The document discusses leading agile work in organizations. It notes that while agile development promises benefits, many implementations face challenges due to a lack of clear leadership vision. The key is for leaders to define a clear vision for how agile practices will help achieve business goals, rather than seeing agile as a goal in itself. Leaders must also tighten feedback loops, build skills, focus on quality, and develop a growth mindset with continuous learning and adaptation. Overall success depends on leaders taking responsibility for the effectiveness of agile in their organization.

1. Construx®
More Effective Agile Leadership
Steve McConnell Brittany Shear
With: Moderated by:
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www.ctouniverse.com/webinar-series/cto-universe-leadership-series/

3. About The Speaker
Steve McConnell is an internationally recognized thought leader on software development best practices. He is the
author of several best-selling books, including the highly influential "Code Complete," often cited as the most popular
software development book of all time. His books have sold more than one million copies and have been translated
into 20 languages. His books twice won the Jolt Excellence award for outstanding software development book of the
year. His most recent book is "More Effective Agile: A Roadmap for Software Leaders" (2019).
In addition serving as CEO of Construx Software, Steve has served as Editor in Chief of IEEE Software magazine, on
the Panel of Experts of the SWEBOK project, and as Chair of the IEEE Computer Society’s Professional Activities
Board.
About The Moderator
Brittany went to Emmanuel College, where she majored in Writing, Editing, and Publishing and minored in Marketing,
Psychology, and Communications. She now works with Aggregage as an editor and webinar host on sites including CTO
Universe, Product Management Today, and Project Management Update.

4. More Effective
Agile Leadership
Steve McConnell
Construx Software

5. Construx®
These presentation materials are © 2019-2020
Construx Software Builders, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. No part of the contents of this presentation may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written
permission of Construx Software Builders, Inc.
Copyright Notice

6. Construx®
stevemcc@construx.com
Construx
10900 NE 8th Street, #1300
Bellevue, WA 98004
+1 (425) 636-0100
www.construx.com
Steve
McConnell

7. Talk Focus
This talk focuses on you as the leader
The gist of the talk is that Agile work in most
organizations sorely needs leadership, and it is
imperative that you actively lead the work

8. Talk Roadmap
Brief History of Agile
Common Agile Pathologies
Agile Ground State
Agile in Your Organization
Leading Agile Work in Your Organization

9. POLL
Where does your staff get its definition of
“Agile”?
¡ Official organizational definition
¡ Your personal definition as leader
¡ Specific online source
¡ Social media generally

10. Brief History of
Agile Development

11. Meilir Page-Jones
People often ask me:
“Would you say that software development
is more an art or a science?”
I reply:
“Neither, it’s a branch of
the fashion industry.”
From the foreword to How to Engineer Software, by Steve Tockey

12. Useful Practices
History of Agile Development
2001 2020
Rhetoric
2010

13. Useful Practices
History of Agile Development
2001 2020
Rhetoric: “Language designed to have a
persuasive or impressive effect on its audience,
but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or
meaningful content.”
2010

14. This is your leadership context

15. Common
Agile Implementation
Pathologies

16. Healthy Implementation
Your staff’s interpretation of Agile is
aligned with your business needs
Staff
interpretation
of Agile
Business
needs

17. #1
Your staff’s interpretation of Agile is
different than what your business needs
Staff
interpretation
of Agile
Business
needs

18. #2
Your staff’s interpretations of Agile vary
Staff
interpretations
of Agile
Business
needs

19. #3
Your staff actively disagrees with one
another about their interpretations of Agile
Staff
interpretations
of Agile
Business
needs

20. #4
Your staff agrees in a general, vague way with
the Agile direction, but doesn’t really understand
the purpose or details
Staff
interpretations
of Agile
Business
needs

21. #5
Your staff agrees with the Agile transition, but they
are overconfident in their Agile skill set
Staff
interpretations
of Agile
Business
needs

22. #6
Your staff says it can’t adopt Agile unless
the whole organization goes Agile
Staff
interpretation
of Agile
Business
needs

23. #7
Your staff adopts Agile culture/rhetoric
without adopting Agile practices
Staff
interpretation
of Agile
Business
needs

