The Road to Damascus and Agile

Enjoy this holiday weekend.

Each day millions of people go to work.  A person spends a third of their lives working to provide for themselves and their families.  In the modern economy, it means being adaptable and finding value in any situation.  It is challenging and filled with anxiety because, at any moment, forces outside our control could threaten our livelihoods.  With the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we should reflect on work and how it should be. 

I became a member of the agile reformation over ten years ago when I discovered agile could be a better way to work.  I was tired of the drudgery of a project which had no payoff.  Technology leadership exhibited the worse traits of authoritarian management, and your best was never good enough.  I felt something had to change.  Since that “road to Damascus,” moment, I have devoted myself to the agile movement.

The manifesto has four simple values and twelve principles.  Professionals have used this tool to help make work better and more humane.  Now we understand how to eliminate waste, deliver value, and improve quality without being callous or working people to death.  Along the way, I have grown exponentially and met plenty of great fellow travelers. 

As we settle in for a long weekend, take some time to relax and spend time with the people you love.  We have a global economy to rebuild and a business community to reform.  We need to put people back to work, and I look forward to being with you during the journey.  

Until next time and have a happy Memorial Day Weekend.  

Set the Ego Aside and Be a Leader

Set the Ego aside and lead.  

Writing about agile, scrum, software development, and leadership is like walking around with a giant target on your back.  The people who know you and work with you are on the watch for you practicing what you preach.  It makes you very aware of what you do and how you do it.  Making matters more complicated is you often tie up your ego in your work, so when others question your leadership, it feels like a personal attack.  We need to talk about ego and leadership.

Being in charge of others is a serious responsibility.  It is also a massive charge to your ego.  People count on you, and they listen to your orders.  Being a boss has plenty of perks.  In reality, the respect, obedience, and ego boost of leadership is an illusion because the responsibilities of leading others are often more significant than the perks.

Additionally, someone above you is expecting a result.  Thus, a leader is pulled in two different directions one by the people he is tasked to lead and the other by the people who lead them.  It is a delicate balance.  It is why I am a big believer in what is called servant leadership.  It is the notion that the best kind of leadership is the kind where you are serving others.  Instead of concentrating on authority and action, a servant leader is a coach and a mentor.  The military has a saying, “Officers eat last.”  The implication is that only when the troops have a healthy meal is it time for the leadership to dine.  It puts the needs of the people doing the fighting and dying over the needs of the people who lead them.  In the civilian world, it means the performance of the team is more important than the ego of the leader.  

In software development, a leader is often in charge of people who are smarter than they are.  It means that advice is coming from a place of knowledge, and it is up to a leader to consider it seriously.  It means setting aside your personal needs and looking out for the team and its mission.  I have only recently come to this discovery.  Set your ego aside and listen to others on how to be a better leader.  Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said it correctly when he said, “Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.”

Author Kim Scott, in her work, “Radical Candor,” further reinforces this mindset.  Ask for feedback and receive it gladly.  Take time out to put that feedback into actionable practice.  Finally, check back with the people giving you feedback because it shows that you care, and you are seeking to improve.  Leadership is not about you or your ego.  Leadership is about the team and getting things done.

As leaders, we need to get over ourselves and focus on improving ourselves and our teams.  It means letting go of our ego and accepting feedback.  When you reach this understanding is when you transition from being a boss to a servant leader.  

Until next time.

Be an Example for Your Scrum Team

Leading by example is a key tool.

It takes hard work and commitment to become a leader.  You spend years learning to master your craft and developing the credibility you need to influence others.  Once you have reached that level of skill, you are in charge of a bunch of people, and management expects results.  Here is where the leadership gets tricky; you often do not have a clue how to motivate a group of strangers into delivering the results desired.  It is time to discuss that challenge.  

When I join a new organization or client, I want to promote the five values of scrum; openness, focus, commitment, respect, and courage.  It amazes me how many corporate cultures discourage these traits in their people.  Often individuals have worked in environments which promote orthodoxy, compliance, and obedience.  We teach people to do things the company way, and if they cannot, they leave.  Conditioning like this over the years is hard to overcome.  What helps breakthrough is to practice the skills you want others to copy.  

