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Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams
Dynamic Reteaming shares real stories of how successful software companies have thrived through changing their teams as opposed to keeping them the same. Team change will happen whether we like it or not. People will come and go from our teams. Our companies might double in size or even get acquired. We can catalyze team change to reduce the risk of attrition, learning and career stagnation and the development of knowledge silos. Dynamic Reteaming describes practices for effective reteaming as well as antipatterns. In this book you'll learn how to integrate new people into an existing team, how to deal with the loss of team members, when to split a team, how to isolate teams for focused innovation, how to rotate team members for knowledge sharing, how to break through organizational stagnation and much more. Learn to apply the five team change patterns: Isolation, One by One, Grow and Split, Merging and Switching. Get practical tips and tricks for managing team change.
294 pages, Paperback
Published July 31, 2019
88 people are currently reading
866 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 5, 2020
I found Dynamic Reteaming a very difficult book to read. The heavy use of examples as the primary way of explaining the points which the book was attempting to get across, for me, made this book long and tedious. I personally would have like the book to have been more direct and in doing so significantly shorter. It was interesting that the last chapters had fewer examples, or just referenced previous ones, and got their point across better.
There is a YouTube video for Dynamic Reteaming which I would recommend people watch instead.
The concepts introduced into the book are interesting, with a really heavy lean towards peer or mob programming. I kept thinking back to patterns used by both of my previous employers around and found there to be a lot of similarities, which probably didn't help in my interest in this book.
The value i will get out of this book is to be deliberate about reteaming and whenever wanting to organise or achieve some goal to also include some headspace about its impact on relationship building and reteaming.
There is a YouTube video for Dynamic Reteaming which I would recommend people watch instead.
The concepts introduced into the book are interesting, with a really heavy lean towards peer or mob programming. I kept thinking back to patterns used by both of my previous employers around and found there to be a lot of similarities, which probably didn't help in my interest in this book.
The value i will get out of this book is to be deliberate about reteaming and whenever wanting to organise or achieve some goal to also include some headspace about its impact on relationship building and reteaming.
September 24, 2020
There is a strong preference in the software industry toward stable teams, but teams eventually change. People leave and join. So, you better get good at it.
Heidi explains five reteaming patterns and supports her ideas with testimonies from different people. It has references to COVID-19 and distributed teams, so it's well updated.
However, this refreshing point of view, so well expressed in her talks, makes a book hard to read, sometimes repetitive, introducing every section from the previous one.
Aside from reteaming the book presents a few facilitation techniques, some Liberating Structures, ways to start new teams, retrospective suggestions and ways to survey the status of teams.
Heidi explains five reteaming patterns and supports her ideas with testimonies from different people. It has references to COVID-19 and distributed teams, so it's well updated.
However, this refreshing point of view, so well expressed in her talks, makes a book hard to read, sometimes repetitive, introducing every section from the previous one.
Aside from reteaming the book presents a few facilitation techniques, some Liberating Structures, ways to start new teams, retrospective suggestions and ways to survey the status of teams.
November 21, 2021
Most of all I liked the activities and team excercies that should help to build new teams or support people during reorgs.
December 2, 2021
There are a lot of materials about the importance of stable teams, around the Agile world. But there weren't so many good reads of how to approach changes. And finally, we have one.
This book consists of very practical does and don'ts how to restructure team:
- how to prepare for it
- what kind of transformations are available
- what the pitfalls are waiting for you and how to avoid it
- examples from different companies
One thing that is lacking (but mostly because it is a new area of work) is a more theoretical background. Some propositions aren't argued well enough to believe them right from the start.
This book consists of very practical does and don'ts how to restructure team:
- how to prepare for it
- what kind of transformations are available
- what the pitfalls are waiting for you and how to avoid it
- examples from different companies
One thing that is lacking (but mostly because it is a new area of work) is a more theoretical background. Some propositions aren't argued well enough to believe them right from the start.
May 25, 2020
Good book on an often overlooked topic that is hard to research.
I wish I had read this some years ago, before I learned much of this the hard way.
I wish I had read this some years ago, before I learned much of this the hard way.
September 1, 2025
(Note that this book would probably rate better if you're the right target audience.)
Dynamic Reteaming builds on the premise that team change is inevitable and argues that organizations should manage it deliberately. The book outlines several small scale patterns of team change—such as adding or losing individuals, splitting or merging teams, or rotating team members—and offers practices and anecdotes to help teams navigate these transitions. It also includes tactics and activities intended to make team changes smoother and more intentional.
