How to Reach Team Consensus

Problem

"We had outgrown our traditional SQL database and needed to migrate to a distributed NoSQL solution. No one on our team had any experience with NoSQL."

Actions taken

"Fortunately, we were able to see this problem coming from far away, so we had time to address the issue. The team brainstormed a list of all possible NoSQL products, and then evaluated each product for features, cost, ease of integration, enterprise support, etc. Once we winnowed the list down to a few serious candidates, volunteers stepped forward to own a deeper dive into each of the finalists. We ran some benchmarks, did some proof-of-concept lightweight integrations and generally got a better feel for each technology. During this process, I kept my chain of command in the loop so there wouldn't be any surprises about costs and external impacts. One clear winner soon emerged, and the senior architect came up with some best practices for the team to follow going forward. He also proposed a migration plan which was later executed with no major delays."

Lessons learned

"Keep one eye out on the challenges your team will face going forward. The earlier you can react to a situation, the less likely it is to become a crisis. Look for opportunities to engage as many staff members as practical in decisions that can have a broad impact on the team, and also offers chances for the staff to level-up their technology expertise."