificing quality?
You could also directly addressing his holding on tightly. If he’s shared any reasoning in previous conversations, use what you’ve learned to suggest ideas.
I particularly like the framing you mentioned of taking the load off so he can do what he does best. From your observation, if he is good at his job, just overwhelmed and over-loaded, that’s a straightforward way to talk to him directly about it. That might look like:
I notice that you’re spending a lot of time <whatever you think he should be doing less of>, and I know that you are also feeling time-constrained in having enough space to do more strategy work. What do you think need to step away from the details?
He may need some gentle coaching to find ways to delegate.
I’m not sure what your relationship is like with the architect, and if it feels like some peer coaching would be appropriate or would feel odd. A casual way to suggest tactics is by referencing your own experience: “On a previous team, I felt really unsure about whether or not I could hand off a project after an initial conversation. I found that having a weekly check-in was helpful so I was in the loop but not overly involved. What’s worked for you in the past?”
Start with small wins
Whether you’re taking on projects and getting his input, or working with him to help him hand things off to other team members, consider starting small and ratcheting up project size. This may be frustrating at first but keeps the risk of successful delegation low as he gets used to it.
He may also not be sure about you, so making sure you work together well for the first few smaller projects also builds trust as the next projects increase in scope.
Feel free to write back with what was helpful and any updates!
Best,
Jean
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