Tips for working with/moving to a new team

Question

I have been working at my current company for almost two years. Recently the team I'm in has neared completion of a project and as what the future holds for us is up in the air some of us have been assigned to work with another team (but still have responsibilities with our team - meetings, maintenance, etc).

I was wondering if anyone had any professional tips on how to handle working with new teams or moving to a new team, juggling working with two teams at the same time. The culture seems pretty different between the two teams, my team is more startup oriented, less centralized authority/micromanaging. Everyone kind of knows everyone strengths on our team. Meetings are different. Even coding standards are different (4 spaces instead of two for a tab!)

Answer 1

Become part of the team before you start trying to initiate changes to the way you would do it (unless you are specifically asked). Nobody likes to hear how their way sucks, especially from someone who doesn't have enough insider knowledge to know why things are the way they are. In the mean time, competently perform your job. Establish a reputation as someone that knows what they are doing. Learn why the new team is doing things differently than you are used to. Once you are accepted as part of the team then choose your suggestions wisely. Timing is everything.

One of the harder things will be getting your priorities straight. Your old team will want you to help because you have legacy knowledge. However, this will usually come at the expense of not getting your job done on the new team. Unless the new team is just a place-holder assignment, then YOUR NEW TEAM IS YOUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. If you were that important to your old team then they would find a full time role for you. If the old team really needs you and you can't accomodate them then tell them. They will need to get management involved, thereby not placing you in the middle of choosing between the 2 teams.

Answer 2

When juggling 2 teams, try to disconnect from the old teams meetings as soon as you can. I recently switched dev teams and there was a few weeks where I was in double meetings. That's quite a time sink.

Get on board with the coding standards. Little things like that are no reason to make waves. Read a lot of code to get an idea of the new team's style. Just like kindergarten, make friends early!

Answer 3

This happened to me a few years ago when a product I was working on was transferred to another region. A fellow developer and I were merged into another group but we were expected to train and assist the group taking over the project. The new group we were going to had its own leadership and culture as they worked together for 5+ years.

First you probably want to figure out how much of your time is expected by management to be used on the older project. Since your new project is the future then you need to focus and engage yourself in that as much as possible.

As far as the culture of the new group goes my advice to you would be to have a humble and respectful attitude and be cooperative.

Even if you don't agree with how things are done be a positive influence for good and help them to grow.

Lead by example and don't say things like "you guys do this wrong" or "things were better in the old group."

True respect is earned and not given quickly or automatically.

Eventually others will realize your value and go to you for advice and ask for your input.