That sounds good on paper, but I personally found this book to be a shallow treatment of a potentially rich topic. While it may serve as a useful starting point for individual contributors, team leads, or new managers unfamiliar with the mechanics and emotional dimensions of team transitions, it offers little to even moderately experienced leaders. If you’ve been in the industry for a while—especially in a leadership role—you’ve likely seen, experienced, or orchestrated most of these patterns already.
I came into the book hoping for a guide on how to think about teams in a highly dynamic setting. Instead, I found a catalog of common patterns with lightweight commentary. The content feels more observational than instructional, as if written by someone impacted by organizational change rather than someone responsible for driving it. This limits its depth and applicability for those looking to lead organizational transformation.
The book’s audience is also unclear. At times, it seems written for leaders making team decisions. At others, it appears to address individuals navigating changes initiated by others. At others, it seems focused at coaches helping teams navigate change. This lack of focus dilutes the strength of the material.
Stylistically, the book is repetitive. While it includes quotes and anecdotes from others—which I appreciated—those quotes were often followed by near-verbatim paraphrases, which added unnecessary redundancy.
In sum, this book might be helpful for those relatively new to managing or experiencing team change, particularly if they are looking for team-building ideas or language to describe common patterns. But for experienced practitioners, Dynamic Reteaming may feel more like a reminder of what’s already obvious than a source of new insight.
Dynamic Reteaming builds on the premise that team change is inevitable and argues that organizations should manage it deliberately. The book outlines several small scale patterns of team change—such as adding or losing individuals, splitting or merging teams, or rotating team members—and offers practices and anecdotes to help teams navigate these transitions. It also includes tactics and activities intended to make team changes smoother and more intentional.
That sounds good on paper, but I personally found this book to be a shallow treatment of a potentially rich topic. While it may serve as a useful starting point for individual contributors, team leads, or new managers unfamiliar with the mechanics and emotional dimensions of team transitions, it offers little to even moderately experienced leaders. If you’ve been in the industry for a while—especially in a leadership role—you’ve likely seen, experienced, or orchestrated most of these patterns already.
I came into the book hoping for a guide on how to think about teams in a highly dynamic setting. Instead, I found a catalog of common patterns with lightweight commentary. The content feels more observational than instructional, as if written by someone impacted by organizational change rather than someone responsible for driving it. This limits its depth and applicability for those looking to lead organizational transformation.
The book’s audience is also unclear. At times, it seems written for leaders making team decisions. At others, it appears to address individuals navigating changes initiated by others. At others, it seems focused at coaches helping teams navigate change. This lack of focus dilutes the strength of the material.
Stylistically, the book is repetitive. While it includes quotes and anecdotes from others—which I appreciated—those quotes were often followed by near-verbatim paraphrases, which added unnecessary redundancy.
In sum, this book might be helpful for those relatively new to managing or experiencing team change, particularly if they are looking for team-building ideas or language to describe common patterns. But for experienced practitioners, Dynamic Reteaming may feel more like a reminder of what’s already obvious than a source of new insight.
November 20, 2020
I finished reading Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams by Heidi Helfand yesterday. This was a good book, and a little bit different compared to many other management or leadership books in the sense that it focuses on team building. I think managers and leaders with a growth focus should read this book. Heidi draws on her vast experience from coaching at ExpertCity, Procore, AppFolio and Citrix Online, where Heidi was on the original development team that invented GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar.
Here are 5 team change patterns discussed in this book.
(1) One by One - The simplest way to create a new team is to add or remove just one person.
- define career ladders and hierarchy.
- ease the transition for the plus-ones
- invite new ideas from new team members
- consider the experiences of the people already on the team
(2) Grow and Split - This pattern recognizes that teams that were once efficient can outgrow themselves, and breaking those teams into faster, sleeker, more specialized units can prove beneficial.
- put the decision to split in the hands of the people
- lead these split teams into their new mission
- recognize that big teams are valid too
(3) Merging - Merging is the natural inverse of the Grow and Split pattern, where two or more teams combine into a single unit.
- combine teams when the org needs greater flexibility and less specialization
- mentor developers through the natural difficulties of merging
- help team members find their new beginnings
(4) Isolation - This pattern recommends extracting a small team from the larger organization and gave that team the freedom to work differently with a specific goal in mind.
- create isolated teams for both big projects and short-lived problems
- spread around the knowledge and maintenance to prevent messes
(5) Switching - It takes place any time developers move to other teams within the same company, extending their lifespans at the company and helping them grow, learn and find fulfillment in their careers.
- learn what developers’ career goals and interests are—and locate opportunities to further them
- facilitate deliberate switching to spread knowledge and build resiliency
Source: http://www.dragon-bishop.com/2020/11/...