I want people to understand commitment by practicing it myself.  I spend time with the developers during product release or critical bug fixes.  Often, I am not required to be there, but if I expect someone to work overtime to fix a problem, I better be willing to do the same.  

You cultivate openness and respect by doing simple and small things.  Call people by their names and avoid using nicknames for your people.  I prefer to be called Ed instead of Edward.  I also do my best to pronounce the names of my off-shore developers.  It is a sign of respect when you address a person by their name and pronounce it correctly.  Openness is being clear about what you expect and what others should expect from you.  I open conference calls five minutes early because I want meetings to start on time.  When I miss a meeting, I send out a notice so that people know I have a reason and respect their time. 

Courage is living your life in an honest and frank manner.  It is saying what needs to be said when it is not popular.  It is making promises to others and honoring them.  Courage is betting your career each day and taking risks to get things done.  

Focus is one of the hardest things to do in a corporate environment.  Internal politics dominate decision making, people are worried about who gets the credit, and the noise from business media and shareholders can be a distraction.  Each day you are pulled in different directions.  Focus is being able to set aside those distractions and concentrate on what is essential.  To me, I must deliver software at regular intervals and provide value to my customers.  In the words of one of my mentors Angela Dugan, “Do your job, and if they fire you, it is their problem.”

The values of scrum need to be practiced by the team.  It means walking the walk as well as talking the talk.  It is why leadership is hard.  

Until next time.

Avoid Heroism and Practice Radical Interdependence.

Anyone who tells you leadership is easy is either a liar or a fool.  Each day leadership is tested by interpersonal disputes, market demands, and gaps in knowledge.  People count on leaders to have emotional balance when everything is going wrong.  It is facing difficult questions when you do not know the answers.  You must be firm one moment and understanding the next.  When things go well, you give credit to others, and during failure, you take responsibility.  Leadership is one of the most challenging skills to cultivate.  It is a duty and calling rather than a heroic struggle.  I want to discuss it.  

Leadership is more than a stance.

We often train a leader at an early age.  Young people become captains of sports teams or members of the student government.  Junior ROTC programs do an excellent job of teaching the skills of leadership and followership.  The early training in leadership is beneficial, but over the last thirty years, I have discovered that it is incomplete.  For the last two hundred years, we have expected leaders to have answers to every challenge and be able to motivate others.  A leader formulated a plan, and the followers executed the project.  Today, in a global and creative economy, this is no longer true. 

A contemporary leader must depend on others with specialized knowledge.  A deep understanding of the law, finance, computer software, logistics, and marketing is impossible for one person to gather in a lifetime.  Today, a plan requires multiple people to formulate and execute.  The contemporary world is too complicated and chaotic to come up with natural solutions.  

It is why I discovered a TED talk from South African food executive Lorna Davis.  She talked about how she bought into the myth of heroic leadership.  She also found heroic leadership did not effect change within her organization.  People applauded her works and went about doing the same things they did before she joined the organization. Heroic leadership failed.  She goes on to mention that a new model of leadership needs to develop, and she called it “radical interdependence.”  A leader should have a goal, and it is up to the team on how to achieve that goal.  It requires listening, empathy, and giving others a chance to excel.  It is anything but heroic.  

I did not realize I was using this approach when I confessed during a meeting I was stumped.  I did not know how to address a quality problem, and I asked, “Anyone have any idea how we are going to fix this?”  Within a day, I had answers, and the leaders at the off-shore office were implementing them without checking for permission.  The off-shore team knew if I disapproved, I would let them know, so they decided to take the initiative.  I am confident our quality issues will clear up.  

Radical interdependence requires trust and allowing others to come up with solutions.  It involves a surrender of control, which many successful people find uncomfortable. It relies on asking questions instead of giving orders.  It is physically and mentally exhausting because you are stretching your emotional intelligence and practical knowledge.  You are learning and growing with the people you are leading.

Leadership is the most challenging skill a person can acquire, and it is impossible to master.  It is clear why the military calls command a burden.  Each day you are tested, and failure can mean the loss of millions of dollars or even lives.  I think Lorna Davis has some useful guidance about leadership.  I am going to ignore the liars and fools.  

Until next time.