This week in the pm-clinic discussion forum: Topic #39 – How to reorganize a team. Here’s the details of what we’re talking about:

Our VP recently redefined the direction of our division. As a result my 23 person development team needs new goals and new sub-teams organized around them.

So my task this week is to (drumroll) reorganize. I’ve done this before but I’ve never read anyone’s advice on doing it well. Specifically I need to break the VP’s directive (e.g. “We are focused on the server market”) direction down into smaller goals and then figure out how best to apply my 23 people to those goals without them throwing me out the window or setting my car on fire .

– What’s the best way to develop new team goals?
– How many feature teams (sub-teams) should I have?
– How should I apply my 23 person team towards those goals?
– How involved in this decision should each programmer/tester/etc. be?
– Do i optimize for the organization or what people want to work on, or want to learn?
– How worried should I be about preparing for the next direction change?
– What’s the best way to approach this in terms of my decision making process?

– Signed, Captain reorg’s dilemma