Addressing work duplication
Work duplication is a significant drain on resources. It’s on you to identify this early on. You provide breadth for your team by understanding what everyone is working on – both within your team and across other teams. Establish standardized methods (e.g. regular sync meetings with other leaders, a directory with main projects) for staying informed to make the discovery process easy.
How to respond to duplicate efforts?
What should you do when duplicate efforts are uncovered? Options include continuing the duplication, specializing, combining efforts, or dropping one of the initiatives. Here's how to handle these decisions:
Confirm the duplication: First, ensure the duplication is real. Common errors include:
False alarms: The other team might not actually be engaged in the work, having abandoned the idea. Maybe it was just a prototype or a mock.
Divergent projects: Projects may appear similar but differ significantly upon closer examination, justifying the continuation of both.
Risk of non-delivery: If there's a risk the other team won't deliver and your product depends on their output, it might be worth duplicating efforts to mitigate delivery risks.
Avoid premature duplication avoidance. Teams trying too hard not to overstep can lead to an important project being dropped or delayed. Balance respect for boundaries with the need for progress.
Deciding which team should proceed: From a company's perspective, the optimal approach is to choose the technique that's more effective and assign it to the team that can deliver it fastest. However, this is often complicated by egos. When two teams employ different yet complementary approaches, merging these can yield the best results. This ideal outcome requires leaders to set aside their egos, collaborate effectively, and recognize the contributions of both teams.