When the Going Gets Weird

 One of my favorite literary lines comes from gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. He observed, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" The last three years qualify as weird. COVID-19, insurrections, and an economy behaving like a character from the television series Fleebag qualify as strange from my perspective. As a scrum master and agile coach, how do you deal with all the weird things in the economy and business world? Today, we are going to discuss it. 

CNBC points out COVID-19 created a 'legacy of weirdness' in the economy. The understatement is breathtaking. We have survived a global pandemic and, in the aftermath, had to grapple with fragile supply chains, market concentration, and labor shortages, which generated inflation. The fight to curb inflation forced central banks to raise interest rates, and the increasing rates kicked off a wave of layoffs at large technology firms. It is a strange chain of causes and effects that have impacted everyone in technology. 

I have pointed out that many tech layoffs were executives' fault for not managing their workforce correctly. Those same executives made bad bets which have not paid off, so the technology marketplace is shedding jobs while remaining immensely profitable. The survivors of this process have a hard choice: how do they carry on in a labor environment they do not recognize? 

I keep returning to the agile manifesto for inspiration—first, ship working solutions for your business and customers. Business leaders are looking for revenue and efforts to drive value to customers. Often, we let the perfect get in the way of good enough solutions for our customers. It is up to us to be the person or team which provides that value. Today, more than ever, generating revenue will set you aside from other technical professionals. 

Next, collaborate with your customers. In weird times, clients and customers are looking for reassurance. Meeting customers and getting to know them and their problems will give you a competitive advantage over other organizations. Building trust with clients will eventually lead to more work and an increase in billing. Creating that trust means delivering solutions and accommodating changes with a smile instead of a new contract with more billable hours. It seems contrary to how we see the business world, but sharing risk between the client and your business means that both of you have a vested interest in being successful. I have worked in plenty of situations where that only sometimes happened. 

It is a weird economy; fortunately, odd people like me turned pro and attempted to make the best of a strange situation. There is no way to make yourself completely immune from layoffs. Still, by collaborating with customers and shipping working solutions, you immunize yourself from the worst attentions of corporate hacks who like to destroy careers. You can do it too. 

Until next time. 

The Authentic Self is the Only Self a Leader Needs

We are all a little weird,
might as well bring it into the office.

We spend plenty of time discussing leadership on this blog.  I have spent most of my life learning lessons from a colorful group of mentors.  I have learned from marines, casino managers, technocrats, and creative professionals.  I have also spent time coaching young people in speech and debate.  The other day, one of my former students decided to blog about her experience working as a grade school principal.  I strongly recommend you give it read.  Something struck me in her prose and it was her observation that each day you have to bring your authentic self to work.  

Working in a global business can be dreary.  I had experiences of managers taking stuffed animals off desks because they did not look “professional.”  I vividly remember a vice-president saying, “I want the rest of the business to treat us as professionals instead of propellor heads.”  It meant that nerf guns, plush toys, and pictures of significant others came off desks.  It was sterile and depressing. Under fluorescent lighting and open office plans, we muddled through writing software.  It was joyless.  

I remember a plastic dinosaur left in a planter.  An administrative assistant adopted the creature and put a ribbon around its neck for a little color.  Six months later an executive having a bad day wrote a memo and instructed security to remove the planter because it did not reflect the professionalism of the firm.  The subtraction of the dinosaur did not increase the company dividend or share price.  It did not win a new customer contract or improve company morale.  It was a petty exercise in authority and power.  The experience stuck with me.  

Since childhood, I have always been a square peg in a round hole.  I was bullied mercilessly as a child by my peers.  I spent most of my middle school years getting beat up by others.  It was only in high school that I learned to begin the process of self-acceptance which continues to this day.  I found refuge in speech and theater.  I learned discipline from JROTC.  Writing allowed me to express myself in deeply personal ways.  I was a weird kid but that weirdness informed my personality and made me the person I am today.  

