Gaslight does not help Agile

Business should never run by gaslight.

As a scrum master, you spend much of your time getting individuals and teams to improve.  It is the central role of a scrum master to encourage improvement.  Countless training courses have come along to help people better coach and facilitate change.  The work is deeply satisfying and provides direct value to the team and organization.  Eventually, a team will reach a plateau of improvement.  It happens because further growth requires changes to the organization surrounding the team.  The biggest frustration of my agile practice is overcoming those cultural and organizational barriers to agility.  I have noticed a significant portion of colleagues and managers have a vested interest in discouraging the spread of agile because it threatens their careers.  Every reformation has a counter-reformation, and this week on the blog, I want to discuss the most dangerous tool used by agile opponents; gas lighting.

The term gaslighting originated from the 1944 movie “Gaslight,” starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer.  The film follows Bergman as she is slowly driven insane by Boyer to obtain her inheritance.  The film highlights the cruelty and abuse required to force someone to doubt their reality.  Today, the concept applies to any situation where you have a narcissistic or sociopathic person attempting to manipulate someone else.

According to Ken Schwaber, one of the original signatories of the agile manifesto, scrum holds a mirror to the organization.  Gaslighting begins when colleagues and managers are embarrassed by what is in the mirror.  For instance, a manager could accuse you of pushing the organization or team too fast.  The reality could be you are making the manager look bad because the team is delivering software better than they ever could.  It is gaslighting because the reality is their team is shipping software, but in the manager's eyes, you are upsetting the natural order where they control releases instead of the team.  Feedback like this is insidious because in many organizations the manager’s opinion counts when it comes to appraisals, pay raises, and promotions.

The website “The Ladders,” has a blog on typical gaslighting behaviors which are employed.  If you experience those behaviors, you should leave the organization.  Life is too short to work for an organization which makes you crazy.  Scrum helps address gas lighting behavior because the transparency of inspection and adaption provide physical proof of software releases, performance improvement and pace of the team.  Finally, I have discovered shipping software silences most critics in an information technology organization.  The work speaks for itself which drives the power hungry, absent, incompetent, and micromanaging to use gas lighting to save their necks.

I am a big fan of Kim Scott and her book “Radical Candor.”  Gaslighting is the polar opposite of radical candor.  Scott calls it manipulative insincerity.  Gaslighting is the inability, to tell the truth, and care personally for the performance of the person being coached.  It is abusive.  When it happens, it should be called out, and if it continues, it is up to Human Resources and leadership to become involved.

Organizations who want to succeed should understand gas lighting behavior is wrong.  I have been in numerous situations which were examples of gas lighting.  The survival tactic I have relied upon is to count on my peers for support and seek out authentic coaching.  The first step to fighting this form of abuse is to recognize it is happening; the next is taking action.  I have I have given you a few tools to do it.

Until next time.

Looking Ahead to 2019

Happy New Year!
 Looking back and forward.

The Christmas holidays are a blur of family, friends, and food.  The last week has been an exercise in sleeping late, snacking on food which is bad for me, and drinking a variety of fermented beverages.  It is also a time to reflect on the last year and look forward to 2019.

I got a few predictions right in 2018.  The battle between Amazon and Google did get fiercer.  I purchased smart lights and expanded the number of Google devices in the marketplace.  It is also clear Google is starting to pull away with a better quality product.  As of August 2018, Google was starting to pass Amazon in sales.  I hope this forces more innovation and lowers prices.  It would be nice if these smart speakers were the cost of a contemporary clock radio.

I was partially correct about politics in the last year.  Democrats did make a comeback, but the GOP leveraged its structural advantages to retain the U.S. Senate and some state house governments.   It was also clear the two parties are tragically unable to compromise.  Authors pointed out these differences were not a question of ideology but epistemology.  When Christine Blasey Ford, provided credible accusations of sexual assault against a Supreme Court nominee GOP senators saw someone who was “misremembering” a teenage event to destroy a career.  Democratic senators saw it as behavior toward women which was disqualifying.  In light of these events, it is clear the GOP, and the Democrats see women and sexual assault in different ways.

Last year was not just the spectacle of politics and commerce; I made some significant changes.  I decided to concentrate more on my brand.  I presented to the Agile 2018 conference, and I am working on my 2019 white paper for next year.  I spent time at the London 2018 coaching retreat and have given more discussions on Healthy Ownership.  It is a good start, but I have more work to do.  I have to concentrate on my coaching certification with the Scrum Alliance.  I am also returning to work, so I am looking forward to working with new people and challenges.

So what does 2019 look like?  I have three predictions.

