Votre équipe est divisée sur une solution technique. Comment les fédérer vers un objectif commun ?

Equipes unidas e bem alinhadas buscam o consenso para se entregar as melhores soluções. Em caso de conflito de opiniões, o debate em alto nível, para se buscar o entendimento, deve ser mediado de maneira transparente e objetiva, preferencialmente por um especialista no assunto.

Creo que es importante que el equipo comprenda que si hay dos soluciones técnicas posibles, si estas son realmente diferentes, ambas han de tener pros y contras también diferenciados. El equipo de forma conjunta puede hacer una evaluación cuantitativa ( coste de inversión u operación, facilidad de implementación, tiempo de ejecución, etc) que ayude a compartir esos puntos de vista y hallar un consenso. Factor importante a tener en cuenta es cual es la expectativa de los clientes y del managment de la compañia. Con frecuencia los técnicos buscamos soluciones que "exceden" los requisitos que nos piden.

I would bring them all together to discuss openly and present their views and concerns so that all viewpoints are taken into consideration. I would find common ground and direct them toward consensus, focusing on a common objective. Furthermore, I would remind them of collaboration, solution alignment with the organizational objectives, and shared responsibility in decision making.

Open discussion is great for fostering innovative solutions however, without facts and data discussions tend to be less fruitful. So it is important to have everyone bring facts and/or data to the meeting so everyone has the same information and have agreement on the fundamentals. It is also important to ensure there is diversity among the attendees, particularly in terms of age and experience. Even bringing in a grey beard or an intern from a different department can provide perspective that otherwise may be missing. Finally, in discussions it is critical to make sure that the problem being addressed is in manageable components so time isn’t wasted “eating the elephant “.

What is important is for everyone to understand what is the common objective. Often, the discussion arises when no one wants to compromise and but everyone want their argument to win. It is therefore essential to have the bigger picture in mind and to come to an agreement through compromise or alternatives without putting at risk any technical or safety parameters of the project.

For teams to unite towards a common goal, the engineering leader needs to make them aware of the key criteria/perspectives e.g: 1. What is a pragmatic solution at the current stage of the company (Early stage/ growth stage / Mature stage)? 2. What human/non-human resources every option is going to consume? 3. What is the timeline with given resource constraints in each of the option? 4. What is the collective confidence score (say from 1 to 100) for each option? Now a scoring formula can take in to account all the above factors/variables and calculate a score for each option. The options with the top score are the ones which one should go ahead with.

It is quite common for individuals to have biases towards familiar solutions or new and exciting options. When dealing with a team that is divided on a technical solution, it is crucial to move past these biases and focus on the data. By clearly defining the problem and goals, gathering diverse perspectives, creating a feature matrix, using data-driven decision-making, fostering collaboration and consensus, and communicating clearly and frequently, you can not only unite your team around a single solution but also establish a clear rationale for your choice. This will help future team members understand why the solution was selected and make informed decisions in the future.

In most of the scenarios, best solution is the one where we have got previous experience gained by implementation or POC development. You can listen to all the solutions and selecting the one which suits your requirements and presenting before your team your “confirmation biased” approach.

Evaluating clear objectives is essential to ensure that they are effective, achievable, and aligned with your overall goals. - Ensure each objective is directly aligned with your broader strategic goals or mission. Ask whether achieving this objective will move you closer to your overall goals. - Evaluate how each objective contributes to the key priorities of your organization or personal aspirations.

Not only should you self-evaluate options, you should allow the team to evaluate and assess the ideas and form opinions. Once youve heard the options and the counterarguments you should carefully assess the merits of each approach.

Agree, have a clear purpose and need statement for the project. Have a clear work plan. Assemble your project development team with appropriate knowledge and experience to reach your goal and produce a quality project within allocated budget and time.

Defining Definite Goals - Specific : Clearly define what you want to achieve. Avoid vague statements; instead, specify the exact outcome you are aiming for. - Measurable: Ensure that your goal includes criteria for measuring progress. This could be a numerical target or a qualitative metric. - Achievable : Set goals that are realistic and attainable, given your current resources and constraints. While it’s good to aim high, overly ambitious goals can be demotivating. - Relevant : Ensure the goal aligns with your broader objectives and is relevant to your mission or purpose. It should contribute meaningfully to what you are trying to accomplish.

To unite a team divided by different technical proposals, it’s crucial to ensure that all options are aligned with the project’s objectives. If the goals are not clearly defined from the start, the solutions tend to diverge. That’s why it’s essential for everyone to understand and share a clear vision of what we aim to achieve. Once the objectives are well clarified, we can evaluate the proposals based on their ability to meet these criteria, making decision-making easier and ensuring that the team is working towards the same goal.

