Apprentice

Problem: You can't always hire the experts you need.

Context:

The project is incrementally staffing up after the first round of experts have been brought on board.

Forces:

You need enough people for critical mass.

Staff are not plug compatible and interchangeable.

Solution:

Turn new hires into experts (see Domain Expertise in Roles) through an apprenticeship program. Every new employee should work as an apprentice (not just a mentee) to an established expert. Most apprenticeship programs will last six months to a year--the amount of time it takes to make a paradigm shift.

Resulting Context:

It will be possible to maintain expertise in the organization. This pattern also reduces the organization's "truck number" (the smallest number of people such that, if any one of them were hit by a truck, the organization will have lost a critical resource) by spreading knowledge around.

The "masters" feel valued and the apprentices are given a good environment to learn.

Design Rationale:

It is better to apprentice people than to put people through a "trial by fire" that may damage the project. This approach makes it possible to form domain-specific teams.

Next: Organization Follows Location