Leadership at Every Level

Leadership is easy when you're a manager, or an expert in a field, or a conference speaker! In a Kanban organisation, though, we "encourage acts of leadership at every level". In this talk we look at what it means to be a leader in the uncertain, changing and high-learning environment of software development. We learn about the importance of safety in encouraging others to lead and follow, and how to get that safety using both technical and human practices; the neccesity of a clear, compelling vision and provision of information on how we're achieving it; and the need to be able to solve awkward and difficult problems... especially the ones without easy answers.

Transcript

1. @lunivore
   Liz Keogh
   @lunivore
   http://lizkeogh.com
   

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2. @lunivore
   

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3. Forbes: Top 10 qualities
   that make a great leader
   Honesty
   Delegate
   Communication
   Confidence
   Commitment
   Positive
   Attitude
   Creativity
   Intuition
   Inspire
   Approach
   @lunivore
   http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/
   top-10-qualitiesthat-make-a-great-leader/
   

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4. @lunivore
   

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5. @lunivore
   Control
   Clarity
   Competence
   

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6. Dan Pink, “Drive”
   Autonomy
   Purpose
   Mastery
   @lunivore
   6
   

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7. @lunivore
   

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8. @lunivore
   

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9. Stephen Bungay, “The Art of Action”
   @lunivore
   Intent
   Outcomes
   Plans
   Actions
   Effects Gap Knowledge Gap
   Alignment Gap
   More Controls
   More Instructions
   More Information
   

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10. @lunivore
    „Kein Operationsplan
    reicht mit einiger
    Sicherheit über das erste
    Zusammentreffen mit der
    feindlichen Hauptmacht
    hinaus.“
    

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11. @lunivore
    UCL Experiment: Snakes under rocks
    Find a snake? Get a shock!
    Varying probability of snakes
    Most stress at 50%
    

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12. “Scrum employs
    an iterative, incremental approach to
    optimize predictability
    and control risk.”
    - The Scrum Guide™
    @lunivore
    

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13. “The ability of each
    Agile Release Train to
    routinely and predictably
    deliver value
    is a hallmark of a successful
    SAFe implementation.”
    - Introduction to SAFe®
    @lunivore
    

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14. Information Arrival
    @lunivore
    t
    Information
    Point at which
    most decisions
    are made
    

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15. “…a fundamental assumption…
    …a certain level of
    predictability and order
    exists in the world.“
    - Dave Snowden,
    “A Leader’s Framework
    for Decision Making”,
    Harvard Business Review, 2007
    

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16. @lunivore
    Material in this slide is Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd..
    Used with kind permission.
    Commodities
    Differentiators
    Build on
    Spoilers
    The Innovation Cycle
    

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17. @lunivore
    Complicated
    Obvious
    Chaotic
    Complex analyse
    categorise
    probe
    act
    Material in this slide is Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd..
    Used with kind permission.
    Cynefin
    Complacency
    

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18. Estimating Complexity
    5. Nobody has ever done it before
    4. Someone outside the org has done it before
    3. Someone in the org has done it before
    2. Someone in the team has done it before
    1. We all know how to do it.
    

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19. @lunivore
    5 4 3
    2
    1
    Cynefin
    

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20. A Wardley Map
    Simon Wardley
    CC-BY-SA 3.0
    

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21. Epiphany
    and
    Apophany
    @lunivore
    

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23. @lunivore
    Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA 4.0
    

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24. Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GDFL 1.2
    Yathin S Krishnappa, CC-SA 3.0
    

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25. @lunivore
    Peter H. Wrege, CC-SA 3.0
    African Bush Elephant African Forest Elephant
    Bigger
    4 toenails on front,
    3 on hind
    Smaller, darker
    5 toenails on front,
    4 on hind
    

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26. Early 19th Century, Brooklyn Museum
    

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27. Deliberate Discovery
    Assume ignorance
    Assume second order ignorance
    Optimize for discovery
    

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28. Real Options
    Options have value
    Options expire
    Never commit early
    unless you know why
    

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31. Where are your
    commitments and investments?
    @lunivore
    Yearly
    budgeting
    cycle
    Up-front
    analysis
    work
    Work done
    but not in
    use
    High cost
    of making
    ready for use
    Regulatory
    requirements
    Quarterly
    / rolling
    budget
    Regulatory
    feedback
    Lightweight
    planning
    Small,
    frequent
    changes
    Great
    engineering,
    continuous
    deployment,
    culture of
    change
    

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32. Bain Analysis, 2007
    @lunivore
    11%
    Alignment Trap
    Highly
    Aligned
    +13
    -14
    7%
    -6
    +35
    IT-Enabled Growth
    Less
    Aligned
    Less
    Effective
    Highly
    Effective
    Maintenance Zone
    74%
    0
    -2
    % 3-year
    growth
    % IT
    Spending
    Well-Oiled IT
    -15
    +11
    8%
    

