Does your team have a sense of urgency?

Does your staff drive action items or do they let them happen? Do you have to check on action items you have assigned or does your staff update you on a regular basis? Do projects slip because your staff waited to follow up on action items?

I get astounded all the time by people who do not follow up on critical action items in a timely fashion. Some people do not have a sense of priority. Some people do not have a sense of how much time they will lose if they just let events play out. Some people just to not have the drive to follow through quickly.

You and your teams can easily slip products days or weeks or months without a sense of urgency.

Recently I was involved in a project that was coming to the end of an integration cycle. I was getting status on a Friday morning. I was told that one bug may have an unbounded solution. The manager went on to say that he thought he would get people together that afternoon to discuss it. I said no that we would meet in 10 minutes. If we had not met, then we would have lost at least one half week. By meeting immediately, developers had time to research solutions before the weekend and begin the work. These kind of issues occur everyday.

Here are things I know to do to help this issue:

• Hire people with a sense of urgency
• Set expectations about action items
• Spend time communicating to your group about urgency
• Hold people accountable for being late
• Developing a team with a sense of urgency will, many times, make the difference between success and failure.

More later ...

Is your team working hard enough?

Do you dictate fixed working hours? How do you compare work ethics? What can you do if you are behind?

Every company I have ever been in has worried that the development teams were not working hard enough.

The first thing you must do is decide what kind of work ethic you want in your team or company. Do not think this will happen by magic. Actually sit down and discuss it. Write it down.

Next you need to communicate it to your team. If you have a team in place, expect some fallout. Face it honestly "I know up until now we have had a different set of rules, but now we need to set down some new rules. I understand if this is not what you signed up for and we will help you transition if it is not right for you ..." Having disgruntled employees is worse than replacing some. Obviously job markets, critical company timing and other factor must be taken into account.

You need to be clear to anyone you interview about what the team's rules are.

I have known some companies to dictate 12 hour days, 6-7 day working weeks or fixed hours. There are lots of great examples of successful companies that have aggressive rules and demands. I am not saying one is right or wrong. The important thing is that you make it clear what you want from your employees.

Personally, I like to build teams for the long run. I want to set goals that are aggressive but accomplishable. I want my teams to only work the 60+ hour weeks 2-4 times a year for periods of no longer than a month at a time.

I find that the average age in the industry is a little higher than when I started out and I find that more people have families. I want employees to have balance. I want them fresh the next time I need them for a crisis. I want them to have enough outside interests so that if the company is having issues, the company is not the only thing of importance in their worlds.

When I run an organization, it is schedule driven. For me, the important thing is that we accomplish our tasks in an aggressive and predictable fashion. I care more about function than form. I expect employees to develop their own schedules. From there it is a means test. If a developer is running behind I expect them to work harder. During integration times I expect them to work harder. It is good for employees to know when they can go home at the end of the week. See My blog entries on schedules and what "Done" means.

My final words here are about accountability. Make sure your employees understand how they will be held accountable. Make sure consequences are in fact applied.

By being clear you can get the team you want.

More later ...