The Messy Repercussions of Oversight – 

With Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, oversight of the executive branch will begin.  It will create numerous uncomfortable conflicts around the emoluments clause, nepotism and petty corruption from the executive branch.  I feel this oversight is necessary to hold powerful people accountable.  The aftermath of this oversight will be increase distrust in government and the deepening of the epistemic divide between the two major political parties.

Chubby Capitalism –

The American economy is chugging along creating jobs and wealth.  I suspect much of the growth is the result of low interest rates and mergers.  Gross domestic product is increasing, but there are troubling signs the good times are going to slow down.  I affectionately call the situation, “chubby capitalism,” as large companies bloated with market share and stock buy-backs struggle to adapt to the changing global market.  Some of these “chubby” companies are going to get eaten alive by faster competitors.  Others will be forced to shrink or face extinction.  Caught in the middle will be workers facing more risk and insecurity caused by the binging and purging which will happen next year.

Agile Tribes – 

I have noticed serious disagreements among the members of the Agile community.  The feud between the “No Estimates,” crowd and those who are skeptical is becoming bitter.  Kanban is growing in popularity, and this creates friction with Scrum professionals.  Finally, businesses are creating these quasi-roles for scrum coaches, senior scrum masters, and junior scrum masters.  I want both the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance to put down their collective feet and insist that scrum mastery and coaching are complementary skills.

So that is 2018 and a look ahead to 2019.  I hope everyone has a safe and sane New Years.

Until Next time.

This reformation may take a while

Progress takes time.
  Image courtesy of Pawel Jonca.

The history of progress and social change is rocky.  The first feminists from the Seneca Falls convention did not live to see the passage of the women’s suffrage.  Women would continue to struggle for equal rights and acceptance outside the home and today women in technology face the soft misanthropy of “Brogramer” culture.  It is discouraging that each step forward leads to another pushback from people who feel threatened by that change.  It has been on my mind as I see businesses struggle with accepting the agile reformation sweeping business. 

Like many technology professionals, I receive e-mail messages daily from recruiters.   These individuals want me to sell my home and relocate to remote parts of the country for six to twelve-month contracts.  I ignore these messages politely or reply that I am not interested in relocation.  This week I receive a notice for a “scrum-project manager.”  I was intrigued.  I glanced at the requirements, and this is what I found. 

• Two to three years’ experience in SCRUM
• Two to three years’ experience as a BA/Project manager.
• One or more years of Experience in JIRA.
• Great Communicator.
• Organized.
• Salary 50k to 75K

I did a double take and then attempted to unpack this request.  According to the Scrum guide, there are only three roles; developers, a product owner, and scrum master.  There is no mention of a project manager.  Agile and Scrum according to the manifesto put, “Individuals and interactions over process and tools.”  I appreciate the author of the job post understands that communication skills and organization are not optional for a scrum master.  Finally, the salary requirements are laughable and way below the $100,000 national median compensation stated in LinkedIn.  For a company attempting to adopt agile, this is not a credible offer.

The person who wrote this job requirement should be embarrassed.  The salary is in the lowest percentile quarter of prevailing wages.  The author does not understand the role of a scrum master, and they confuse agile experience with project management.  Anyone who is thinking about this role should reconsider.  It will stunt your career growth, and the company appears to be paying lip service to Agile.

It is my hope businesses will do a better job writing these requirements and recruiting proper agile talent.  Unfortunately, this means executives and human resources professionals still have a long way to go before they understand agile and what it takes to be a twenty-first-century company.  Just like the feminists of Seneca Falls, after seeing job requirements like this, I am afraid that I may not live to see that change.

Until next time.

Software Development needs Women

We need more women in Technology.

I take a great deal of pride in what I do.  Being a scrum master is difficult but it has plenty of intrinsic rewards.   As I have muddled through my career, I have noticed the technology business is diverse.  I have worked with Indian, Pakistani, Russian, and Latino developers.  I have worked with every possible religious group from atheists and pagans to evangelical fundamentalist Christians.  The only criteria in the technology business I have encountered is could a person write good code.  Race, creed or color never disqualified a person from being a software engineer.  Unfortunately, gender is not diverse in the technology business.  We need to do a better job having women represented in the ranks of coders and agile practitioners.   This week, I want to formally provide my support for efforts to get more young girls to join the profession I love.

In the early days of software development, women and men were equally involved in the trade.  These pioneering software developers were business people first who learned how to write software without a formal collegiate curriculum.  One of the best depictions of this period is the film “Hidden Figures” which shows women of color working for NASA.  The 1950’s and 1960’s were not a golden age of diversity in American Business, but in the early days of software development, there was less gender disparity.

