Changing Priorities, Company Pivots, and Reorgs

In Part 4 of this book, you have learned how to increase resilience in engineering teams and how to manage scenarios where you must scale up your team. In addition to changes in size, teams experience organizational shifts, moving from one thing to the next. Shifting occurs at the micro level—tasks and projects—as well as at the macro level—product and company. To achieve continued success, engineering managers must guide their teams through these shifts.

This chapter introduces concepts and techniques to help teams shift from one thing to the next. We will start with a survey of prioritization methods and see how to select the right method. Then, we will look at how you can manage situations where priorities constantly change. Next, you will learn how you can protect and promote your teams during major organizational changes such as company pivots and team reorganizations (reorgs). By the end of this chapter,...