Bus Factor Blues: What Happens When Your MVP Gets Hit by a Bus?

Mitigating the risks of losing your most vital players

Photo by Michal Collection on Canva

Recently, our small but rapidly growing data analytics team lost our senior data scientist, Amelia — the technical brains behind our innovative product. When Amelia announced she was leaving to join another agency, I panicked. Her sudden departure threatened to derail our entire service roadmap. If I could repeat the situation, I would have mitigated this key man risk long before her jarring two-week notice. I would have cross-trained other engineers in her specialized skills, documented tribal knowledge, and groomed a successor. Losing our star staff Amelia slammed our operations, stalling new features for months as her expertise walked out the door. The entire ordeal taught me firsthand the importance of minimizing reliance on any solo superstar — as brilliant as they may be. Organizations need resilience against the inevitable churn of cherished human capital. Here is what I wish I had done ahead of time to manage key man risk…

Identify Key Positions and Employees

The first step is to objectively determine which roles and employees are truly vital to the organization’s performance and prospects. These might be C-suite leaders responsible for strategy, vision, and relationships. Or they could be top technical experts in product development, marketing gurus driving sales, or rainmaking salespeople landing major deals. Document what makes these people so instrumental in tangible terms like revenue generation, innovations created, and critical skills possessed.

Cross-Train Employees and Build Bench Strength

With key positions defined, focus on building redundancy in talent and skills. Cross-train other employees so multiple people are capable of handling crucial responsibilities. Promote from within to develop next-in-line leaders with institutional knowledge. Offer training in scarce but vital skill sets. Building this bench strength reduces dependence on a solo star performer. It also supports succession planning by readying internal candidates to assume key roles.