Here are 5 team change patterns discussed in this book.
(1) One by One - The simplest way to create a new team is to add or remove just one person.
- define career ladders and hierarchy.
- ease the transition for the plus-ones
- invite new ideas from new team members
- consider the experiences of the people already on the team
(2) Grow and Split - This pattern recognizes that teams that were once efficient can outgrow themselves, and breaking those teams into faster, sleeker, more specialized units can prove beneficial.
- put the decision to split in the hands of the people
- lead these split teams into their new mission
- recognize that big teams are valid too
(3) Merging - Merging is the natural inverse of the Grow and Split pattern, where two or more teams combine into a single unit.
- combine teams when the org needs greater flexibility and less specialization
- mentor developers through the natural difficulties of merging
- help team members find their new beginnings
(4) Isolation - This pattern recommends extracting a small team from the larger organization and gave that team the freedom to work differently with a specific goal in mind.
- create isolated teams for both big projects and short-lived problems
- spread around the knowledge and maintenance to prevent messes
(5) Switching - It takes place any time developers move to other teams within the same company, extending their lifespans at the company and helping them grow, learn and find fulfillment in their careers.
- learn what developers’ career goals and interests are—and locate opportunities to further them
- facilitate deliberate switching to spread knowledge and build resiliency
Source: http://www.dragon-bishop.com/2020/11/...
June 17, 2023
I think this book covers an important topic - how we team and re-team as people enter and leave our teams and organizations. As a counterbalance to the notion that it is bad to change teams and that we should try to keep teams together and static for as long as possible, it achieves its mission.
I highly anticipated reading this book and thought I would read some amazing new insight or practices. To my surprise, the ideas and practices I found in the book were ones I had already been using and thought of as just good, common sense leadership and organizational design. Maybe there are lots of people out there for whom the practices espoused in the book are new. For those people, this is a very worthwhile book to read.
The most notable nuggets that I read in the book was affirmation that your hiring process should align with how you work, that teaming and reteaming has to be viewed across all levels and scale of the organization (panarchy), and using promiscuous pair-programming as an onboarding technique.
I also found informative the point made by the author about how when people as "How do we maintain our culture?", it usually means the culture has changed (which can be healthy in a growing organization) and that people who are stuck in the previous culture should have honest conversations if this is still the best place for them to continue to grow and thrive (it may be or it may not be). I also loved the example where after an organizational change, the author sent out an email with her initial reactions, but afterwards realized it may be much better to take a few days to remove yourself from the heat of the moment before sharing your thoughts in a very public manner.
The author also provides some great workshop ideas to help teams going through a reteaming process.
Overall, a very worthy book. For me though, much of it was common sense and in alignment with how I've approached reteaming in my career.
I highly anticipated reading this book and thought I would read some amazing new insight or practices. To my surprise, the ideas and practices I found in the book were ones I had already been using and thought of as just good, common sense leadership and organizational design. Maybe there are lots of people out there for whom the practices espoused in the book are new. For those people, this is a very worthwhile book to read.
The most notable nuggets that I read in the book was affirmation that your hiring process should align with how you work, that teaming and reteaming has to be viewed across all levels and scale of the organization (panarchy), and using promiscuous pair-programming as an onboarding technique.
I also found informative the point made by the author about how when people as "How do we maintain our culture?", it usually means the culture has changed (which can be healthy in a growing organization) and that people who are stuck in the previous culture should have honest conversations if this is still the best place for them to continue to grow and thrive (it may be or it may not be). I also loved the example where after an organizational change, the author sent out an email with her initial reactions, but afterwards realized it may be much better to take a few days to remove yourself from the heat of the moment before sharing your thoughts in a very public manner.
The author also provides some great workshop ideas to help teams going through a reteaming process.
Overall, a very worthy book. For me though, much of it was common sense and in alignment with how I've approached reteaming in my career.
April 9, 2021
Teams are constantly changing. Especially in the software world. Rare is the team that is composed of the same people over any length of time. Any addition or subtraction of even one person results in a new team.
This book covers many patterns we’ve all seen. Hires and attrition, rapid company growth and layoffs. With each pattern described you are provided with options and trade-offs. After reading this book I now have more clarity and language to bring to my coaching engagements where I see team change occurring. Heidi Helfand does a great job of distilling experience, research, and many interviews into a clear and actionable addition to your coaching library.
