Defining Squad Start Dates

It’s important to create (and stick to) a schedule, especially if you have many squads, projects, and people. You get to choose whether to do this via a date-driven plan like a Gantt chart or a scope-based approach like a backlog of tasks. Don’t let anyone drift, because you’re likely to find some people will be frustrated waiting for their new squad to start and others will be gold-plating their existing project not knowing what comes next.

In our case we were dealing with a large organization with many ongoing projects, and we were growing rapidly. It took us almost two months to finish transitioning existing projects to the new squads. Among the contributing factors were unwieldy projects, Christmas holidays that happened to fall soon after, new recruits, and internal movements. We were constantly aware of the danger that until we had established the new squads, something could happen to stop or delay the formation of the new structure. This would have been a devastating blow to the people who had self-selected, so we worked hard to keep momentum. We recommend you do the same!

David says:

Looking back, it was fascinating to see how those months were filled with little bursts of energy and enthusiasm when a new person arrived and a number of employees would be freed up and a number of squads could start. It felt a bit like when the perfect shape comes down in Tetris and we could fill three or four lines all at once.

It’s helpful to make the timeline of your plan highly visible to everyone in the office. Display a large calendar with planned start times for squads and check them off and celebrate squads when they launch. We believe that transparency is an important part of keeping things going and not losing momentum.

One thing we didn’t do in the beginning but have introduced to later events was regular follow-up meetings, usually every week, with the not-yet-formed squads to keep their focus and buy-in. Here people can raise whatever issue they like. It could be anything from dealing with change that inevitably comes along, such as “What are we going to do now that the project will take longer than we thought to complete?” to “What should we do now that the new hire won’t start until four weeks later than we originally thought?” The answer is inevitably something those involved should decide, but the important thing is that squad members have the opportunity to voice their concerns and to creatively solve problems.

One main concern people often have is whether their squads are adequately resourced. Fundamentally, this is a sign that some squads don’t feel confident that they’re up to the task. It’s understandable that they feel nervous and it’s a natural part of any team formation. Reassure the squads that you trust their self-selection and that if they find after three months that they need another person or more of a particular skill, they’ll be able to make the changes.