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33. Cynefin
    Breaking
    things down
    Trying things
    out
    

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34. A Safe-To-Fail Probe has…
    A way of knowing it’s succeeding
    A way of knowing it’s failing
    A way of dampening it
    A way of amplifying it
    Coherence
    

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35. Coherence
    A realistic reason
    for thinking the probe
    might have a
    positive impact
    Can you give me an example?
    @lunivore
    

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36. In high uncertainty…
    …scenarios provide
    coherence,
    not
    tests
    @lunivore
    

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37. Multiple success scenarios
    Ensures you’re not hung up on
    one outcome
    Makes it more likely
    that you’ll consider
    failure
    @lunivore
    

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38. Coherence
    Given Kate doesn’t know much
    about the PO role
    When she reads my guide
    Then she should understand it better.
    @lunivore
    

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39. @lunivore
    “That won’t
    work
    because…”
    

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40. Failure Scenarios
    Given Kate doesn’t know much
    about the PO role
    When she reads my guide
    Then she might feel helplessly lost.
    @lunivore
    

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41. A Safe-To-Fail Probe has…
    A way of knowing it’s succeeding
    A way of knowing it’s failing
    A way of dampening it
    A way of amplifying it
    Coherence
    A way of avoiding failure completely
    @lunivore
    

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42. Changing the Context
    Given Kate doesn’t know much
    about the PO role
    And she knows everything is new and
    we’re trying things out
    When she reads my guide
    Then she should let us know
    that didn’t work for her.
    @lunivore
    

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43. Fail-Safe
    Then it should also work in production
    @lunivore
    

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44. Safe-To-Fail
    Then we should find out
    And be able to roll it back
    @lunivore
    

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45. @lunivore
    Palchinsky Principles
    Seek out new ideas
    and try new things
    When trying something new
    do it on a scale
    where failure will be survivable
    Seek out feedback
    and learn from your mistakes
    

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46. Psychological Safety
    ‘‘a sense of confidence
    that the team will not
    embarrass, reject or punish someone
    for speaking up,’’
    - Project Aristotle
    

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47. @lunivore
    Predictable outcome;
    made of the
    sum of the
    parts
    Unpredictable;
    the “product of the
    interactions”*
    of the agents
    * Russell Ackoff
    

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48. @lunivore
    Write a
    failing
    test
    Make it
    pass
    Refactor
    New
    behaviour
    Existing
    behaviour
    

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49. Porpoise feedback
    Anchor the things you value.
    

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50. Sandwich Model
    Say something good
    Say something bad
    Say something good
    

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51. Tasty Burger Model
    Anchor the things you value.
    Provide feedback to increase effectiveness.
    End with a bright future.
    (People write their own code!)
    

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52. Atkins (no carbs!)
    The value is already anchored.
    The bright future is already understood.
    Provide feedback to increase effectiveness.
    

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53. @lunivore
    “…the company
    that put more emphasis
    on profit
    in its declaration of objectives
    was the less profitable
    in its financial statements.”
    - John Kay
    

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54. “Sensemaker” by Cognitive Edge
    @lunivore
    Past
    Present Future
    

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55. “Sensemaker” by Cognitive Edge
    @lunivore
    Leadership
    at every
    level
    “Mastery is understanding
    how to work
    with the grain.”
    - Katherine Kirk
    

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57. @lunivore
    Liz Keogh
    liz@lunivore.com
    @lunivore
    http://lizkeogh.com
    

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58. Dreyfus Modelling
    Novice
    Experienced Beginner
    Competent
    Knowledgeable Practitioner
    Expert
    @lunivore
    Practitioner
    

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59. Dreyfus Modelling
    1. Novice
    2. Beginner
    3. Practitioner
    4. Knowledgeable
    5. Expert
    @lunivore
    “You do you”
    Seek Independence
    Seek Desire
    Impostor
    Syndrome!
    Oh, yeah!
    

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60. The “Grow” Framework
    Goal
    Reality
    Options
    Way Forward
    @lunivore
    

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61. A really great leadership trait!
    @lunivore
    “I am feeling
    stressed…
    that’s
    interesting.”
    

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62. The Safety Check (numbers)
    1. I am going to nod and stay quiet.
    2. I might talk about some things I want to fix.
    3. I will share my opinions, but I’ll stay away from
    some controversial stuff.
    4. I will talk frankly but sensitively.
    

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63. The Safety Check (ESVW)
    Explorer
    Shopper
    Vacationer
    Prisoner
    @lunivore
    

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