Weeds & Bad Seeds

If you’re managing a technical team, a lot of effort should go into identifying and addressing two types of problems: weeds and bad seeds.

Weeds are problems that are evident. Even if you build everything correctly, they’re the things that prevent your product from fully coming together. Maybe it’s technical debt that needs to be resolved before your team can ship. Maybe it’s a strained relationship with another team or product that you depend on. Maybe it’s a performance issue that affects your product’s growth. They’re the visible problems that prevent your team from consistently making progress.

Bad seeds are problems that have yet to emerge— they’re initiatives or practices that will eventually dilute your team’s efforts and distract from your goals. Maybe it’s a code review process that lacks rigor, eventually leading to tech debt. Maybe it’s a feature that seems exciting but doesn’t align with your objectives. They’re the soon-to-be weeds that derail your team if they aren’t tackled early on.

This framing helped me identify obstacles and focus my team’s efforts. Maybe it’ll do the same for you!