24. Your Leadership Role
You lead in your organization
You also lead in an industry context
An effective leadership approach
must consider issues arising from the
software industry at large as well as
from your organization

25. Agile Ground State
What You Need
to Know as a Leader

26. There is a software-industry-wide
mismatch between
Agile Practices,
Business Objectives, and
Some Agile Culture (Rhetoric)

27. How Companies Measure Success with Agile Initiatives
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne

28. How Companies Measure Success with Individual
Agile Projects (Top 10)
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne

29. So far so good, right?

30. Top Challenges to Adopting
and Scaling Agile Practices
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne

31. Top Challenges to Adopting
and Scaling Agile Practices

32. Which of these criteria for overall success of an Agile initiative
(aka “organizational culture”) are at odds with Agile values?

33. Which of these criteria for success on individual projects (aka
“organizational culture”) are at odds with Agile values?

34. Why is there a perceived mismatch
between organizational culture and
Agile values?

35. Could it be that software staff
do not like Agile?

36. Reasons for Adopting Agile
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne

37. Reported Benefits of Adopting Agile
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne

38. +30%
+23%
+22%
+20%
+19%
+14%
+13%
+10%
+9%
+7%
+4%
-11%
-13%
IMPROVE TEAM MORALE
IMPROVE PROJECT VISIBILITY
REDUCE PROJECT RISK
BETTER MANAGE DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
IMPROVE ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE
IMPROVE BUSINESS/IT ALIGNMENT
INCREASE SOFTWARE MAINTAINABILITY
INCREASE TEAM PRODUCTIVITY
ENHANCE PROJECT/DELIVERY PREDICTABILITY
ENHANCE ABILITY TO MANAGE CHANGING PRIORITIES
ENHANCE SOFTWARE QUALITY
ACCELERATE DELIVERY SPEED/TIME TO MARKET
REDUCE PROJECT COST
Underperform / Overperform
Expected Benefits vs. Actual Benefits of Adopting Agile

39. Once more:
Why is there a perceived mismatch
between organizational culture and
Agile values?

40. Agile Rhetoric
There are people on Twitter who are trying to
be as radical as possible with Agile
Your staff is reading them and, possibly,
following them instead of following you

41. Some Agile practitioners are trying to see how far they can
push the “Agile” envelope, including
► Eliminating requirements work
► Eliminating design work
► Eliminating estimates
► Eliminating management work
► Eliminating managers
► Eliminating budgets
► Eliminating deadlines
► Eliminating commitments
► Eliminating documentation
Whether any of this has anything to do with “Agile” in your
organization is up to you, as a leader.

42. Leadership Reflection
Who’s leading your software organization?
You, or Twitter?
How can you take charge of the
interpretation of “Agile” in your
organization?

43. Agile Development Is
An enormous “n-space” of technical
and management practices, strategies,
values, philosophies,
from which,
Your organization chooses a subset
that are well-suited or not-so-well-
suited to the business needs of your
organization

44. Agile Development Is Not
a ‘1’ or a ‘0’
Agile is not a binary property where you are
either Agile or you are not

45. Agile Development Is Not
A Scalar Property
Agile is not a simple number line
where you are more or less Agile
Less Agile More Agile

46. Agile Development Should Not Be
Anchored by the
20-year old Agile values or the
20-year old Agile principles

47. Common Sentiments in Agile Rhetoric
Undue fixation on these 20-year-old artifacts gives rise to non-
practical considerations that have little to do with business and
engineering work:
“How well do you adhere to the Agile values?”
“Do you truly follow the Agile principles?”
“How faithful is your Agile implementation?”
“Do you always capitalize the word Agile?”

48. Agile Rhetoric and the Emperor’s New Clothes

49. Be an Agile Heretic!
“Some Agile practices don’t work some of the time, and it’s
because of the practices, not the use of the practices”
“Some Agile practices work fine when they’re used well, but
they’re hard to use well, and aren’t used well most of the time”
“Some Agile practices don’t work most of the time”
“Some organizations will not benefit from use of most Agile
practices”
None of these statements change the fact that the Agile toolbox
provides some incredibly useful and effective tools

50. Leadership Reflection
How can you model treating Agile as a set
of technical and management practices
whose properties can be understood in
technical and management terms?

