Our Head of Sales and our Head of Operations are constantly fighting over our software development team's time, with sales demanding custom features for clients and operations demanding internal automation. How do we resolve this peer-to-peer friction?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic resource bottleneck that frequently causes bitter peer conflict. When two department heads are fighting over a shared resource, the problem is almost always a lack of clarity in your strategic priorities. You cannot let them fight it out or expect your Integrator to constantly play referee. To resolve this friction, you must bring both leaders back to your V/TO®, specifically your 1-Year Plan and your quarterly Rocks. During your next Level 10 Meeting™, put this resource conflict on the IDS® board. Ask both leaders to state their cases calmly. The criteria for decision-making must not be who shouts the loudest, but which project directly supports our current quarterly Rocks and long-term valuation goals. If your priority this year is preparation for a clean exit, then internal automation that boosts EBITDA and scalability might take precedence over a one-off custom feature for a single sales prospect. Conversely, if your goal is aggressive market expansion, the sales feature might win. Once the priority is decided based on the V/TO®, the decision is final. Both leaders must commit to it. Additionally, you need to clarify the accountability for the software team. If the software team reports to Operations, then Operations has the final say on the development roadmap, but they must use a transparent intake process to evaluate sales requests. By shifting the conversation from a personal battle to a strategic alignment exercise, you eliminate the emotional friction. Your leaders will learn to solve their conflicts peer-to-peer by looking at what is best for the organization.