So at this point we’ve gone through the pre-planning, data collection, stakeholders, strategy, and buy-in. At this point, we hopefully have a team that understands the change that is coming, where we want to be, any potential issues along the way, and they’re sold on the future that we have envisioned. In my case, the people on my team, all champions of the change, have started to work on building their skills with more AI tools and workflow automation software.

The ball is rolling before we’re even really into the execution. Everyone knows what’s coming and what the expectations are. Now let’s look at some logistics before we get into it.

Consider the impact

Hiring

As my team develops a bunch of new skills, we have to consider if we will change what we’re looking for in the job description. Will we still want someone coming to us with no AI-ready skills? Or do we want to start hiring people who have built other systems as a hobby or in work? Professionally I know it would be best to hire someone with the skills already, but personally I will always want to hire someone and build them up.

Training

What training will be needed for the team after the transformation? I will need to find new sorts of training for my team so that we can continue to elevate our skills in AI and workflow automation. Because the field is moving so fast, a lot of training is self directed. As we have 1:1 meetings weekly, I always ask what people are doing for professional development, or what they’re learning. We identify the weak links in our own knowledge and work to find resources to fill in those gaps.

Performance management

With the transformation, what are the new expectations? In our case, the curators need to work more closely with the devs so that we can build functionality into internal and external MCPs, we need to have fewer handoffs between functional groups, and we need to be able to deliver more data to users faster. The way the role works has fundamentally changed and now we need to recognize that the aspects of a curator that would have exceeded expectations last year wouldn’t be seen as favorably this year.

There is a lot of pressure on the function to adapt to the change.

Rewards

With that pressure should come incentives. Maybe that’s bonuses, pay increases, title changes, an extra day off, or even just a shoutout in a Slack channel to celebrate the wins. Different people are motivated by different things, and different levels of change require different levels of rewards. Consider how to incentivize your team within your power.

The structure of the organization

After the transformation, do team structures need to change? Will people still report to the same managers? Do team sizes need to remain the same?

In our case, some teams were dissolved and the people were redistributed to other teams. We also did away with a more junior title on the team

Putting the right people in the right positions

In order to bring about the transformation, you need strong people who can execute in key positions. Overall our transformation has been moving in the right direction, but I still have a gap between my strategy and my execution. That’s one area where I am working to improve.

Shifting power structures

Changes will make some positions more prominent and others less prominent. In our case, the transformation will lead to my function relying less on software developers to deliver certain parts of the product. If the teams were larger, that could lead to some friction, but in our case the software developers got on board because it would mean fewer distractions and more time to build without miscellaneous tasks eating up their day.

Integrating functional units

We already work in cross-functional product PODs, but part of the transformation means that curators and devs can build together in some of these tools rather than handing off work back and forth. This allows for better understanding of each functions requirements and effort. Once a system is built out, then the curators can manage it entirely. The end result is that maintenance takes up less time from both functions.

Avoiding the technology trap

New technology doesn’t solve problems on its own. We started experimenting with some tools in early 2026, now that we’re in early May, we’re starting to see real benefits. The theory was sound earlier this year, but now that we’ve had the time to work with the tools and build processes, we’re actually starting to see the benefit and each process can be expressed in the number of human hours saved.

Just remember that it’s not enough to give my team a new tool. I need to make sure they’re making use of it and remember that it’s available to them until it becomes second nature.

Wrapping Up

Once the change has been happening for a while, remember that people are stressed. It’s not about uncertainty anymore, people may be facing burnout keeping their heads above water. Motivation and momentum are hard to maintain, so try to organize some quick wins the prove the value of the change. These quick wins are smaller and short term, but they build up to bigger and more ambitious goals over time.