If we are agile, why do we need managers (code camp, 10.14)
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A common misconception about agile is that managers are unnecessary. After all, agile is based on self-organizing teams. If the teams organize themselves, what do managers do? Unfortunately, most scrum training plays into that. Think about it: how many trainers or coaches have you seen sketch the structure of a scrum team with a drawing that includes a manager? While there's always a scrum master and a product owner, the core team and maybe some stakeholders, have you ever seen a manager in that drawing? This misconception can be a problem all around: A frequently cited barrier to agile adoption is managers who don't know what to do when their teams become self-managing. When they're not included in training, how would they (or anyone else, for that matter) know how to characterize their role. At the same time, organizations often lay down expectations of managers, some compatible with agile, some not. Agile has clearly shifted the old roles and responsibilities. Managers bent on command-and-control are clearly a barrier to agile adoption. But managers who take a hands-off approach or are treading water in a sea of ambiguity will almost certainly stymie adoption, as well. Ron Lichty believes (and so do a lot of the early agile thought leaders) that managers have critical roles to play in enabling success, both of transitions to agile and of agile itself. This session is about those roles.
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If we are agile, why do we need managers (code camp, 10.14)
- 1. If Weʼre Agile… Why ! Do We Need Managers?# # #Ron Lichty, principal, Ron Lichty Consulting author, Managing the Unmanageable! www.RonLichty.com, www.ManagingTheUnmanageable.net # ##
- 2. * http://ManagingTheUnmanageable.net <-----tools, excerpts, more rules of thumb * Addison Wesley (Amazon, BarnesandNoble, InformIT.com) © Ron Lichty 2
- 3. Ron Lichty, Managing Software People Teams SOFTWEST © Ron Lichty 3
- 4. * http://ManagingTheUnmanageable.net -----tools, excerpts, more rules of thumb * Addison Wesley (Amazon, BarnesandNoble, InformIT.com) © Ron Lichty 4
- 5. Management Training • Isn’t it odd... – how long we expect programmers to have studied the art of programming# – how little we expect managers to have studied the art of managing?# © Ron Lichty 5
- 6. Why we wrote: © Ron Lichty http://www.ManagingTheUnmanageable.net 6
- 7. Management Training • Agile…# © Ron Lichty 7
- 8. Managers • Agile…# • Agile training…# © Ron Lichty 8
- 9. 9 The Problem: Where Is the Manager? ScrumTeam.jpg (from Exploring Scrum- the Fundamentals, by D © Ron Lichty an Rawsthorne Doug Shimp)
- 10. 10 The Problem: Where Is the Manager? © Ron Lichty
- 11. © Ron Lichty 11 --Agile Learning Labs, Laura Powers
- 12. Managers and Agile • “A common misconception is that because of this reliance on self-organizing teams, there is little or no role for leaders of agile teams. Nothing could be further from the truth.” --Mike Cohn, Succeeding with Agile © Ron Lichty 12
- 13. Rules of Thumb / Nuggets of Wisdom* * 300 in the book more at http://managingtheunmanageable.net/morerulesofthumb.html © Ron Lichty 13
- 14. Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams • What’s unique about managing programmers • What’s unique about programmers • Finding and Hiring Great Programmers • Getting New Programmers Started Off Right • Managing People / Managing a Team • Managing Up, Out, and Yourself • Motivating Programmers and Teams • Establishing/Nurturing a Successful Culture • Managing Successful Software Delivery © Ron Lichty 14
- 15. Agile Management Roles • Familiar management roles teams still need • Roles that change, sometimes dramatically • Roles (and styles) that are inappropriate – Roles that are deprecated • Management roles that are new with agile © Ron Lichty 15
- 16. Managers and Agile • Exercise! © Ron Lichty 16
- 17. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 17
- 18. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture © Ron Lichty 18
- 19. Creating an Agile Culture • Theory Y: “enabling”, “empowering”, “developmental, “continuous improvement” - Servant Leadership McGregor's X-Y Theory © Ron Lichty 19
- 20. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture Lean-Agile management is the art of leading people, not managing them... Leading people involves creating the correct environment, focusing them on the right things, and trusting them to do their work... In Lean-Agile, the manager has two primary responsibilities: • setting the outcomes or goals expected of the team; • assisting the doers in creating a better process and workspace to get their jobs done... --Alan Shalloway, Net Objectives © Ron Lichty 20
- 21. Leaders and Agile • Rules of Thumb Management sets the boundaries of what needs to be done and says to the team, I trust you to figure out how to get it done.
- 22. Leaders and Agile • Rules of Thumb Trust but verify.
