Helpful Tips Setting Priorities

Being a white-collar professional is a mixed bag.  With a few clicks of a mouse or the stroke of a pen, construction projects begin, or new markets born.  It is also suffering through bad coffee, office politics, and people who enjoy humiliating others.  It is a load of responsibility without much authority and being separated from your family to provide them with opportunities you never had.  As a professional, it amazes me to see who rises through the corporate food chain and who flounders.  It feels like the worst moments of high school when you thought you were not smart enough, cool enough, or pretty enough to matter to anyone else.  Those who do rise to the top often depend on the invisible people to manage the business and keep the global economy spinning.  One of the most critical skills of keeping the company moving forward is prioritization, and I would like to discuss it.

Roland Pilcher, in his excellent book about product ownership, talks about how every backlog needs prioritization.  Over my career, I am amazed by how many people in positions of leadership have never been forced to set priorities.  I blame this state of affairs on business cultures who are afraid to say “no” to executives.  It is the creation of a fantasy world where anything is possible, and the only limits are money and ego.

People who do not hear “no” often enough cannot set priorities, so it is up to others to teach them how. I have created a grid to help evaluate how to address priorities.  The Y-axis is importance with the high being very important and the low being trivial.  The X-axis is the urgency of a task from mission-critical to inconsequential.  Any work can fall onto the plane and based on where it lands determines how you are going to take action.

Mission Critical and Important - 

Anything which threatens the survival of the business or costs money falls in this category.  Consider it like the e-commerce site is down or your boat in the middle of the ocean is sinking.  You need to stop what you are doing and address it now.

Less Critical but Important - 

These are things which will improve the business and increase profits.  It could be an update to the company website which has full social media integration.  It might be the addition of a more powerful engine on your fishing boat.  Whatever the issue, speed to market means you should do it before your competitors do.

Need to have Items - 

Items which are less critical than the things above which are not time-sensitive are called need to have issues.  These items will generate profit, but they can be scheduled based on budget or staffing priorities.

Nice to have Items - 

When something is neither trivial or essential and it is neither mission-critical or inconsequential, it is known as a nice to have priority.  Things like changing the color scheme of a website or streamlining an ordering process fall into this category.  Fit these tasks in when time allows.

Egoware - 

In large organizations, some people have a tremendous amount of authority and the self-esteem to match.  These individuals look at priorities which may not be essential and give them urgency.  Often it is to satisfy personal preferences rather than business needs.  In the software business we call this kind of development Egoware.  Any organization which fulfills the construction of egoware is toxic, and executives, scrum masters, and coaches should work to eliminate it from the organization; otherwise egoware will choke out the more important work at the firm.

Willful Ignorance - 

The organization is often blind to these issues, which are essential but treated as inconsequential.  For example, a top salesperson is using his expense account to cover gambling losses.  Another example is a toxic person with a history of sexual harassment stalking the office.  In both cases, the organization is looking the other way and treating these risks as inconsequential.  Eventually, they will pay for this inattention, and the problems become more prominent and the financial dangers more considerable.

Things which can wait - 

If something is trivial and inconsequential; it can wait.  Often, we get ideas, or the business comes up with suggestions.  If they are not urgent or essential, they can linger for another day.  These items sit at the bottom of the backlog or project plan. If something can wait it should have “shelf life.”  After sitting in the “to do,” pile for a certain amount of time, it should be reviewed.  If the idea can deliver value it should be moved to the nice to have priority.  If it does not, then it should be scrapped to make room for other ideas.

Peter Drucker, the famous business consultant, said, “First things first, last things never.”  If you take a look at this chart it should be easy to determine what matters what can wait.  You can spot things which are dangerous or dysfunctional to the firm.  Following this approach will make you more competent than many executives at big companies.

Until next time.

The Art and Science of Getting Stuff Done.

If it was easy we would figure out how to automate it.

It feels good to be back.  I left my old firm and joined a new organization.  I took the week off to get accustomed to my new surroundings and sleep schedule.  I also had a holiday week, so I used the opportunity to catch up with family and friends.  Now that I am getting comfortable with my new role, I wanted to talk about the biggest challenge we face in agile and scrum.