I believe that this changed as colleges began accepting undergraduates for computer science course.  Men began to dominate in this academic major, and it created a feedback loop of men helping other men get into the profession.  As women retired from the occupation, men replaced them.  These individuals knew how to code but did not understand the businesses they were working. As the business of software development became more lucrative and prestigious, companies pushed more women out the activity.  With fewer women in the occupation, the “brogrammer” culture began to grow, and software development teams became hostile work environments.  With the rise of Silicon Valley software shops, this trend became more pronounced, and it has been severely parodied in popular culture thanks to the HBO series. 

I am glad to report that over the years, I have run into plenty of exceptional women who walk a lonely road and work in this profession.  It is also good to see the rise of organizations like Girl Scouts and Code Like a girl encourage young people to get into the profession.  There is plenty of toxic masculinity in this business, and only with the addition of more women, a means to discourage it.  Finally, it is important that men support women in this craft.

Software development is a diverse profession, but it could do better with gender equity.  It is up to all of us in the business to recognize that girls can code and they are welcome in the profession.

Until next time.

Harassment is NOT Agile

Harassment is unacceptable always

Writing software is one of the few human activities we have not been able to automate.  This is why people like Angela Dugan and I say that software development is a messy process.  In spite of the education and training necessary to be a good software developer the technology business still struggles with misogyny.  If software development is going to become agiler, we will need to address these issues.

I have been adamant on this blog that the technology world needs to be more accommodating to women.  I have openly criticized the misogyny of others in the technology business.  This week Susan J. Fowler described her experiences working as an engineer for Uber.  I will let the blog post speak for itself.  As a developer, you should not have to put up with unwelcome sexual advances from management.  Also, when you make a credible accusation of harassment, it should be treated seriously by human resources.

I think this is part of what Slate magazine calls, "..the open hostility many technology firms have for women." I have noticed this throughout my career and have repeatedly called it out.  Women are just as good as men as software developers. Gender is not an obstacle to success in this field.

I suspect that misogynistic men join the software business for three principle reasons; 1) they like building things, 2) they like showing off their intelligence for ego gratification purposes, and 3) people in the technology business like creative destruction especially if you can flout social norms.

Building things is a natural human endeavor.  Building things are traditionally masculine in many cultures.  Thus, women involved with technology could be regarded with suspicion because they took part in a traditionally male activity.  Since the rise of second-wave feminism, men have been pushing back in the indiscrete ways to women who want to participate in manly activities.  I firmly believe that this is insecurity on the part of some men who feel threatened by women competing with them for success.

Since the early days of Western civilization, men have enjoyed bragging.  They would brag about athletic prowess and business success. Scientists and philosophers would opine about their intelligence to anyone who would listen.  Over the last four thousand years, men continue to do these things and being the smartest, best, and most successful engineer is a gateway to more success.  Thus, the engineering culture of software includes plenty of people who are willing to tell you how smart they are.  A select few can back up that claim.  Throwing women into this completive and egotistical environment is a recipe for harassment.

Finally, the notion of creative destruction appeals to many.  For the smart but emotionally unintelligent, an algorithm is a tool for vengeance for every playground bully, spurned romance or humiliation suffered.  Success is the best revenge and what better revenge than to ruin someone who metaphorically kicked sand in your face financially.  For the people who are not technically gifted but are more emotionally intelligent and competitive, the world of technology gives them a place to move fast, take names, and amass lots of money and power.  Naturally, these folks gravitate to sales and management.

Combine the need to build things with egotistical preening and the ability to engage in creative destruction; you have a toxic stew of masculinity which is particularly hostile to female engineers.  If the technology business wants to become more agile and fruitful, this kind of behavior needs to stop before a sexual harassment suit with punitive damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars shuts down a promising technology company.

Quid Pro Quo sexual harassment or hostile workplaces are antithetical to Agile.  It undermines trust on software teams.  It halts the exchange of ideas at the firm.  Finally, it creates an environment of fear which acts as cancer on any organization.  As Agile Coaches or Scrum Masters, we need to be on the front lines and help manage this behavior out of any organization.  What happened to Susan Fowler should not happen to anyone at any company.  That fact it happened at a technology company makes me doubly determined to make sure it does not occur at any technology company I am associated.

Until next time.

I Can't Believe I was Being this Dumb

I can learn a few things from this guy.

A scrum master is a leader without any authority.  They are someone you follow because they help you become a better developer and help you finish projects in a timely manner.  It is not for everyone.  I spend much of my time in self-reflection and attempting to improve my skills.  I also have to control my autocratic and curmudgeonly nature when I am dealing with individuals who are not pulling their weight.  On twitter, I had an interesting interaction with someone I respect in the user experience field Gail Swanson and I think there are a few lessons to be shared.

Like many of us, she uses twitter as a place to vent frustrations, test out ideas and share knowledge.  I respect her and follow her because she has plenty of things to say about being a good user experience person.  Then she shared this on twitter.

Imagine if your boss referred to the male employees as 'boys'. Doesn't feel right, does it.