- 23. Leaders and Agile • Rules of Thumb Trust but verify. -‐ RONALD REAGAN
- 24. Leaders and Agile • Rules of Thumb Trust but verify. -‐ RONALD REAGAN quo-ng VLADAMIR LENIN – imperative not to micromanage – the essence of delegation – setting expected outcomes for teams
- 25. Leaders and Agile • Rules of Thumb Trust but verify. -‐ RONALD REAGAN quo-ng VLADAMIR LENIN I inspect what I expect. -‐ ALAN LEFKOF, Netopia CEO, quo-ng LOU GERSTNER
- 26. Creating an Agile Culture • Establishing Culture © Ron Lichty http://www.ManagingTheUnmanageable.net 26
- 27. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 27
- 28. Managers and Agile • Supporting Agile Values http://© Ron Lichty www.ronlichty.com/study.html 28
- 29. Managers and Agile • Agile Adoption curve… http://www.ronl © Ron Lichty ichty.com/study.html - the 2014 Study 29
- 30. Managers and Agile • Supporting Agile Values Methodology You Use Methodology You Associate with Increase Profits Agile Blended (Some Waterfall and Some Agile) Lean Waterfall Agile 73.9% 13.0% 9.8% 0.0% Blended (Some Waterfall and Some Agile) 31.8% 46.2% 10.6% 6.1% Lean 14.3% 0.0% 42.9% 14.3% Waterfall 15.8% 50.0% 18.4% 13.2% Don't Know 5.3% 42.1% 26.3% 5.3% http://www.ronl © Ron Lichty ichty.com/study.html - the 2013 Study 30
- 31. Leaders and Agile • Waterfall is wasteful – but Waterfall seemed easy: it’s very concrete • Agile seems easy: it has practices – but Agile is not practices • Agile is a philosophy • What’s hard: breathing life into the practices • making them your own • adapting them to the uniqueness of your teams, people, culture, products
- 32. Managers and Agile • Supporting Agile Values The Agile Manifesto – We value: • 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/ © Ron Lichty 32
- 34. Managers and Agile • Supporting Agile Values Value the Agile Manifesto over sets of practices – We value: • 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/ © Ron Lichty 34
- 35. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 35
- 36. Managers and Agile • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence When teams self-organize there's still plenty for managers to do... a managers job is to engineer the organization so that teams can do their best work. --Esther Derby, co-founder, Scrum Alliance © Ron Lichty 36
- 37. Managers and Agile • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence Be a damper to the noise. --Joe Kleinschmidt, CTO © Ron Lichty 37 John Evans, Winchester, Hants, United Kingdom, www.thetippingpoint.co.uk
- 38. Managers and Agile • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence © Ron Lichty http://www.ManagingTheUnmanageable.net 38
- 39. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 39
- 40. 40 Scrum Teams ScrumTeam.jpg (from Exploring Scrum- the Fundamentals, by D © Ron Lichty an Rawsthorne Doug Shimp)
- 41. Agile Organization best practices: example © Ron Lichty 41 • SAFe and Other Frameworks for Scaling Agile: A Case Study, http://blogs.versionone.com/agile_management/2014/03/25/safe-and-other-frameworks-for-scaling-agile-a-case-study/
- 42. Leading “Guilds” that span Scrum Teams • Kniberg calls them – “Chapters” that span “Squads” © Ron Lichty 42 https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1018963/Articles/SpotifyScaling.pdf
- 43. Leading “Guilds” that span Scrum Teams • Kniberg layers in “Guilds”: – Communities of Practice © Ron Lichty 43 https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1018963/Articles/SpotifyScaling.pdf
- 44. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 44
- 45. Managers and Agile • Removing Impediments © Ron Lichty 45
- 46. Managers and Agile • Removing Impediments “Managers are still needed. Not so much for their planning and controlling ability, but for the important job of interfacing on the team’s behalf with the rest of the organization.” --Diana Larsen, co-author, Agile Retrospectives © Ron Lichty 46
- 47. Managers and Agile • Removing Impediments Ensure your team has slack! (100% capacity begets bottlenecks!) © Ron Lichty 47 --photo (c) Bud Adams, SXC, www.aimpgh.com
- 48. Managers and Agile • Removing Impediments: Protect team focus! (Guard against the waste of multitasking!) © Ron Lichty 48 --photo (c) jeweledlion, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeweledlion/1502706553/ Some rights reserved
- 49. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 49
- 50. Managers and Agile • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring © Ron Lichty 50 Photo by Esti Alvarez, Some rights reserved, http://www.Flickr.com/photos/esti/4638056301/
- 51. Managers and Agile • Creating an Agile Culture • Supporting Agile Values • Empowering Self-Organization Excellence • Scaling Scrum • Removing Impediments • Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring • Hiring and Firing © Ron Lichty 51
- 52. Managers and Agile • Hiring and Firing Always be recruiting! --Mickey Mantle and Ron Lichty, Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams © Ron Lichty 52
- 53. Managers and Agile • Hiring and Firing Always be recruiting! Deal with problem employees! © Ron Lichty 53
- 54. Managers and Agile • Critical to agile transformational success • Key roles in agile • Managers must adapt to own these roles • Starts by understanding these new roles • Agile demands that managers (like everyone else) be proactive! © Ron Lichty 54
- 55. Ron Lichty Consulting • Mentoring, coaching, interim and acting CTO / VP Eng roles: – http://ronlichty.com, Ron at RonLichty.com • The book: Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools Insights for Managing Software People Teams – http://ManagingTheUnmanageable.net -----tools, excerpts, more rules of thumb • The annual study: The Study of Product Team Performance – http://ronlichty.com/study.html • Training: The Agile Manager Managing Software People and Teams © Ron Lichty 55
- 56. © Ron Lichty 56