This article by Larry O’Brien got me fired up… Not because I disagree with the notion of some software developer being 10 times as “fast” delivering software as the average developer. Because that is not what productivity means. Productivity is about leverage, not speed.
Team Vs. Skill
Here is a team formation anti-pattern that I have observed recently: Dividing the team along the lines of Skillset. Grouping teams along skill lines, inherently sets up competition rather than collaboration. This is especially true (in my experience) in software designed, where skills vary by “architectural layer” so subteams form at the layer level. Each…
Team Vs. Me
This week I have been reflecting on the relationship of ego to team, and how to deal with clashes of ego’s as teams form, and reform. Over the last few months, I have watched a project that I am playing a key role on transform from an outsourced staff model to a hybrid staff model,…
React or Reflect
I have been observing behavior patterns in leaders that I am around. Here is one observation: Some leaders react to a situation, and others project the behavior that they want into the situation, so that others can reflect it back. Sometimes this is positional. Leaders behave differently depending on the amount of automomy, or authority…
Letter of Recommendation
Kent Beck recently posted a letter of recommendation from his future boss for the job that he hopes to get. Written from a perspective of 3 years into the future, it is a great exercise in bringing clarity to how he wants to be recognized by his employer for adding value. I want to replicate…
Resume and Interview Preparation Tips
OK so I’ve been a manager off and on in information technology (especially software delivery) since 1990. I have hired a few employees, and more contract staff than I care to remember. I want to share some tips for getting your resume read and forwarded that work for me – they will get you a…
Masterly Management
Don Gray wrote this post about management style entitled Managing in Mayberry. I thought that it was insightful. When I thought about the example he used, though, it was about a stable state system. It was managing to the status quo. Manager as remover of difficulty. Where is manager as practice improver? Certainly the masterly…
One Size Fits All (Not!)
Often I have railed against the stupidity of management, when designing one size fits all “round hole” policies. It is the single most abused policy anti-pattern in my experience. Policy Structure: For the purpose of this discussion, any policy can be divided into three components: Benefits (why I need a policy at all) Means…
Human OS, Stupid and Lazy, Leadership, Story Scope
Upgrade to the Human Operating System – BusinessWeek I read this article, and it seemed to me to say for organizations in general, what Agile has done for software development teams. Moving from a command and control – process/factory model, to a model that allows/incents/expects humans to invent, analyze, innovate, figure out. Is it possible that…
Local Optimization
I am clearly aggravated. I have been for a while, and I finally understand why. In the world of systems thinking, it is called Local Optimization. That is where, in a multivariable system I optimise for one variable at the expense of other variables, and subsequently reduce the overall output of the system. In more…