agile.managers.essence.leadership
DESCRIPTION
My keynote at AgileIndyConf was about Agile Management: what agile managers do in an agile organization. The reality is this: they perform the leadership work that managers do in any great organization. Managers don't do tactical work. Oh, they might need to do some problem-solving, *if* the team asks for their help. But what managers need to do is create an environment in which people can perform great work. That's what this talk is all about. I had stories which were quite funny. Ask me to speak and I will be funny for you, too!TRANSCRIPT
Agile Managers:The Essence of Leadership
Johanna RothmanNew: Hiring Geeks That Fit
@johannarothmanwww.jrothman.com
© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Do We Need Managers in Agile Organizations?
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
What’s a Leader?
Organize yourselves into two’s and three’s
Together, in your team, take a minute to write down your
definition of a leader
Once you look like you’re done writing, I’ll ask you to
shout out your definitions
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
What Kind of A Team?
Just now, in your two’s and three’s, what kind of team
were you?
What kind of management did you need?
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Some Definitions of Leader
Guide
Conductor
A person who has commanding authority or influence
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Agile Managers Are Leaders
Set strategy
Manage the project portfolio
Remove organization obstacles
Build trusting relationships with people
Lead hiring decisions and process
Build the capacity of the organization
Enable communities of practice
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Manage the Project Portfolio
Say No
Say When
Strategically important work
What it is
When to start it and stop it
Not making those decisions creates management debt
As well as chaos
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
A Calendar View of a Project Portfolio
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
A Kanban View of a Project Portfolio
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Managing the Project Portfolio...
Allows for management iteration and management flow
Cycles allow you to assess strategy
Cycles help you see organizational obstacles
Frees the technical teams to finish work
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Leaders Remove Organizational Obstacles
Individual reviews are an organizational obstacle
I bet some of you don’t believe me, so let’s discuss what
you want from reviews
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Instead of Individual Reviews
Build a trusting relationship
Share the strategy
Share the profits
Provide cost of living raises
to the team
Give the team a team bonus
The team decides
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Trusting Relationships
What keeps people in a job?
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
What Does That Mean for Functional Managers?
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Managers Become Champions
No micromanaging!
Meet often enough, one-on-one to build a trusting
relationship
Allows manager to see the system
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Feedback and Meta-Feedback
Not evaluation or praise; feedback
When you use a peer-to-peer feedback approach:
Create an opening
Describe behavior or results
State the impact
Make a request
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Coaching and Meta-Coaching
Not just teaching, offering options with support
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Career Development
Where can people go in their careers?
How do they know?
How can you help them?
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Build Organizational Capacity
How many of you know your organizational velocity now?
Remove system obstacles
Recognize when a team’s velocity is stuck
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Lead Hiring Effort
Recognize when you need more people
Initiate the hiring
Job analysis
Job description
Manage the phone screens
Manage the interviews and interactions with HR
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Enable Communities of Practice
Consider the small world network approach to problem
solving
Six degrees of separation
Communities of practice
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
Agile Management is Leadership
Managers serve the people in the organization
Guiding
Coaching
Using their influence to ease the way for the work
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© 2013 Johanna Rothman
References and Reading
http://www.influentialagileleader.com/
Rothman, Johanna. Agile Managers: The Essence of Leadership,
Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3, March 2010.
Much more on jrothman.com
Stay in touch?
Pragmatic Manager: www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager
Please link with me on LinkedIn
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