51. Agile In Your Organization

52. Agile Development Is Not
A Goal In Itself
Your business’s specific objectives are the goals; Agile
development is a means to an end; it is not the end

53. Leadership Reflection
Does your organization exist to serve Agile
practices and philosophy, or do Agile
practices and philosophy exist to serve
your organization?
Have you been clear about that in your
leadership?

54. Key Principle
Model Agile Behavior
Model treating Agile as being in service
to your organization, not the other way
around

55. More on the
Agile Ground State

56. Less than 1/2 our teams are agile
NoAgile
More than 1/2 our
teams are agile
All of our teams
are agile
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne
Extent of Agile Adoption
4% 48% 26% 22%

57. NoAgile
ConsideringAgile
Experimenting
with Agile in
pockets
Use agile practices,
but still maturing
Highlevelofcompetencewith
Agilepracticesacrossthe
organization
Agilepracticesenablegreateradapt-
abilitytochangingmarketconditions
Source: 13th Annual State of Agile Report, CollabNet VersionOne
Agile Practice Maturity
4% 21% 53% 12%5% 6%

58. How Effective Are Most Agile Implementations?
Less than 1/2 our teams are agile
NoAgile
More than 1/2 our
teams are agile
All of our teams
are agile
Extent of Agile
Adoption
NoAgile
ConsideringAgile
Experimenting
with Agile in
pockets
Use agile practices,
but still maturing
Highlevelofcompetencewith
Agilepracticesacrossthe
organization
Agilepracticesenablegreateradapt-
abilitytochangingmarketconditions
Agile Practice
Maturity
4% 21% 53% 12%5% 6%
4% 48% 26% 22%

59. Leadership Reflection
What do you need to do to take
responsibility for the effectiveness of the
Agile work in your organization?

60. Top Challenges to Adopting
and Scaling Agile Practices

61. What Happens if You Don’t Take Responsibility?
Stupid Smart

62. What Happens if You Don’t Take Responsibility?
Industrious
Lazy
Stupid Smart
Misguided

63. Leading Agile Work in Your
Organization

64. POLL
How clearly have you defined your vision for
Agile in your organization?
¡ We don’t have a vision
¡ Leadership has a vision, and it’s communicated to staff occasionally
¡ We have a joint leadership/staff vision, and everyone knows it
¡ We have a joint vision, and our progress toward our vision is
monitored and measured quantitatively

65. My Unbreakable Rules of Leadership (2010)
Leadership Rule
Be Sure You’re Going Somewhere
Take Responsibility
Make Decisions in the Face of Ambiguity
Put the Organization First
Be Passionate about Your Company’s Business
Become a Student of Communication
Treat Your Staff as Volunteers

66. My Unbreakable Rules of Leadership (2010)
Agile Leadership Gap Analysis
Leadership Rule
Important
for Agile?
Common
Gap?
Be Sure You’re Going Somewhere Yes Yes
Take Responsibility Yes Yes
Make Decisions in the Face of Ambiguity Yes Yes
Put the Organization First Yes Yes
Be Passionate about Your Company’s Business - -
Become a Student of Communication Yes Yes
Treat Your Staff as Volunteers Yes -

67. Leadership Reflection
How clearly have you communicated your
vision for where you want to lead your
organization?

68. Define a Clear Vision
You must express clear vision (“Commander’s Intent”):
► Publicly define the desired end state
► Describe the purpose of the change
► Identify key tasks to be accomplished
vs.