I bring that weird kid into the office each day.  I do not take myself too seriously but it took me about 25 years to learn the difference between being self-deprecating and negative self-talk.  I idolize goofy people like Bill Murray and Ernie Kovacs but discovered there was a time and place to be goofy and when to focus.   I have the perspective of a journalist in a business environment and I like calling out non-sense when I see it.   Naturally, my career has been very difficult because I am not a cookie-cutter executive.  I speak truth to power which is difficult for people unaccustomed to hearing “no”.  No one would accuse me of being a sycophant.  

Today, people still consider me a little weird but I try to be loyal to the people I serve.  I want to listen to their concerns and needs.  I am willing to tell a joke or wear a silly hat if it breaks tension on the team.  I will make bets with my team for them to surpass themselves which explains why there is a video of me somewhere on the internet dancing to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.  I work for an organization that lets me be my authentic self and it makes me a better leader.  Being vulnerable and authentic is what makes leadership work.  I remember learning the term “mask of command,” in college.  Over my career, I have discovered the mask falls away and in times of crisis, you are exposed as the person you are.  It is better to have others know you as you are rather than as you want them to perceive.   

Being a leader is a life-changing opportunity.  To be successful, you need to put away your mask and bring your authentic self into work.  The people you serve will respect you.  It is the only way to make this opportunity worthwhile.  

Until next time. 

Each Scrum Master and Agile Coach Should Embrace the Weird.

Be Weird!

Being a scrum master in a large organization is filled with contradictions.  The scrum master is a servant leader for development teams with zero authority unless earned.  A scrum master removes impediments to progress and leads to continuous improvement.  It is a mission which often puts the scrum master in conflict with the organization they work.  People in the business see you as a misfit and weirdo.  I firmly believe this is a good thing and coaches and scrum masters should embrace their inner weirdo.

I kept thinking about how change is often promoted by the eccentric, weird, and outcast among us.  Allan Turning and Ludwig Wittgenstein are intellectual giants of the twentieth century.  One invents the concept of software development and computer science.  The other gave us the “Tractatus- Logico Philosophicus.” Our understanding of computing and language would never be the same thanks to these two people.

Both people were also profoundly weird.  Turning was a closeted gay man with a penchant for wearing a gas mask to ward off allergies.  He was also overly protective of his tea mug chaining it to a radiator.  Wittgenstein was weirder than Turning;  he quit university teaching to build a house for his sisters.  He claimed his book “Tractatus- Logico Philosophicus,” was the last book of philosophy anyone will ever need, and he also liked to pick fights with his contemporaries like Karl Popper. 

Today people like Turning and Wittgenstein would not make it out a Ph.D. program at a big ten college let alone be tenured faculty at a major university like Cambridge of the 1930’s.  The world of business has similar stories.  Bill Gates was a college dropout who could not complete his eagle scout when he was in high school.  By every definition he was a nerd, breaking into computer labs to get more time on mainframes.

I doubt a computer company or venture capitalist would give someone like Gates the time of day.  His elevator pitch would be too bland, his sweat-stained oxford shirts would not look professional, and what does a college dropout know about business.  The truth is Bill Gates is one of the countless oddballs, misfits, and weirdos who have moved business, technology, and society forward.

It is why when I saw this tweet from the Muppets I had a revelation.

Some people think it's okay to be weird, but they're wrong... It's AMAZING to be weird!!! There's absolutely nothing better!

— Gonzo (@GonzotheGreat) September 6, 2018

Being weird is amazing.  Not living in the box others live in is fantastic.  Being able to speak truth to power because they do not take you seriously is fantastic.  Making changes which are crazy enough to work is terrific.  Being weird is a lonely path, but the friends you do make are amazing.

As a scrum master or agile coach, you are in a weird role doing weird things which the rest of the organization consider weird.  The truth is what you are doing is amazing, and you are going to be remembered with more fondness than the boring CEO who speaks in accounting jargon.

Go forth, be weird and be amazing!

Until next time.