Hot PotatoesHow to handle the project that causes everyone else to quit

What is a Hot Potato?

How to identify a hot potato

- Important to the company- No clear ownership- Technical debt, or legacy platform- Team turnover- No documented plan

How did it get this bad?

What happened?!

- Lack of clear leadership or discipline- Poor communication- Key personnel left (or were fired)- Project collapsed under the weight of its own technical debt

And I have to fix it?

Your Options

- Run while you can.- You play with fire and you’re gonna get burned.

- You touched it? Uh oh…- You break it you bought it.

- Time to brush up your resume.- Do people still use Times New Roman?

- The company is going under anyway.- I wonder if Arby’s is hiring...

Fix it.It’s your problem now.

Do your research

- Who was involved previously?- Who knows the social history?- Who knows the technical justifications?- How was this supposed to work?

Build a Community

- Meetings every other week- Introduce everyone to each other- Defer blame and responsibility to the community, not yourself.- Be an organizer, not a leader. Not yet.- Take notes, and e-mail them out to everyone relevant.- Reveal the lost knowledge.

Build a Backlog

- Translate the needs of the community into work to be done- Even if there isn’t a team to fix it.- Use the community to prioritize, and estimate.- Make a case for time and resources- Get a mandate from the community

Build a Team

- Who can you depend on?- Negotiate with management on priorities- Complete the smallest thing with the biggest payoff

- Performance Improvements- Increased stability

- Build confidence

Build Momentum

Advertise your Wins

- Cool that potato down- Make the project normal again- Keep being a great product manager- Document the process for your next review cycle- Get a promotion and a raise- Retire and become a successful potato farmer

Felix SargentDirector of Developer Relations

MediaMath

Thanks!