The creation of software is one of the few modern products we produce which is nearly impossible to automate.  We have figured out how to automate plenty of things related to software development.  Testing can be automated.  DevOps demands the software building process to be automated.  Anything which is repetitive and tedious can be automated.  Writing software requires plenty of skill and practice to do it well.  Someone needs to take the vague ideas of the business and turn them into something concrete so that the software developers can create something valuable.

It means authoring software is a human process.  Human beings are notoriously messy and prone to error.  If you accept the reality of human messiness, it is easy to understand why projects fail and work does not get done.  A colleague of mine put it best when he said, “It all comes down to people, you can have the best process, but if the people can’t or won’t do it you are lost.”

Specialized professionals have come into being to help make sure the organizations keep going and the processes work.  These people have plenty of different titles and roles.  These people are scrum masters, project managers, and bosses of every conceivable size and strip.  What united them all is they need to be good with people and have strong leadership skills.

The good news is there are plenty of good programs which teach leadership skills.  Combined with practice and desire; anyone can become a competent leader.  Thanks to the Agile Alliance and the Scrum Alliance, we can train skilled people to become Product Owners and Scrum Masters.  These courses and training programs represent the science of project management.  The art combines the technical aspects of scrum mastery and putting it together with the messy nature of human beings to create something new.  It is not easy, and it is emotionally draining.  If done right, it can generate millions of dollars in value.  If done poorly, it resembles a tragically executed piece of performance art.

So leading projects is both an art and a science.  The science understands the things like testing paradigms and the art enters the picture where you have someone with gout working late hours and not getting the work done.  It is not easy to be nothing worthwhile is easy.  So remember the art and science related to your role.  You are going to need both.

Until next time.

A lack of skin in the game for employees

From the blog: ON ART AND AESTHETICS

Last week I talked about three types of cultural factors which can make an agile implementation challenging.  I also spent some time catching up with some of my contemporaries discussing the application of Agile at different firms.  It was a disappointing discussion.  This week I want to talk about agile and the lack of follow through in many organizations.

I started thinking about the inability for the organization to improve their agile maturity when fellow agilest David Koontz posted an article from the Harvard Business review about the failure of digital transformation at many firms. It opened my eyes.  I then noticed a new book published by the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb called “Skin in the Game,” about the uneven relationships we create in the labor market.  The most telling passage was the following.

“True, a contractor has a downside, a financial penalty that can be built into the contract, in addition to reputational costs. But consider that an employee will always have more risk. And conditional on someone being an employee, such a person will be risk-averse. By being employees they signal a certain type of domestication.”

In short, being an employee of a large company creates people afraid of risk and rocking the boat. The company through its leadership and culture incentivizes particular behavior.  The employee trades their skills and dependability in exchange for a paycheck.  It creates situations where conscientious people tolerate ignorance and inefficiency because they say, “…that is how we have always done it.” Thanks to this submissiveness large firms stagnate and die.

It also explains to me why agile coaches are contractors.  In the words of Ken Schwaber, agile holds a mirror up to an organization.  Many organizations are not equipped professionally or psychologically to look at that reflection because they would see the incentives they have created are perverse and the services they offer are not meeting customer needs.  It is like being in the Jean-Paul Sartre novel “Nausea.”  The world we know crumbles away, and we see the disorienting reality of how things are working. Confronted with this we have three choices:

1. Wallow in despair and impotence
2. Ignore the truth and pretend nothing has happened
3. Take action and try to make change

The modern corporation incentivizes employees to make the first two choices.  Those who choose the third option either quit or the company fires them.

So as a scrum master or agile coach we are stuck making a change at the margins and moving on when we cannot do anymore.  The global economy continues to spin, and nothing seems to change. It is easy to get discouraged, but the size and diversity of the agile reformation continue to grow.  According to Scrum.org, over 100,000 people are trained at Scrum.  Figures from the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance are harder to come by, but eighteen years ago the manifesto began with fifteen people in a ski lodge.   The growth of the movement has been increasing and today’s consultants and practitioners will become tomorrow’s managers, directors, and executives.  It is a matter of time, and the Agile reformation will be driving reform inside the business establishment.

