Over the years, working across multiple organizations, I developed the concept of subteam tenets. I’ve tweaked it along the way to fit each company’s unique quirks, but I still use it to this day, and it has helped me navigate challenging situations. It’s really a system of divide and conquer, nothing fancy to be honest, but it lays down clear ground rules for the teams you oversee.
In a large organization, it becomes harder to lean into every detail. You don’t want to be the one driving execution day to day. If you had to take two months off, could your team still execute seamlessly? This doesn’t diminish your role. You’re still there to coach, guide, and provide long-term vision. That’s why I came up with the idea of subteams and defined eight tenets to manage them. These tenets are designed to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability, ensuring a clear and consistent approach to the projects you oversee.
Originally, I didn’t have all the tenets figured out. I added and tweaked them as I learned from different organizations. It’s a good starting point, but it’s not the final answer. Different organizations have their own ways: some are heavy on tooling like Jira, while others don’t care as much. Some rely heavily on email, others on messaging tools. Because of this, some practices need adjustment to fit the specific environment.
Without further ado, here are the subteam tenets. I hope you find them useful too.
Size of Subteams
I’m a big fan of small teams. Ideally, subteams should consist of 2-4 members, which strikes an optimal balance between diverse skills and effective collaboration. When teams get too large, communication overhead becomes a major issue. Smaller teams keep things focused, encourage accountability, and make coordination simpler.
Clear Responsibility Assignment
Every subteam needs a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI). And no, it doesn’t have to be the tech lead or the expert, anyone can take on this role. The DRI is basically the go-to person for anything related to the subteam and takes accountability for its success. They’re the ones coordinating tasks, clearing obstacles, and keeping everyone in the loop, both within the subteam and with other stakeholders. If the DRI is out, it’s on the manager or other team members to handle updates and keep things moving. The DRI also makes sure the rest of the subteam is engaged and up to speed.
DRI concept might not be clear to your stakeholders so you need to educate them. DRIs are the ones you lean on for project execution, while the manager handles people issues. If there’s a problem, the DRI makes the final call, even if that means overriding the manager. Without this setup, you can’t really expect them to execute properly.
Project Management
Each subteam should execute one project at a time and maintain a separate project board. Regular updates to the board are mandatory to ensure transparency and effectively track the project’s status.
Documentation of Team Meetings
Every subteam can meet whenever they want, as long as everyone agrees on the time. Just make sure each meeting is documented with some notes. The notes should cover the main points, decisions, and any actions assigned. This way, nothing important gets lost, and you’ve got something to refer back to. Make sure to share the notes with the whole subteam and anyone else who needs to know.
Larger Meeting
Choose the cadence for a larger meeting involving all subteams, every three weeks is often a good interval. This meeting serves as a forum for subteams to present their progress, share insights, learn from each other, and coordinate on tasks that affect multiple teams. It helps foster unity within the larger team and ensures alignment with the organization’s overall goals.
Subteam Project Pages
Each subteam needs to keep a dedicated project page for every project they’re handling. It should have all the important stuff like milestones, who’s responsible for what, the timeline, and any other relevant info. This page is basically a one-stop reference for everyone, so all stakeholders are on the same page (pun intended) and know the project status. Regular updates are key to keeping it relevant and accurate.
Status Dashboard
Besides the individual project pages, there should be a main status page that gives a high-level overview of all the projects. It should show where each project stands, whether it’s in progress, done, or at risk. This way, you can get a quick sense of the overall project portfolio, which helps with deciding on resource allocation and priorities. Make sure to keep this status page updated so it always reflects the current state of everything.
Weekly Newsletter
DRIs should post updates to a weekly newsletter channel(email, slack, whatever) to keep everyone informed about the subteam’s project. It’s no more than three simple sentences. Less is more. Further discussion can follow if needed. I encourage everyone to read these updates to stay aligned, especially if there’s a timeline change impacting another subteam’s work.
This is pretty much it for subteams but there are further questions to be answered.
Alignment Across Teams
What Do Managers Do?
Managers oversee several subteams, ideally teams that align closely with their core responsibilities. While this isn’t always the case, having subteams that are well-aligned with a manager’s charter makes it easier to guide and reason about their work.
Each manager should actively support their subteams. They can step in to guide, coach, and help where needed. If a manager is unavailable, the skip-level manager should be able to step in seamlessly, ensuring continuity. This is precisely why I emphasize this approach: it enables me to manage without micromanaging and ensures that things run smoothly without unnecessary interruptions.
The concept is also highly scalable. With the right level of detail, it can extend effectively to upper management, allowing for clear rollouts and updates across the entire structure.
What Do PMs Do?
I’m not here to spell out everything a PM should do, but it’s crucial to get them on board with this structure. They need to represent the business, set the long-term vision, and work closely with DRIs on the product backlog and all that stuff.
Elephant In The Room
Alright, this all sounds too good to be true, an ideal mechanism, blah blah. I get it, you’re not convinced. The real issue here is information silos. Subteams become highly specialized, and suddenly, there’s a gap in shared knowledge. People don’t always read updates, and things fall through the cracks.
The best solution is to rotate people across subteams. Sure, there’s a bit of churn because someone has to pick up new things, but there’s no magic fix here. Another option is to run regular demos and presentations, it really just depends on how seriously you take them.
Wrapping it Up
In consequence, subteam tenets are a setup to execute fast efficiently. This is my final version as I’m writing it. I will update it as time passes but I found it really useful. If you find it useful, too, please share it. And happy to mentor you as well!