Goals should be reward-driven, yet challenging. What is your reward for solving this difficult problem? Is the goal realistic and attainable?

Every team and team member has a different goal. Thus, the project goal must be well defined and agreed by all the team members. Use FMEA to evaluate the different initiatives that will ensure that the final project goal can be met with minimal risk, even though this may not necessarily mean that it will meet every team member’s goals.

- encourage open discussions - active listening - seek expert opinion - look for best options - take care of the trends, future prospects and sustainable solutions - clear communication to the team

Unir uma equipe dividida realmente requer uma abordagem estruturada e intencional. Os passos apresentados, desde ouvir ativamente até implementar e refletir, são fundamentais para criar um ambiente colaborativo e focado em objetivos comuns. Destaco a importância de promover a colaboração, pois é através dela que conseguimos aproveitar as diferentes habilidades e perspectivas de cada membro da equipe. Além disso, definir metas claras proporciona direção e motivação para todos.

I've often found experts argue about a topic when they have differing opinions on some aspect, but typically agree on many things. I have also found that many times the disagreements are due to misunderstandings because of how people explain their opinions. By drilling down to fundamentals, a common understanding can be found. Then build upon what can be agreed. Explore the consequences of choices. Sometimes people need to see the consequences of the consequences in order to reevaluate the choices. Experience helps us see outcomes and consequences of consequences more quickly. Lead others through this step-by-step if they don't yet make these mental leaps for themselves.

Sometimes try to have organize some team event out of scope of the project, just a team building and relaxing event. It can help to put asides somes differences. Be careful to not select activities that incentive competition between team players or you will shot your foot.

One thing I have found helpful is asking open ended questions to foster team members participation in addressing a problem. Collaboration is of paramount importance.

The project manager, as the leader of the project team should have clear understanding of the project and set rules for achieving the project goals. He or she should use all resources in the tool box including project management plan, communication plan, resource management, conflict management, etc for successful project development.

Remember, the professional environment is not a democracy where who has more votes wins. Sometimes difficult decisions need to be made even if some important people will be feel unhappy. There are many things in the game, including liabilities, people safety, etc. If you were select to coordinate the team, it means you need to deal with the solitude of the final decision.

Hopefully the CTO has a fully developed technical education, including hands on - he would have guided the groups from the get go - so this situation would not arise.

That makes me think about how quiet leaders can manage vocal team members who often share their perspective without being willing to listen to others. Setting up discussions where each person talks in turn can help balance the conversation, but does it work? I’ve seen people refuse to talk in front of the team many times. Maybe one-on-one meetings can help vocal members understand the importance of hearing others' ideas and encourage quieter ones to share their thoughts.

Besides coming with an iron fist and making a decision to unblock this situation and see how things work there is one more thing that you can do. Provide additional context. When this is provided, usually the teams will eventually figure out themselves that one option is better than the rest so the decision is taken easily

Anything that we embark on, needs to have a clear goal, a KPI which is thoroughly understood and relevant for the project to show progress. Upon implementation the reflection will be to validate the KPI & the do's & the don't's in achieving it. In anything that we do, there's always something that we could have done better. Hence it's important that we spend time to validate the entire aspect of delivery as part of a continuous learning mindset.

The most important, once a decision is taken is to keep an open mind. Sometimes, once the process is going forward, it might appear that a different direction is required. But in that case, it is important to own the decision, recognize the change of position and explain it clearly to all involved parties (as long as this is exceptional).

Technical solutions should be backed by numbers and adhere to the frameworks your industry moves within. Rarely two solution that have the same levels of performance, compliance, reliability, and cognitive load or other KPIs you previously agreed on. As engineering manager, you should foster a decision-making process based these numbers. Encourage a transparent discussion, ensure everyone can express and bring contributions from outside the team, if necessary. If you, as a team, are still implementing the deciding process, it can be useful to set a medium term meeting to revise the solution and bolster/tune the process.

Always do consider if the decision is irreversible or reversible. Changing your mind is easy with reversible decisions. But reflection and fair decision making and continuous improvement are equally important

Program Management with technical teams is rare yet critical skill sets needed to enhance the team work culture across organization. All above sub skills mentioned play vital role in success of managing effectively deliverables associated with technical teams. Each of these skills needs to implement , discuss and assess periodically by leader to check its effectiveness. Ideally thorough evaluation of each of them will gain valuable output but that may be difficult in practical world. I felt the Topic of this article is an Issue which needs to be resolved using systematic approach which are specified as 6 sub skills to empower leader and collaborate the team in expected way.