From http://w3.hcgnet.com/succession.html:  ''Succession planning is an ongoing process  of systematically identifying, assessing and developing  talent to ensure the leadership continuity for all key positions in an organization. ''

If you do this right, the TruckNumber of your organization or project improves.

Any opinions about how best to perform this task in software development organizations?

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Training your successors and giving them some experience doing your job is a valuable way to spend your time.  Do as much of it as you can.

In addition to being important to organizations, it can be individually important to anyone who is has significant responsibilities.  If you are indispensable to a particular project or team, then you may be stuck with it for a lot longer than you want.  If you want to be able to move on, strive to make yourself dispensable by teaching others what they need to know so that they can take your place.  (This is also important if you ever want to take a vacation.)

The complementary AntiPattern is that if you want JobSecurity, then you need to actively discourage anyone from becoming a potential successor.  Don't teach others, don't involve them in your decision-making process, don't invite them to meetings, don't delegate any of your responsibilities, etc.  Keep everyone in the dark.  Maintain a strict "You do your job; I'll do mine" relationship.

-- KrisJohnson

''That doesn't necessarily provide JobSecurity.  Even if a successor cannot be found within the organization, one can surely be found outside.  When you consider management positions, especially, a well-cherished belief is that ManagersAreInterchangeable--a good manager can manage any organization, and domain knowledge is a secondary consideration.''
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See also WhatIsLeadership, NoOneIsIndispensable, HeirApparent

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CategoryPlanning