Continuing with my list of development principles for embedded data teams, we’re now going to switch themes from objectives to collaboration. Here’s this week’s principle:
Collaboration across teams is more important than technical excellence within any one team.
There are two failure modes that this principle addresses, and which often go together:
1) Developers on a data team not spending enough time talking to wet lab colleagues because they’re guarding their work time.
2) Developers making design decisions that only make sense at a scale and complexity you’re not going to face, and make the system less usable or more confusing for less technical users.
Both of these are closely related to our previous theme of thinking beyond technical objectives, since the best way to meet technical objectives is to guard your development time and make technically efficient decisions. But if you care about broader objectives, you’re going to need help from your wet lab colleagues. You need to bring them along with you.
The point isn’t to abandon all your technical standards. It’s more about balancing the two, or better yet finding compromises that provide the best of both. Replacing a few hours of your focus time to better understand the wet lab teams’ problems could save you having to redo all that work later. Giving up the ability for the system to scale beyond what’s needed could make adoption significantly easier.
If you don’t put enough energy into collaboration, even the best technical solution is going to fail every time.
Collaboration over technical excellence
Both failure modes are built into silos. In vivo, in vitro, and in silico can lose sight of the overall objectives. One function of an executive is to keep a door open to peers. At the bench level, this might not work. Having constant all hands meetings and a floods of messaging isn't the solution.
Setting up lightweight liaisons to enunciate perspectives across silos could be one approach. It's essential to bubble up info. Reality checks can defuse runaway situation.