Happy Friday!

In my last email, I wrote about the point of no return, but what happens after?

Sadly, most teams will experience attrition as leaders refuse to allow the new team to continue.

However, there is a moment that deserves celebration. After the point of no return and the metrics are coming in and are proving to be stable, it's time to pause, celebrate, and reflect.

I want the team to see what they've accomplished and how far they've come. While the team lived through the change, they most likely haven't really thought about who they were when they started. This is pretty profound for most people.

Expect to hear, "I never want to go back."

Next, I want leadership to take note of what has happened. Again, leaders will be aware of the changes and appreciate some metrics, but taking a minute to really look at it and appreciate the change is important and deserved. Also, it's one of the things I do to try and keep them from reverting the team back. I'll also do this with several skip levels.

Finally, I have a special retrospective with the team. During this retrospective, I want them to look at what has made their team so great today and what didn't in the past. I want them to look at why they're able to stay great and what would cause them to fall back. This meeting often helps the team look at their relationship to me and leadership. Commonly, the team leaves with greater awareness of how to stay strong as a team and that they don't need someone like me anymore.

Often in these conversations, they'll ask me how to handle specific roles like product owners, scrum masters, tech leads, or architects. The answer I give is almost always, "Together." Not because this is some sort of Disney moment, except it totally 100% is, and people are crying and giving hugs. By working with folks they struggle with as a group, they can eliminate the risk of missing a detail or saying the wrong thing or anything like that because they've got someone backing them up.

So there you have it. An exceptional team that outperforms any team in the company, and has what it takes to keep growing.

Sincerely,

Ryan

PS: I'd love to talk with you about your reaction to this email and the series so far. Also, if you'd like to have a quick call to talk through what you're seeing with your teams, just set up some time!