No more managers! No more hierarchy! A truly self organizing, self-running team! These phrases strike fear into managers almost as much as: We are moving to agile. As successful companies like Zappos, GitHub, and Treehouse discard managers from their teams, other software managers are left wondering about their futures. The reality is that managers are even more relevant and necessary today—if they transform from command-and-control to a coaching-style role. Employees need to know they have an advocate—not just in the business but in their careers. Learn from Brian Sobus how to become that advocate as he draws on his experience leading agile and traditional software development teams. Peer over the abyss as Brian delves into the nuances that are required for this new manager role. Learn how we perceive managers, how that perception must change, and how managers can embrace this transformation. Discover why this needed leadership meshes well with and elevates self-directed teams.

1. Software
Managers
Their place in Agile
Brian Sobus
© 2014 Snowglobe Software Development, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2. Who am I?
Brian Sobus
brians@snowglobesoftware.com
I am an Agile Methodologist & Practitioner, a Software
Developer, and a Director of Engineering based in Raleigh, NC.
In these roles and a few others, I’ve helped guide companies,
teams, and individuals in their development, careers, and
decisions. Currently, I am President and Principal Developer for
Snowglobe Software Development, Inc. and a Director of
Engineering for Teradata.

3. What's all this then?
• Agile: What it is and what it brings
• Management: What it was
• Why killing all the managers just sounds like a
good idea
• How do we move forward?

4. What does Agile give us?
• Empowered teams
• Self-organization
• Products that bring ever-increasing
value to the customer

5. Roles of SCRUM
• Product Owner
o Responsible for delivering the release
• Team
o Responsible for meeting their commitment in a Sprint
• ScrumMaster
o Primum Attollo Populus – First, Elevate the Team
(http://artisansoftwareconsulting.com/blogs/?p=75)
o Removes roadblocks hour-by-hour
Roles of Kanban?

6. What’s Missing?
• Functional Managers.
oWhy?
 Remnant of conversion
 Agile Methodologies do not define
 Agile Development Methodologies are about the
development of software/product. It does not account for careers/people

7. Traditional Manager
What are the responsibilities?

8. First thing we do, kill all the lawyers
- Dick the Butcher, Henry VI, Part II

9. • Treehouse
– The manager’s team lost respect for them because
they could no longer produce, which means they
would set unrealistic deadlines.
• Valve, Gore-Tex, Medium
– Leadership emerges. Valve admits they’re bad at
mentoring people and helping people grow where
they need help. Medium added Domain Leads to
hire/fire and give feedback. Responsible for people.
• Zappos
– Holocracy. Distributed leadership, but each circle is
still hierarchical.
– John Bunch “the company is actually decoupling the
professional development side of the business from
the technical getting-the-work-done side.

10. The Agile Manager
 What Doesn’t Work
 Old method of “command and control”
 Teams self-organize and decide what tasks are necessary to deliver
features
 Product Owner selects features for release
 ScrumMaster keeps team on track by eliminating roadblocks
 Decide what work will be done
 Decide who will do the work
 Track everyone’s efforts
 Commit to dates on behalf of the team to management.
 Ensure the work gets done
 Provide weekly status updates to management.

11. GE/Durham
• 170 employees – 1 boss
• 9 teams. 1 directive: the day the engine goes on
the truck.
• 3 types of decisions and type A only happens 10
times a year.
• Optimize the plant, stay focused, and broadcast
their success.

12. The Agile Manager
• Give input on features and
functionality
• Remove blocks that the team cannot
• Provide advice and input on technical
problems
• Regularly meet with team members in
1:1 meetings
• Provide input on how to improve
features
• Provide evaluations and feedback
• Recruit, interview and hire
• Career path development for team
(training, conferences, etc.)
• Remove team members who do not
mesh well with the team
• Stay up to date with the industry
• Anticipate needs
• Budget planning and maintenance

13. The Two Managers
• The Old Manager
o Distrusts the team
o Enforces decisions
o Commands respect
o Controls the process, the team,
the deliverable, and the effort
o Dictator, Ruler, Controller
• The New Manager
o Trusts the team
o Relies on the team to decide
o Earns respect
o Has a team that creates and
uses their process, that
commits to their deliverable,
and raises and lowers their
effort to make their
commitment
o Coach, Mentor, Leader

14. The Job Description
• Build Teams
• Coach
• Motivate
• Provide Vision
• Build Strategy
• Be a Leader
• Listen
• Make Connections
• Have Fun

15. A team suddenly becomes aware that
they will need resources from the
systems group in order to complete their
sprint. The head of the systems group is
upset, but, even worse, their sprint is full.
You don’t need a functional manager for everything.

16. The Hardest Parts
• You are no longer the sole problem solver
o You are a coach, a mentor, a leader, and a teacher
o You provide opportunities for others to solve these problems
• It’s situational
o Who you are depends on where you are and who you are with
o You have to understand the context of each situation
• You cannot use “command and control”
o You are an influencer.
o You want ownership and accountability.
• You are a servant leader
o You empathize with others, you listen, you are aware.
o You should look to embody the ten central characteristics of a Servant
Leader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership)
o Listening Empathy
o Healing Awareness
o Persuasion Conceptualization
o Foresight Stewardship
o Growth (Employees) Build (Community)

17. What Do You Do?
• Ask the right questions
o Your goal is not to solve the problems, but to ask the questions that lead
your team towards solutions.
o Become Eliza – How would you like to solve that? What do you need from
me?
• Empower your teams
o Teach them to collaborate
o Allow them to choose their work
o Make sure they have interesting things to do
• Stand Back, Trust Your Team, But...
o Consistently raise the bar
o Challenge the team
o Teach them what it means to have a quality product and to be the owners of
software craftmanship

18. Thank You
Thank you for your time. Any questions?

19. References
• Johanna Rothman -
Functional Managers as Scrum Masters - Not a Good
Idea: http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2010/06/functional-
managers-acting-as-scrum-masters-not-a-good-idea.html
• Engines of Democracy -
http://www.fastcompany.com/37815/engines-democracy
• First Round Review –
http://firstround.com/article/how-medium-is-building-a-new-
kind-of-company-with-no-managers
• Lessons from Converting to a No-Management Company in
Just Two Days –
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3026079/open-company/lessons-
from-converting-to-a-no-management-company-in-just-two-
days