So perverse incentives prevent businesses from being more innovative and agile. The good news is the agile reformation is growing and with this growth will come increasing acceptance.  It will not be easy, but it will be worth it.

Until next time.

How Did We Do in 2015?

Looking back at 2015, I will drink to that.

The end of the year is a special time.  For me, it is an excuse to dress up in formal ware, have a good meal, and stay at a hotel where my only risk is trying to find my room key.  It is also a time to make a few predictions and look back at the previous year.  This week I wanted look at some of my past predictions and see how accurate I was.

Last year, I made three major predictions. The first was that competition will do what it is supposed to do in 2015.  In the world of wireless phone service, this seems to be working as a full scale price war has broken out between Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile.  Unfortunately, this is not the case regarding net neutrality as major cable operators including Comcast were trying to create pay for faster service paths.  I am also concerned about plans which do not use data for preferred streaming services.  It also looks like oil prices are also falling because American production capacity is matching that of the OPEC nations.  Competition works if we let it and 2015 validated this.

My next prediction was that the internet of things would pivot.  To many people outside the tech world, the only kind of internet of things they see are home thermostats and the smart televisions that are being marketed.  I think that we are a long way away from smart refrigerators which will reorder food or water heaters which will conserve energy by burning gas when it is cheaper.  Still smart watch use continues to grow and I helped this trend by getting my father a smart watch for Christmas.  After some hiccups setting up the watch, things are going well.  If my seventy something father can use a smart watch, then the future of wearable technology might have a chance.  As for the rest of the internet of things, I think we are going to have to wait a while longer.

My final prediction in 2015 was that agile was going to grow.  I was correct in that prediction but with that increased growth came backlash.  Corporations are learning that in order to be agile they will have to change more than how software is written.  Financing of projects and the relationship between business people and technology professionals will have to change.  This type of change has been especially hard for more conservative organizations who have been doing things a particular way for so long they see no reason to change.

In addition to push back from the CFO and the finance department, developers are also revolting.  Things like SOILD development and test driven development are skills which challenge many developers who began as hobbyists and then entered the field.  The discipline of scrum also has created push back because for years many developers have been able to hide in plain site without having to create shippable product.  That has changed and now it is easy to spot poor quality work and sandbagging among the development staff.  Software engineering is starting to resemble actual engineering and it is a positive trend.  For those unwilling to adapt they are pushing back.

So those were my predictions for 2015, next week I will make some predictions for 2016.  I look forward to seeing you then.

Until next time.

Business Solution Architecture Explained

Our coming changes are not this wild.

Architects get a bad name in technology spheres.  At large companies they take on godlike status because management is under the illusion that one fantastic will architect and hundreds of mediocre developers will create great software.  As someone who has worked in those situations, all I can say is that the architect is a distant figure who has no impact on my job other to tell me that the code I have already written is wrong.  When working on large projects my skills did not improve as a developer and when I needed help I was on my own.  The only time I saw an architect was during the code review process and it was more about being demeaned than learning how to code better.

There is a better way.  When you talk about architecture in the construction business you are talking about a person who has an engineering background, who understands construction techniques and actually draw out blueprints of what they need done.  I truly think that every industry can benefit from an architect, if they actually have the skills to help you succeed.  This is why E₃ systems is expanding its focus.  We are going to be changing our web site over the next month and we are going to be talking about how we can help you manage your business.  We are going to become Business Solutions Architects. 

This rather pretentious term means that at E₃ we will help you improve your business processes by giving you expert guidance on operations, technology, and logistics.  A reprehensive will come into your office and ask you about your daily challenges.  We will learn about your pain points in your business and then will provide you with solutions which will make you more profitable.  For example, if you are struggling with logistics we will be more than happy to get you set up with our Sully 2.0 Business Intelligence platform which will help you stay on top of your inventory. 

We are also working closely with an insurance company to better manage contacts and leads.  As we get closer to release we will tell you more.  Our goal is simple we want to help small and medium sized businesses grow and we have the skills to make that happen. 

Reach out to us today and we will tell you how.

Until next time.