One of the big challenges I’ve encountered in my career can be directly addressed by the patterns in this book. Often times there is secrecy around the changes to teams - “Did you hear Joe left?” “There’s going to be a re-org” - where openness would engage the team providing a greater sense of ownership. Not just their output but the also the organization they are a part of. One of the most surprising patterns listed, Team Choice Marketplace, treats a re-org as an opportunity for each individual to pick the team they want to be part of.
While there is a strong emphasis on software teams the concepts in this book should apply anywhere a group of people are working together. Highly recommended for coaches and leaders looking to bring order to the chaos of team change.
This book covers many patterns we’ve all seen. Hires and attrition, rapid company growth and layoffs. With each pattern described you are provided with options and trade-offs. After reading this book I now have more clarity and language to bring to my coaching engagements where I see team change occurring. Heidi Helfand does a great job of distilling experience, research, and many interviews into a clear and actionable addition to your coaching library.
One of the big challenges I’ve encountered in my career can be directly addressed by the patterns in this book. Often times there is secrecy around the changes to teams - “Did you hear Joe left?” “There’s going to be a re-org” - where openness would engage the team providing a greater sense of ownership. Not just their output but the also the organization they are a part of. One of the most surprising patterns listed, Team Choice Marketplace, treats a re-org as an opportunity for each individual to pick the team they want to be part of.
While there is a strong emphasis on software teams the concepts in this book should apply anywhere a group of people are working together. Highly recommended for coaches and leaders looking to bring order to the chaos of team change.
September 20, 2019
This book is a MUST READ for people leaders of all kinds, PACKED with practical advice on all aspects of teaming (and of course, re-teaming).
In this book, Helfand has identified a range of patterns and anti-patterns that organisations employ with when it comes to how they group people together to work, and how people deal with change. Her findings are based on interviews with coaches, hiring managers, and others, as well as her experience at several organisations. She covers how to form new teams (including aspects of self-selection), how to deal with individuals joining and leaving, and especially deals with the supposed immutable concept of stable teams means no change at all.
There is a well-known Maori saying in New Zealand, “He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata”. What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people. Heidi Helfand shows true consideration for this.
First read this as a work in progress on Leanpub, so it’s great now to see this in print finally.
In this book, Helfand has identified a range of patterns and anti-patterns that organisations employ with when it comes to how they group people together to work, and how people deal with change. Her findings are based on interviews with coaches, hiring managers, and others, as well as her experience at several organisations. She covers how to form new teams (including aspects of self-selection), how to deal with individuals joining and leaving, and especially deals with the supposed immutable concept of stable teams means no change at all.
There is a well-known Maori saying in New Zealand, “He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata”. What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people. Heidi Helfand shows true consideration for this.
First read this as a work in progress on Leanpub, so it’s great now to see this in print finally.
June 29, 2022
I worked as a manager for around 2 years, and on that time, I have to face the reteaming of my area, caused by a growing tech industry which increase the attrition, boy! I would love to have read this book then.
Some valuable lessons from my experience and a product of reflection after reading this book, are that you can’t just move people around and expect everyone understand your “business reasons” for valid they may be, you need to be explicit and repeat the message a lot of times. You have the power to make changes but you have the responsibility for explaining them.
As all the things in life, success come from attention to details and you will find in the book a lot of tactics to put in practice your reteaming.
I don’t like the minimum space given to tech details or to budget, the book is fully written from an “agilism” perspective, if you need advice on these areas this book is not for you.
Some valuable lessons from my experience and a product of reflection after reading this book, are that you can’t just move people around and expect everyone understand your “business reasons” for valid they may be, you need to be explicit and repeat the message a lot of times. You have the power to make changes but you have the responsibility for explaining them.
As all the things in life, success come from attention to details and you will find in the book a lot of tactics to put in practice your reteaming.
I don’t like the minimum space given to tech details or to budget, the book is fully written from an “agilism” perspective, if you need advice on these areas this book is not for you.
October 24, 2021
This book deals with a little discussed subject: how to manage in the best possible way the changes (departure, arrival, split, merge ...) at team level or even company scale.
2/3 of the book explains the context and why of this reteaming (and why it's also good) and the last part gives tips on how to makes these changes easier mainly based on the experiences of the writer.
The best part is really to dig into this important and unavoidable subject which is the permanent reteaming (even for people trying to have stable teams). The 'meh' part are the length of the book (it could be shorter), the sole reliance on the experience of the writer (can we generalize them?) and I would have loved more "how to".
2/3 of the book explains the context and why of this reteaming (and why it's also good) and the last part gives tips on how to makes these changes easier mainly based on the experiences of the writer.
