CRISIS!! This word is a nightmare for almost every person working in the IT Sector. We encounter crisis situation many times in our career. This is the time when the true skills and the true natures of people get highlighted. After all, everyone behaves well at the coffee table.
In my experience , I have seen many such situations and I would like to share with you my point of view for Managers and the Team. Here both have to play their role. Lets see the points one by one for each of them.
If you are a Manager or a Team Lead , below points will help you in managing a Crisis
1. Don’t Panic, Keep Calm
This is the first thing which you need to take care of when there is a crisis situation, that is not to panic. You are the captain of the ship and if you panic, the situation might go haywire. It is very hard to keep calm in such situations, but being the leader, you have to stay calm and understand that such situations happen and it’s not a war. The more calm you remain the more it will help you to fetch ideas for overcoming the situation. Many psychological experts say that when we panic, we are less probable of taking the right decisions.
2. Communicate with the Concerned People
It is important to communicate regarding the crisis to all the concerned people so that they are aware about it. It is also important to keep them updated frequently. Even if the solution is yet to be found , it is good to keep them informed about the progress of the situation. After all, they also have someone to whom they report to. Many people have a tendency of not providing the updates until the solution is found , but usually Clients prefer frequent updates even if it is for a very little progress. It gives an assurance to them that the situation is being tackled and the work is being done.
3. Focus on Finding Solution
It is important to conduct discussion involving all your team mates to share ideas for overcoming the situation. Here instead of finding why this situation arose and whose mistake it was , it is better to focus on solutions and implementing them to overcoming the current crisis. Sometimes the least experienced person gives the best possible idea. So, it is important to first listen to everyone about their say on the situation and then to give the next instructions to each of them.
4. Avoid Blaming
Where there is Light , there is a shadow. Where there is crisis, there is blaming. It is that common. But this is what you should avoid in a crisis. It is important that your team mates should not feel demotivated. After all, they are the ones who are going to help you in overcoming the crisis. Drive their focus on the potential solution and not on the Job Switch. I have seen many people who started looking for a job change during crisis as they felt devalued and demotivated. Some of them resigned right away and then started their search. So, this is a critical point which managers need to take care of. Don’t make permanent damage because of the temporary situations.
5. Involve yourself in the action
Be a leader, not a boss, they say. It is important to lead the team out of the crisis. During a crisis in IT Sector, usually the developers and testers are the ones who are working on fixing the situation. But during this time , a manager can ask them if he can do something to help them, like delegating some work to him which will allow the developers and testers to focus more on the solution. This will not only save the time of the teammates and fasten the process of finding the solution, but also the team mates will feel your involvement in the process and this will keep them motivated.
6. Do a retrospective after the crisis
After the situation calms down, the first thing you should do is a Retrospective. Here , analysis needs to be done of what lead to the situation and what was the exact root cause. It should be remembered that all this should be done without targeting any person. The goal is to learn from the crisis and to try to avoid this situation further by analysing the causes. Also it is important to ensure to the client that you have taken the corrective actions in order to avoid this kind of situation in future.
The above mentioned points were for a Manager. But the Team mates also have their important role to play in terms of Crisis Management.
If you are a Developer , Tester or a Technical Lead, the below points will help you in managing a Crisis:
1. Be realistic
When your manager asks you regarding the estimated time for fixing a bug , you need to be realistic with the time. Don’t be too optimistic on the estimation but give a realistic estimation. Many developers have a tendency to give vague commitments which they should avoid. Please remember that if you are not able to fulfil the given commitment, and if this happens frequently, you may lose your credibility.
2. Prioritize your work
In Crisis, it it very important to prioritize your work. If you are a developer, you might have to accomplish a lot of fixes and some defects might be linked to one another. You can do a categorization and fix together those which are linked. Of course the priority given by the client remains primary.
3. Haste is Waste
In a Crisis , people often tend to fix everything in haste, which sometimes leads to some regressions, which in turn may fuel the crisis situation. It is utmost important to keep your calm and do the solution implementation without hasting yourself. Just changing the status of the defects to “Fixed” should not be the sole goal, but you also need to check if any undesired impacts are made by your changes.
Also View: Corporate Behaviour Tips
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