Moved teams internally in March for a role that was described as owning the reporting platform. In practice the previous owner never actually left, keeps doing the work, and I get handed small tickets. I've raised it twice with my manager and got sympathy but nothing changed. My old team is fully staffed now so going back isn't obvious. Do I escalate, wait it out, or start looking?
Go talk to the person still doing the work, directly and without your manager. Half the time they weren't told the handover was meant to be complete, or they're hanging on because nobody explained what they're moving to. I've watched two of these resolve over a coffee after months of triangulating through managers.
Turns out he genuinely thought I was there to help him, not replace him. Nobody had told him anything specific. Awkward conversation, useful conversation.
This is depressingly common. Managers announce a transition to one person and assume it propagates.
Set yourself a deadline now, while you're calm. Mine is eight weeks: if the situation hasn't materially changed in eight weeks, I start looking, no further deliberation. Otherwise you'll be here at month eleven having the same conversation with yourself.
Writing the date down is what makes it real. I put it in my calendar with a note about what "materially changed" means so future me can't negotiate.
Meanwhile, use the time rather than stewing in it. Ship one thing nobody asked for that obviously helps — a dashboard people keep asking for manually, documentation of the thing everyone is scared to touch. Empty calendars are the only time you get to do that, and it's also how you become the obvious owner.
Escalate above your manager. They clearly aren't going to fix it.
@quietmargin · 7mo ago · 3 replies
Stop raising it as a feelings conversation and put it in writing as a scope question. One short email to your manager: here is what I understood I would own, here is what I currently do, here are three specific things I would like to take over by a date. Ask for a yes or no on each.
Sympathy is what you get when the problem is vague. A written list with dates either gets actioned or gets refused, and a refusal is information you can act on. Four months of "I'll look into it" is a soft no that nobody has said out loud.
Reply
Report
@pivot_table_pat · 7mo ago
Sent something close to this. Got two of the three, with the third explicitly staying with the other person "for now". At least I know where I stand.
Reply
Report
@blue_team_bex · 7mo ago
The written version also protects you at review time. "Low impact this cycle" is much harder to say when there's an email from month four asking for impact.
Reply
Report