The best part is really to dig into this important and unavoidable subject which is the permanent reteaming (even for people trying to have stable teams). The 'meh' part are the length of the book (it could be shorter), the sole reliance on the experience of the writer (can we generalize them?) and I would have loved more "how to".
February 6, 2023
There are some really interesting concepts and angles that Heidi covers in her book and it has made me think about how to best change teams - and whether it's a good idea to change to begin with (I was in camp "stable teams" before).
Only 4 stars because I didn't like her writing style particularly, it feels oddly "basic". Her research also feels quite narrow, a lot of it is based on her own experience (which is fair enough) and a handful of other companies. Maybe not many institutions do dynamic reteaming well but I thought her research could have been broader.
Only 4 stars because I didn't like her writing style particularly, it feels oddly "basic". Her research also feels quite narrow, a lot of it is based on her own experience (which is fair enough) and a handful of other companies. Maybe not many institutions do dynamic reteaming well but I thought her research could have been broader.
September 27, 2019
If you are pretty certain that teams that remain stable, with fixed team members are the ideal to strive for and that Tuckmans model holds true for stable teams, then this book is worth a read to challenge that assumption. If you are past this assumption and think that teams are dynamic and more complex than this, this book may fail to provide any real insight. I was expecting a little more - maybe I read it too quick :)
July 9, 2020
Dynamic Reteaming presents different approach from what most of us are thinking about team structure (that it should be stable). Interesting idea for building teams and organization. The book itself presents many examples from different teams in general was too long for me, later chapters weren't adding much to theory presented in the beginning of the book.
July 27, 2020
Este libro me ha cambiado la perspectiva en cuanto a organización de equipos.
Antes de leerlo era muy escéptico ya que estaba demasiado acostumbrado a configuraciones estáticas de equipos, pero Heidi aporta contexto y herramientas para poder gestionar cambios dinámicos no ya sin impactar en el desarrollo sino asegurando que no haya silos de conocimientos y la eficiencia.
Antes de leerlo era muy escéptico ya que estaba demasiado acostumbrado a configuraciones estáticas de equipos, pero Heidi aporta contexto y herramientas para poder gestionar cambios dinámicos no ya sin impactar en el desarrollo sino asegurando que no haya silos de conocimientos y la eficiencia.
March 24, 2021
A discoursive manual about team resilience and remembering the human.
Very useful as a physical book to weigh in your options in real-life cases, but there is something to take away in theory.
The book is drawing exclusively from software development startups and has been written as the only ones who can get something out of it, but I disagree: there's something useful for any kind of team.
Very useful as a physical book to weigh in your options in real-life cases, but there is something to take away in theory.
The book is drawing exclusively from software development startups and has been written as the only ones who can get something out of it, but I disagree: there's something useful for any kind of team.
December 14, 2022
Got this book hoping to dive into some instructions/help/routes to follow for changing up a company org. Instead of researched steps or pitfalls, it felt like a majority of the book was Heidi touting "one time, at AppFolio...", "the time I was at Citrix". Incredibly narrow and circumstantial stories about one particular person's experiences didn't much help me learn anything.
June 7, 2019
A collection of patterns and anecdotes for re-teaming. Good for exploring effects of different ways of re-teaming. Lighter on theory with focus on practice, individual preference for either end will determine whether you like this book.
May 3, 2020
This is in my top 5 agile books. Heidi's insights and stories collected here are a treasure trove of observations and patterns. Such a refreshing read - breaking away from communal reinforced "best practice" agile that is so prevalent today.
March 15, 2024
It felt more like a collection of short stories putting the burden on audience to actually get any actionable insights from it.
I would prevent less examples and more actual knowledge and what backs it. Few examples aren't backing for statements in the book.
I would prevent less examples and more actual knowledge and what backs it. Few examples aren't backing for statements in the book.
May 18, 2017
Still a work in progress but has promise. The discussion points are relevant to me and some current issues/concerns.
I will update my review as it nears completion.
I will update my review as it nears completion.
July 5, 2021
Great away of thinking in agile world. The only constant is change, so why not our team model follow that.
February 7, 2022
Good general idea, a few interesting examples. Rather light read
March 10, 2022
Work book, interesting way to manage teams and provided some insight on how to structure and communicate with a team on the benefits.
September 10, 2022
Good insights and stories.
A bit too long and expensive for the content.
A bit too long and expensive for the content.
October 13, 2022
Cool to see the highlights why teams can and should reteam with practical and field knowledge
February 18, 2023
I wanted more focus on reteaming in down cycles, but it was otherwise an interesting book.
November 6, 2023
Enjoyed this a ton!
Many great ideas around changing teams.
Many great ideas around changing teams.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews