Preconditions

Two new teams that have never worked together. One brand-new manager joining the company. Another relatively new manager (a little green, dare I say?). Tight deadlines. A scope that wasn’t fully defined.

What could possibly go wrong, right? 😅

Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. But along the way, I also learned a ton. This journey taught me not only what could go sideways but also what I’m capable of handling. So, let’s take a deep breath, try not to be eaten by my imposter syndrome, and dive into how to balance tight deadlines with solutions you won’t want to toss in the trash the moment the release is over.

Was I scared? Hell yes!
Was I ready to do this? Absolutely!

And if this year taught me anything, it’s that balance is never about standing still. It’s about adjusting, adapting, and pedaling forward, even when the road gets bumpy.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
— Albert Einstein

Take your bike, and let’s dive deeper. (I can’t ride a bike — should I learn?)

First Pillar: Embrace the Unknown Unknowns and Don’t Overthink

We live in a fast-pacing world, and everything changes too fast. Tomorrow could bring anything to your shoulders: a sick colleague, new obstacles, the departure of a key player, maybe even flooding. You can’t be prepared for everything.

Sure, backup plans help, but don’t spend every night battling anxiety attacks thinking, “How can we survive?”.

Second Pillar: Build a Roadmap, Be Ambitious, but Stay Flexible

This was a tough one for me. As an anxious person, I need plans from A to D just to feel secure. But the reality is that you can’t plan for everything, and sometimes flexibility unlocks surprising wins.

But what if you can do something much quicker? Initially, I was convinced we wouldn’t make it in time. I wanted to cut it from the roadmap entirely, afraid it would overwhelm the team. But my product manager convinced me to keep it — and it turned out to be a win.

Of course, we adjusted the scope. For instance, we released our apps without analytical events, focusing only on logging and error handling. Debugging and analyzing data was a bit tricky and relied on backend analytics, but we saved up to two months. (Don’t worry, we implemented analytics later!)

The lesson here? Be ambitious but leave room for adjustments. Sometimes you can find simpler, long-term solutions that fit the deadline without adding unnecessary complexity.

Third Pillar: Clear Goals and a Shared Interpretation of Them

When you’re dealing with a lot of unknowns and tight deadlines, everyone needs to be on the same page about the goal. Different interpretations of the objective can lead to confusion and slow down progress.

And to make this more concrete — our team had an ambitious product to deliver on time. So, what should the main goal be? Some might focus on delivering the full, ambitious scope, while others might prioritize meeting the deadline.

There’s no universal answer — it depends on the product. For us, timing was critical because of key periods like Black Friday. So, we decided to go with “deliver on time, but with possibilities to cut the scope.”

This gave us a clear focus while leaving room for flexibility, so we could adjust as needed and still meet the deadline. It kept the team aligned and helped us avoid unnecessary overthinking during the crunch.

Fourth Pillar: Ambition Is Good, but Team Health Is Priceless

When working on something big, everyone gets tired — your team, you, and everyone else involved in the product. But burned-out people can’t respond to urgent issues after release or fix bugs quickly.

And no matter how many hours you spend testing, users will find something you missed — trust me.

That’s why one of your goals should be to keep your team balanced and well. How?

  • Add health checks and retrospectives. React to problems early.
  • Foster safe spaces for disagreements. Arguments can be productive, but personal attacks or bullying? Absolutely not.

Finally, don’t forget to revisit your retro action points. I know time is tight, but following up is something you owe to your team.

Fifth Pillar: Accept Imperfection in Yourself, Your Team, and the Product

Do you know an ideal product? Or an ideal person? Because I don’t.

Mistakes happen. We deploy bugs, and technical solutions aren’t always perfect. That’s okay—it’s all part of the process. The key is to learn from these mistakes and avoid repeating them.

At the same time, balance your team’s perfectionism. Most developers strive to create the perfect solution, but perfection doesn’t exist. You need to weigh the cost of creating quick, short-term solutions against investing more time now.

For example, after release, we set aside time for improvements. One big solution we implemented turned out to be less flexible than we’d hoped. Are we struggling with it? Not too much. But some price had to be paid. Was it worth going live as is? Absolutely. And now it’s part of our roadmap for the next quarter.

To Sum It Up: Five Pillars for a Strong Foundation

This was a bumpy road, and riding this imaginary bike wasn’t always easy. But we delivered a product, built a team, avoided burnout, and are ready for new, exciting opportunities this year will bring.

So, hop on your bike and start pedaling — balance comes from moving forward. 🚴