Thread by @johncutlefish

A shared team (Blue) is trying to help multiple teams (Green and Red). Both need help.

Blue: OMG. Who do I help?

To make "commitments" (because Green and Red are making commitments), Blue asks for "a plan". Green and Red oblige. Of course the plan is half-baked with lots of guesses...

In an effort to please, Blue takes "the plans" on face value ... committing to help both in the next quarter. The stars will need to align, and they never do, but somehow we are a suckers for believing it will all work...

Green and Red are predictably delayed.

They ask Blue to "start" on a small piece of the work to "get Blue going". Starting on stuff that isn't the core work keeps people busy, but it isn't really starting....

The tide turns.

Green and Red are not really aware of each other. All the see is Blue being "slow" (in doing the scraps of work they had ready for Blue, which isn't the whole project)...

While they wait, Green and Red start other bits work! I mean ... gotta keep the team busy, and that pesky Blue is always dragging their heels. More work in progress.

Blue needs important feedback, but Green and Red are too busy (they've taken on other work). "With a good kickoff we could have figured this out with a conversation" ... alas, that ship has sailed.

Crap hits the fan, and Green and Red lose trust in Blue. They're just going to hire contracts....

The Lessons:

-Start together
-Avoid prematurely converging for the purpose of negotiating dependencies
-Empathy for shared teams
-Keeping people busy is not the goal