How to have an impact when taking over 80% finished big project?
Engineer A on my team was working on big refactoring project. I joined same project around 65-70% completion. Now he’s leaving for a vacation and I’ll be leading project and finishing it. By time he’ll leave it will mostly be completed 90-95%. My questions are:
- Since project is almost done, I know I won’t have much scope but still how do I show my best in whatever is remaining?
- What are things to look into and clarify with that engineer during handoff or before he leave?
- Any other tips for making best out of this opportunity?
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Discussion
(1 comment)- 5
2 years agoPrincipal Director at CapgeminiTo make an impact, it you don’t need to own all of it. In fact, almost anything of significance is a group effort and at more senior levels, nearly nothing will be solely attributed to only you. Being able to pick something up midway and deliver results in a short span of time gives several signals of seniority such as rapid onboarding / absorbing context quickly while making it easy for others to build upon what you did.
There’s a probably a reason other than vacation backfilling for why you were chosen for this. By closing out the project well, I see this as an opportunity to accumulate a lot of social capital with whoever assigned it to you as well as the remainder of the project team. Don’t forgot to give kudos / credit where it’s due for Engineer A’s contributions as well and not brush it off.
