Sound familiar?
Here's what actually happens:
Week 1-2: Learning the codebase, understanding the schema, figuring out why things were built this way Week 3-4: Finally productive Week 5: Pulled to another project Six months later: Returns and has to start over
Context switching doesn't just slow down specialists, it destroys their ability to contribute meaningfully.
Unless you have incredible consistency across your entire environment (you probably don't), this approach is killing your productivity.
The alternative? Accept that specialists need longer tenures with teams, or invest in genuine knowledge management systems.
More on this in our latest episode with Peter Maddison and Dave Sharrock about making agile work without perfect dedicated teams.
🎧 Listen on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1643821/episodes/18015807 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dEUeVydU_pY
#SoftwareDevelopment #Productivity #AgileTeams #EngineeringManagement #TechLeadership #short