Instructions for how to run an exercise to help people determine their roles and responsibilities. While originally intended to be a framework to help Managers figure out their roles in an Agile setting, this can be applied to all roles and teams.

1. ©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
Managers and the Land of the Lost
An interactive exercise to gain role clarity for Managers
Abstract |
There’s quite a bit of guidance and literature for Teams
and Executives to know what to do in order to adopt and
execute work in an Agile environment. But what about
the Managers or Project/Program Managers? There tends
to be quite a few contradictory opinions on actions
Managers should be performing. This can be confusing,
introducing churn for projects and organizations,
especially in hybrid project execution environments.
This paper describes an exercise to help establish greater
clarity on what Managers or Project/Program Managers
should be doing (or continue to do), and those activities
that you should not be doing (or stop performing).
This requires the Manager performing the exercise to
honestly introspect and reflect on themselves and their
environment. The intent is for Managers to determine
their own best steps and action plans, instead of blindly
following a preset list of enumerated/dictated “do this”
or “do that” mandates.
Key words | Agile, Managers, Roles and
Responsibilities
Introduction
Unlike teams or executives, managers are often left
to fend for themselves to figure out their role in the
operation of modern organizations. This tends to
especially be true when software and service
companies live in a hybrid space as they adopt and
practice Agile philosophies alongside their
historical approaches.
With confusing phrases such as self-organization
and servant leadership clashing with traditional
management beliefs, it’s no wonder Managers can
feel like they’ve entered into the "Land of the Lost."
So what is a Manager to do?
What (or who) is a Manager?
Before continuing, I’d like to offer some context for
what I mean by the term “Manager”. A Manager is
typically someone that has direct reports and is
responsible for one or more teams or departments
that produces work product for their customers or
stakeholders. Managers are typically the bridge
between any strategy or vision set by Executives
(such as C-levels, Executive VPs, Managing
Partners, etc.) and their teams, helping to ensure
teams tactically execute well.
With the issues usually presented to and handled by
Project Managers and Program Managers, for the
purposes of this paper, I’d like to consider them as
“Managers” as well. So when I say “Manager”, it is
meant to refer to any of these 3 people.

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©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
Do we even need Managers?
Another assertion is that, in my opinion, we do need
a reasonable number of Managers and some level of
management “process” in an organization. This can
be contrary to the belief of several especially in the
Agile community, as there seems to be a renewed
vigor for self-management, self-organization and
servant leadership from my experiences as an Agile
consultant.
Google wrestled with the question if Managers were
even needed as well. Tapping into their strengths in
data and analysis over multiple years regarding
management, Google concluded that Managers
indeed mattered. They found that employees with
high scoring bosses consistently reported greater
satisfaction in multiple areas, including innovation,
work-life balance and career development (Garvin,
2013).
5 Step Role Clarity exercise
Assuming agreement with the premise we do need
Managers, then what is it they should be doing?
Understanding one’s roles and responsibilities is not
a new problem. This tends to be one of the main
areas of contention I have found that leads to
potential project/program delays, low morale, and
non-optimal performance of organizations.
There are many different schools of thought for
what it takes to be a great Manager. In my opinion,
it is unlikely that a single viewpoint or a mandated
approach from above would work for all people or
all situations. What may work for one organization
(or even one department or one person within an
organization), may not work for another.
Furthermore, as companies mature and market
forces change business models, the needs for
management tend to shift as well.
Hence, the following 5 step exercise was created to
help those participants come to terms with their role
as a Manager for their specific situation in their
organization.
This exercise has been facilitated at multiple
companies over many teams, typically as part of
either a change management effort, such as
transitioning to Agile approaches over an
organization, or when there are significant issues a
company must overcome.
While this exercise can be run one on one, I have
found there is greater value in performing the
exercise in smallish groups (up to 15 or so) with
persons who have similar titles / job responsibilities,
so that they can more freely share, compare and
contrast their own thoughts and experiences.
The supplies needed to run this exercise include:
 Small index cards (3x5 inch)
 Small sticky notes (2x2 inch), ideally in 2
different colors
 Thin tip black felt markers (one per person)
Note: it is best to use the felt tip markers for this
exercise. It will be easier for your participants to see
the results of their brainstorming session using felt
tip markers versus using regular ball point pens.
Step 1: What is a good manager?
The first step in the exercise is for you to think
about all the Managers that you have worked with,
either directly or indirectly. Also, consider those
Leaders or peers that have simply inspired you. For
those that have had an impact on you, using the
small index cards and the felt tip marker, write a
short phrase or sentiment about that characteristic
that resonated with you most on the cards. Write
only one characteristic per card. (You will likely
use several index cards.)
Some typical examples of characteristics include:
 Supportive mentor (or good coach)
 Compassionate/thoughtful
 Able to dive into the weeds to help solve
problems but without micromanaging
 Respect
 Interested in my success

