Katie Bauer!

Weak concept teams are also a big part of why IC data scientists can end up functioning as peers to xfn partners of higher rank. It makes for a strange life as a DS manager because in some ways, the ICs you manage end up having more organizational power and influence than you do

I suspect that to a certain extent, strong concept teams are all alike, and every weak concept team is weak in its own way. But one thing you have to let go of as a manager of a weak concept team is the idea that your ICs are your subordinates.

In the same way that your ICs won’t get far by demanding their partners listen, you will also need to be gentler. If the IC is tightly partnered with another team, they will likely have more context in a project or area, and will know better than you what they need to do next

This can be an intimidating position to be in, but again: your IC's aren't your subordinates. They're your team mates, and you need to understand their situation to be able to offer something useful to them

A technique I’ve found effective for this is trying to learn from the IC. Talk about what they’re working on, then dig into the project’s origin, who cares about it, what will happen when it’s done. Listen and really try to understand. THEY the expert here, not you

Once they’ve gotten a chance to demonstrate their expertise, you know what they know and you’re on much better ground to add your own perspective. But be prepared for them to have already thought about what you say or have a reason why it doesn't make sense here

What have you found to be effective wrt staying aware of teams' work in weak concept teams?

In my experience, it partly depends on the scope of the weak concept team since there's naturally a breadth/depth tradeoff there. But in any kind of scenario, I try to make sure I understand the context IC is working in and how they're investing their time.