You Can See the Train is Going to Crash…
The endless bottlenecks. The missed targets. The bet-on-a-miracle planning sessions where everyone is asked to pretend that an optimistic spreadsheet equals strategy.
It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
I’m Ryan. I mentor tech leaders like you on how to build teams of brilliant people who solve problems instead of just talking about them.
Most “teams” are just collections of people working independently
You have roles in boxes — the designer, the front-end person, the data lead, sales, the product manager — all staying in their lanes, regardless of their talents, interests, passions. And everyone’s optimizing to not step on toes. So… nothing actually gets done.
Meanwhile, you’ve got:
- Revenue goals that require actual miracles
- Teams shipping 5x slower because everyone’s scared to step on toes
- Wishy-washy goals that don’t help anyone make decisions
- Defensive managers who block ideas to protect ego
- People not taking opportunities or leading initiatives
- Teams that see the crash coming but won’t say it out loud
This is a group of individual contributors who are stuck.
POV: You can see the crash before it happens, but everyone thinks you’re being negative.
Getting people to honestly talk about problems is hard. Getting them to work together to solve them? Even harder.
I’ve been in the trenches, learning how to transform struggling teams (including ones everyone had written off) into high-morale powerhouses that consistently deliver.
TALKS & PODCASTS
Ep. 29 of the Science to Data Science and Beyond! Listen on Spotify
AI’s Role in Software Development & Navigating the Divide: Data Science vs Software Engineering
Clip from “Building Data Teams in Start Ups” with Merrisa Brend
PyData London 2024 – “Let’s get you started on asynchronous programming”
What Do Data Scientists Actually Do?
Clip: The problem with AI right now
PSST… I’ve Got The Playbook Right Here.
How to spot incompetent leaders.
Retro formats everyone will love.
Growth plans that are people-first.
Strategies to push back on scope-creep.
Tactics to 5x shipping to your customers.
Grow people. Build trust. AND systematically make a comeback from a would-be train wreck.
It’s all in my newsletter on Substack. You in?
RYAN VARLEY 