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©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
Once you have all the characteristics written down
(again, one characteristic per card), next prioritize
the characteristics by shuffling the position of the
cards. Put the highest/most influential characteristic
to the left and the least to the right. You’ll end up
with something that looks like Exhibit 1, with each
rectangle representing an index card with a single
characteristic.
Exhibit 1: Example output from Step 1.
This step should take between 5 and 10 minutes to
perform. If doing this exercise in a small group, you
may want to have participants share the
characteristics they brainstormed.
Step 2: What am I doing now?
The next step in the process is to list out all the
activities that you are performing now in your role.
Using the small sticky notes and the felt tip
markers, write only one activity, responsibility, or
action that you currently perform per sticky note.
The reason the small sticky notes and felt tip
markers are recommended is that it forces the
participant to summarize tasks using only a few
words. Otherwise, descriptions of tasks can tend to
get rather lengthy.
Some examples of current activities may include:
 Plan budgets
 Track and manage to budgets
 Keep track of what all my staff are doing
 Define metrics for my staff
 Collect metrics/data from my staff
 Provide weekly status reports
 Make commitments for my staff to
Management
 Make sure staff get their work done
 Perform annual reviews
 Attend Sprint Reviews
 Recruit/interview/hire (fire) staff
It is recommended to place the sticky notes on a
large 11x17 sheet of paper. If time permits, you
may want to group like activities near each other on
your sheet of paper. You will end up with
something that looks like Exhibit 2, where each
small blue rectangle represents one task written on
one sticky note.
Exhibit 2: Example output from Step 2.
This step should take between 10 and 15 minutes to
perform.
Step 3: What do I want/need to be doing?
The third step in the process is to list out all the
activities that you want to perform but can’t. Some
“blockers” may include you don’t have the time,

4. P a g e | 4
©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
don’t have the knowledge/training, don’t have
permission from your Management, etc.
Using the small sticky notes (ideally a different
color from the sticky notes used in step 2) and a felt
tip marker, write one activity per sticky note.
Some examples of desired activities may be:
 Help problem solve / remove blockers for
my staff
 Streamline budgeting/approval processes
 Visit actual/real client sites
 Increase my knowledge on topic X
You will end up with something that appears like
Exhibit 3, where the pink rectangles represent tasks
you would like to perform, one task per sticky note.
Exhibit 3: Example output from Step 3.
This step should take between 5 and 15 minutes to
perform.
There may be some hesitation from participants
during this portion of the exercise, typically
stemming from “I can’t do this – I don’t have time,
I don’t have resources, My Manager won’t go for
this” and so forth.
This is why it is imperative to have persons of
similar hierarchical level together in the room
performing the exercise, and to not have persons at
different levels present. Having subordinates and
superiors mixed together in the same room at the
same time especially during this part of the exercise
tends to severely limit/impact the execution of this
step in particular. This is due to the likelihood that
freedom or openness to express new, radical or
differing opinions might be hindered if their staff or
superior is present.
Step 4: What should I keep and stop doing?
The next step in the process is to categorize and
prioritize all those things that you should and should
not be doing with respect to your current
environment.
On your sheet of 11x17 paper, create and label 2
sections, one for “Keep/Start Doing” and another
for “Stop Doing/Delegate”.
Using the index cards listing influential
characteristics created in Step 1, put them at the top
of your 11x17 paper.
Using the small sticky notes representing tasks
created in Steps 2 and 3, move each sticky note into
the appropriate section of “Keep/Start Doing” or
“Stop Doing/Delegate”.
Frankly, you will find that there are aspects to your
job as a Manager that you will simply need to keep
doing, such as hire/fire staff, perform annual
performance reviews, setting departmental budgets,
etc.
However, there will be a set of tasks in a “gray
area” where you will be able to negotiate some level
of change. I encourage you to consider incremental
changes versus executing big delegations or “stop
doing” tasks all at once. You may decide to take
one of the tasks written in step 2 or step 3, and
create new tasks for what you need to keep doing
and put in the stop doing the increment of what can
be altered in the future.

5. P a g e | 5
©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
Eventually, you will end up with something that
looks like Exhibit 4.
This portion of the exercise can usually take
between 5 and 20 minutes to complete. Some
complete this step quickly, and others may take a
little more time.
Exhibit 4: Example output from Step 4.
Step 5 – What’s your action plan?
The final step is for you to determine your action
plan. It is usually not possible (and not
recommended) to enact all the changes you want
right away. There needs to be a thoughtful process
and cadence for introducing change with your
subordinates, peers, and superiors.
I recommend taking no more than 2 items from the
Step 4 output, and work on those first. They could
be from either “Keep/Start Doing” and/or “Stop
Doing/Delegate” – it is your choice where you want
to begin your journey. When those first items are
done, then move to the next.
Some considerations for selection might be:
 What can I get done easily/quickly, yet have
a good return?
 For delegating, who on my team do I want
to groom for promotion and/or give
opportunity for greater responsibility?
 For new (start doing) tasks, who/what do I
need for support to do this? Who can be an
ally?
 Do I need to generate buy-in or permission
from my Manager?
 Do I need to make this change all at once, or
can this particular task be split up and done
incrementally and iteratively?
Some final considerations
When it comes to charting your own course as a
Manager, I find that those that set their own path
(versus being told specifically what to do) using an
approach similar to this exercise, that there tends to
be greater buy-in and ownership of the plan. This
leads to a higher degree of likeliness for their own
behaviors as a Manager to change.
This exercise doesn’t take a lot of time, but it can
have profound impacts. Furthermore, it does not
have to be limited to just Managers. This can also
be used by anyone in an organization; I have
facilitated this exercise with team members as well.
Again, just be sure if you run this exercise in a
small group, be sure that only those that are in
similar hierarchical levels are present in the room.

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©2016 Steven A. Martin
Originally published as part of the PMI®
Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.
About the Author
Over the past 25+ years, Steve has worked in a
wide range of industries such as healthcare IT,
finance, insurance, biotechnology, medical
device manufacturing, publishing and
communications. An active member in PMI
since 2005, Steve graduated from the PMI
Leadership Institute Master Class (LIMC) of
2012. He has also held the role of president of
the PMI Mass Bay Chapter.
References
Garvin, David A. (December 2013). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business
Review.