69. Your “Clear Vision” must overcome the
ambiguity present in the definition of
“Agile” at the industry level

70. Sample Landing Zones for Defining and Monitoring
an Agile Rollout
85% 90% 95%75%
85% 90% 95%75%
50% 65% 75%40%
90% 95% 100%80%
Scale
Complete Scrum
role assignments
by YE
Complete Agile
training by YE
Scrum support in
place by YE
Adopt Agile release
and gating process
by YE
Executive
leadership training
complete by YE 5 6 64
% of _staff informed of their Scrum roles
% of _staff who have gone through the _AgileTrainingProgram
% of _InhouseCoaches who have completed the _AdvancedTrainingProgram
% of teams using the _ReleaseAndGatingProcess (self-reported)
_ExecLeadershipTeam members who have completed _AgileLeadershipWorkshop

71. Sample Detail
Obj: Complete Scrum role assignments by YE
Scale: % of _staff who have been informed about their Scrum
roles and team assignments by YE
Meter: Reports from Scrum masters on a wiki
_staff = { software dev, SDETs, content developers, POs, interns,
leaders } includes headcount on board as of YE
Survival: 75%
Minimum: 85%
Target: 90%
Stretch: 95%
Wish: 100%

72. Sample Landing Zones for Monitoring Development
Work With an Agile Focus—Ongoing
135 60 30180
2 4 5?
45% 30% 20%80%
4.3 4.6 4.84.2
Business days from _Ideation to _Production
Total _LargeAndXLTShirtValueItems per sprint
_StakeholderSatisfactionScore
Rework %
4 5 63
Number of _SprintRetrospectiveActions implemented per quarter
Scale
Customer
Responsiveness
Business Value of
Delivered Work
Stakeholder
Satisfaction
Quality
Continuous
Learning

73. Define a Clear Vision
You must be specific
You must not over-constrain how the work is performed
Command & Control Leadership is inconsistent with Agile
practices (Not to mention, just bad management)

74. Guard Rails for Leading Agile
Work in Your Organization
Key Principles

75. Key Principle
Tighten Feedback Loops

76. Leadership Reflection
What aspects of your environment
lengthen feedback loops?
l Offshore work?
l Long development cycles?
l Approach to testing?

77. Key Principle
Increase Team Capacity by Building
Individual Capacity

78. Leadership Reflection
Do your teams and individuals have the
skills they need to perform the work?
l In high-leverage roles, such as Scrum Master
and Product Owner?
l In individual contributor roles?
l For changed skill sets, such as integrating
development into test?

79. Key Principle
Commit to High Quality*

80. Leadership Reflection
Does your leadership provide clear
guidance on the importance of quality?
Does your measurement program support
that?

81. Key Principle
Develop a Business Focus

82. Leadership Reflection
How much attention have you seen your
staff pay to business focus in their
discussions of Agile?
How much attention have you seen your
staff pay to business focus in their conduct
of Agile?

83. Key Principle
Fix the System, Not the Individual

84. Leadership Reflection
If your Agile initiative is not meeting
expectations, how much of that can be
attributed to your leadership?

85. The Two Most Important
Key Principles

86. Key Principle
Develop a Growth Mindset
Inspect and Adapt
Almost everything else in Agile can be
inferred from these two principles

87. Leadership Reflection
Does your implementation of Agile
practices support a continuous learning
environment?

88. Conclusions

89. Conclusions
You lead in both an organization and an industry.
Consider both in your approach to leadership.

90. Conclusions
Most Agile implementations are nowhere near as
effective as they could be.

91. Conclusions
Leading an effective Agile initiative requires
active leadership in some unexpected areas:
especially the definition of Agile and the purpose
that Agile is intended to serve in your
organization.

92. Conclusions
General leadership practices matter too.

93. Construx
www.construx.com
We believe that each and every software team can be successful.
We believe that developing the professional skills of organizations,
teams, and individuals is the best way to make software projects
more successful.
For information about our consulting and training services, contact
stevemcc@construx.com or hello@construx.com

94. 95
Q&A
Brittany Shear
With: Moderated by:
CEO, Construx Software
Linkedin page: /in/SteveMcc
Twitter ID: @SteveMconstrux
Email: stevemcc@construx.com
Website: construx.com
Steve McConnell
Editor, Aggregage
Linkedin page: /cto-universe
Twitter ID: @CTOUniverse
Email: brittany.shear@aggregage.com
Website: CTOUniverse.com
www.ctouniverse.com/webinar-series/cto-universe-leadership-series/