— Gail Swanson (@practicallyUX) August 12, 2016

I responded with the following

I use "Ladies. And Gentleman" is that acceptable? https://t.co/5enCJj4YpZ

— (((Ed Wisniowski))) (@eeeThree_ed) August 12, 2016

Finally, Angela Dugan chimed in and she might as well have dropped a mike.

@eeeThree_ed @practicallyUX how about "team" or "everyone". Unless it's a super gender specific topic/event, why even bother being specific

— Angela Dugan (@OakParkGirl) August 13, 2016

It took some time for this to sink in but it dawned on me that words and behaviors matter.  What I consider being respectful to my developers comes off as condescending and superior.  How I spoke to them effected their performance and it need to change right away.  I was being dumb.  So now, I use the terms “everybody”, “team” or “folks” to refer to the people I am working with.  I was doing something dumb and it took people I respected to point it out to me.

A contemporary scrum master has to interact with numerous people.  They work with off shore teams and on shore teams.  They are mixed by gender and religious affiliation.  I have Sikh, Muslims and Hindus working for me off shore.  On shore, I deal with evangelical Protestants, Neo-Pagans and Atheists.  What unites all of us is that we know how to code and that we are working on the same project.  I as the scrum master need to respect these cultural differences and keep everyone focused on the end goal.  My personal feelings or prejudices need to called out and controlled if I am going to guide these individuals to their goal.

It also means that the macho cruft that you see in software development needs to go away.  I am fortunate enough to work at an organization where women are incorporated into all of the development teams.  I think that has improved the development teams.  The testers, technical leads, developers, and QA people who are female are regular members of the teams and because of their skills have earned the respect of their male colleagues.  For our organization, diversity produces better results.

So there you have it; a scrum master needs to change and adapt.  The increase of off-shore development and the number of woman in the profession, has made me confront some of my own prejudices and make changes. I hope others can learn from my example.  I am just trying to be a better scrum master and guy.

Until next time.

We need more women in tech.

Women are just as good as men in tech.

I have spent over fifteen years in the technology business as a consumer, developer and scrum master. One constant during my career is that there are not enough women working in technology. Numerous articles have been written on the subject and plenty of initiatives are bubbling up around the web to teach women to code.  Still, I want to address a few of the myths I have heard about women and technology which need to be discredited.

1)Women are not logical enough to code.

This is false.  The American Psychological Association states, “…gender differences in math achievement are largely due to cultural and environment factors” (emphasis mine).  So given and equal level of training women and men are equally good at math and by default logic.

2)Women cannot work the log hours required of programmers.

This is a cop out for two reasons.  First, working more hours does not guarantee better work.  According to the Harvard Business Review the more hours a person works the less productive they become.  Second, long hours are often a failure of project planning and business leadership. Individual developers should not have to pay the price for bad planning.

The above said, working extra hours and being involved in crunch time is a perverse badge of honor.  I like it when the Netizen Corporation Blog says, “This is a representation of failure rather than commitment.”

Having women in the office particularly women with families lives tempers this desire to work insane hours as a form of perverse competition.  When you have lives outside of work it tends to make that labor more productive.

3)Women hurt the teamwork of the development crew.

Study after study has shown diversity of gender, race and religion yields better decision making.  If anything software development is about making decisions.  People do feel discomfort when thrown together with groups they are unfamiliar but one they get over that discomfort their performance improves.

I have experienced first-hand the change which takes place when women are added to a development team.  Jokes about alcohol consumption and romantic conquests go way down.  The men on the team care more about their hygiene and appearance.  Everyone becomes more polite and professional with each other.  Finally, disagreements are worked out in a more civil fashion.  It is not perfect but it is much better than working on all male teams.

4)Women are just not as knowledgeable.

There are plenty of women in technology who have fantastic skills.  Marissa Mayer did not graduate from Stanford and become and executive at Google because of her good looks.  She was a smart and capable engineer who also brought to the table a keen sense of design and a fanatical devotion to metrics.

From a more personal perspective, Angela Dugan author of the “The TFS Whisperer” has become a role-model and big sister of sorts.  She introduced me to TFS, Agile, and better development methods.  She leads the Chicago ALM group and has a profoundly strong reputation among the development community around Chicago.  I have known Angela for over five years and I am better technologist because of it.

These two women are just some of the people I know who bring a sense of craft and commitment to their technical skills.  This just confirms to me that you do not need to have a UNIX beard in order to be knowledgeable.

Technology needs more women but some of these myths I have attempted to discredit have gotten in the way.  If this situation is going to improve men and women are going to have to step forward and quash these faux myths of male programming superiority.  Otherwise we will continue to be stuck in the same destructive patterns we see today in the world of development.

Until next time.