Agile improves how we work, can it also improve how we manage and develop people? A look at stealing some elements of agile, and working out how best to develop & manage people who are working with agile.
Given as a conference talk at Agile on the Beach, September 2014, in Falmouth, Cornwall.
3. I SPENT MY FIRST 10 YEARS OF MY
CAREER IN A BIG CORP…
… FAMOUS FOR INVESTING HEAVILY
IN ITS PEOPLE
AND FOR DEVELOPING LEADERS
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
4. MATURE PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
Everyone had:
– A workplan
– A personal development plan
– A career plan, complete with skills matrices
– A manager (most of whom did give a crap)
– A coach and often a mentor too
– Monthly 1:1s, quarterly reviews, annual reviews
– 10 days a year to spend on training, etc etc
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
8. YOU CAN ADJUST THIS KIND OF
APPROACH WHEN YOU WORK
IN AN AGILE WAY …
BUT IT STILL DOESN’T FEEL
QUITE RIGHT
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
9. SOME WOULD ARGUE THAT WE
DON’T NEED MANAGERS AT ALL
IN AGILE.
I ARGUE WE NEED GOOD
MANAGERS, AND TO BANISH
BAD BOSSES
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
10. WE ALL HATE BAD
BOSSES
WE DESCRIBE THEM AS
• Clueless
• Empty suits
• Pointless
• Seagulls
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
16. Across industries, across
countries, the best
performing teams
answer certain
questions positively
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
17. Predictors of High Performance
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials & equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a
person?
6. Is there someone at work who cares about my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is
important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last 6 months, have I talked with someone about my development?
12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
20. MOTIVATION =
+ PURPOSE (Do I believe in WHY?)
+ AUTONOMY (Do I get a say in WHAT?)
+ MASTERY (Am I proud of HOW?)
- ANY NEGATIVE FACTORS THAT DETRACT
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
21. Predictors of High Performance (remix)
PURPOSE
• Does the
mission/purpose of my
company make me feel
like my work is
important?
AUTONOMY
• Do I know what is
expected of me at
work?
• At work, do my
opinions seem to
count?
MASTERY
• Do I have the materials & equipment I
need to do my work right?
• At work, do I have the opportunity to do
what I do best every day?
• Is there someone at work who cares about
my development?
• Are my co-workers committed to doing
quality work?
• In the last 6 months, have I talked with
someone about my development?
• At work, have I had opportunities to learn
and grow?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
22. And What Else?
OTHER FACTORS:
• In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
• Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a
person?
• Do I have a best friend at work?
ESSENTIALLY, AM I RESPECTED & REWARDED
HERE?
CAN I BE MYSELF AND SUCCEED HERE?
I CALL THIS INCLUSION.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
23. Your job as a manager…
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR PEOPLE
TO BE THE BEST THEY CAN BE
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
24. Maybe you’re not a manager. As an individual, you
need to…
FIND & SHAPE SPACE WHERE YOU
CAN BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
26. SPACE TO BE AWESOME =
+ PURPOSE (Do I believe in WHY?)
+ AUTONOMY (Do I get a say in WHAT?)
+ MASTERY (Am I proud of HOW?)
+ INCLUSION (Do I BELONG HERE?)
- ANY NEGATIVE FACTORS THAT DETRACT
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
27. REMINISCENT OF AGILE MANIFESTO?
Individuals and interactions over processes and
tools
Working software over comprehensive
documentation
Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
http://agilemanifesto.org/
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
28. VALUE INDIVIDUALS & INTERACTIONS
Do great 1:1s
Make them more like personal retrospectives
They are about the individual & their skills, growth
& development. Not a status update.
Care about the whole person. Everyone needs to
be themselves at work.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
29. CULTIVATE INCLUSION
Help people to succeed as themselves.
Best predictor of recruitment AND retention?
Someone’s ability to agree with:
“Someone like me can be
successful here”
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
30. “OK, BUT HOW ARE YOU GOING
TO BEND ‘WORKING SOFTWARE’
TO BE ABOUT PEOPLE, MERI?”
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
36. DELIBERATE PRACTICE
• You must be motivated to attend to the task and exert effort
to improve your performance.
• The design of the task should take into account your pre-existing
knowledge so that the task can be correctly
understood after a brief period of instruction.
• You should receive immediate informative feedback and
knowledge of results of your performance.
• You should repeatedly perform the same or similar tasks.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
37. Ask yourself…
IS YOUR WORK DESIGNED IN A WAY
THAT MAKES IT EFFECTIVE
DELIBERATE PRACTICE?
CHALLENGING? FEEDBACK?
LEARNING?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
38. AGILE MANIFESTO
Individuals and interactions over processes and
tools
Working software over comprehensive
documentation
Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
http://agilemanifesto.org/
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
39. PUT DOWN YOUR SWORD.
YOU ARE NOT A ROMAN GENERAL.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
40. VALUE THE WHAT OVER THE HOW
Know when people need telling what to do
(Hint: it’s not often)
Help them get what they need the rest of the
time (Hint: not just someone else telling them what to do)
Learn coaching skills
(Hint: start with GROW:
http://blog.geekmanager.co.uk/2014/01/20/stealing-from-sports-really-useful-
coaching-dareconf-mini/)
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
41. CLUE / SKILLS MATRIX
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
51. SPACE TO BE AWESOME =
+ PURPOSE (Do I believe in WHY?)
+ AUTONOMY (Do I get a say in WHAT?)
+ MASTERY (Am I proud of HOW?)
+ INCLUSION (Do I BELONG HERE?)
- ANY NEGATIVE FACTORS THAT DETRACT
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
52. AGILE PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
• Do awesome 1:1s = personal retrospectives
• Cultivate inclusion
• Help make work deliberate practice
• Figure out where people are on the clue/skills
matrix, and help accordingly
• Learn to coach
• Remember the bigger picture, help people
have a fulfilling career
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
53. GO!
FIND/SHAPE/MAKE SPACE
BE AWESOME
BE INCLUSIVE
And thank you for listening Any questions?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
Notes de l'éditeur
They were consistently recognized as one of the best places to work, and produced more leaders of companies than almost any other company
Individual focus
Active investment
Detailed plan
Fragile / static
Needed constant revisiting to keep workplan in particular up-to-date
Focus on workplan changes meant development plan often overshadowed
Overly structured, so some managers ended up “going through the motions”
Saw some crazy procrastination to see the forms avoided over the years
Managers ended up running on empty, suffering from emotional burnout
Great, now I’m drowning in questions to ask myself all the time! Thanks Meri!!
One of the main reasons we value working software over comprehensive documentation is that we learnt along the way that however hard we worked, however good we were, we simply could not write the correct spec upfront.
This is because until we build it we don’t really know what is needed …
The people development side of this is that you need to grow, and learn, and get feedback to understand how and what you need to change.
If someone knows what to do and has the skills to do it, your job is to be a cheerleader
Encourage them, make sure others know they are doing the right thing, get them the support they need
And if shit gets in their way? Be a BULLDOZER
Direction giver, pair them up with those they can learn from
Those lacking direction and skills need maps, community, peers to learn from