How healthy is your team?

I was talking to a colleague recently, both of us with 30+ years of scars, about the challenges that come with assuming new leadership of an engineering org.

A shared observation from that discussion was how similar this task is to doing diligence for purchasing a company (aka M&A - mergers and acquisitions), another task that we both have done numerous times spanning companies.

Perhaps surprisingly for some, the specifics of what tech stack, tools, cloud, processes, etc. are used are rarely a first-order concern. Why? Because there are countless ways to solve problems with the specific recipe for success being as individual as the org itself.

The classic M&A reasons for buying an org are to get:
–the product, the customers, or the talent.

Or, some combo of the 3.

Those same areas of focus can be great for measuring (ongoing) org health.

For example:

–The Talent
How self-aware are they? Can they identify the gaps in their products, processes, and staffing? Are they honest & open about these or do they feel the need to defend or hide? Do they use the product and strongly/personally desire it or is this just a salary? Are they working on the prioritized features or, for example, spending time on tooling/analytics/etc. before having fundamentals tested with customers? Sense of urgency? Are they curious/open to new ways of doing things or religious about their way? Do they value the contribution of their leaders (and vice versa) or are they trying to succeed despite each other? Is there a shared vision & competence across the disciplines? Skills a match for the problem? Are they having fun?

–The Product
Do most employees understand what problems are being solved and are critical for success? Or, is there a “do as I say without understanding” culture? Are product requirements and scenarios written down and reviewed or is there a culture of “no time for that tax” in place? Is there a healthy prioritization of features (also written down even if just excel - fancy not required) Does the current product reflect thoughtful decisions that are in line with success? How’s app quality? Is the team saying “no” to the useful, shiny to execute on the necessary (choosing which spinning dishes fall)? Is the product easily copied or consists of hard-to-copy ‘special sauce’? Is it a vitamin or a pill? Data-driven or leader-intuition-driven - both can succeed ;).

–The Customers
Do they exist already or not? If not, is there a credible study showing product need? If so, are they a well-defined cohort or not understood? Are they enthused, engaged, and impatiently wanting more? Is the monetization story real and being tested? Retention? Are leading indicators delineated from lagging? Measurements in place that do not require too-early engineering tax?

Reality - I’ve rarely seen even a profitable org nail all of these (top of mind) examples and that is OK. Of more interest (always) is whether an org has the health to grow and address challenges as they arise.

(Though often seen this is not, in fact, the goal)