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
2. @lunivore
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/
4. @lunivore
5. @lunivore Control Clarity Competence
6. Dan Pink, “Drive” Autonomy Purpose Mastery @lunivore 6
7. @lunivore
8. @lunivore
9. Stephen Bungay, “The Art of Action” @lunivore Intent Outcomes Plans Actions Effects Gap Knowledge Gap Alignment Gap More Controls More Instructions More Information
10. @lunivore „Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus.“
11. @lunivore UCL Experiment: Snakes under rocks Find a snake? Get a shock! Varying probability of snakes Most stress at 50%
12. “Scrum employs an iterative, incremental approach to optimize predictability and control risk.” - The Scrum Guide™ @lunivore
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
14. Information Arrival @lunivore t Information Point at which most decisions are made
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
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
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
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.
19. @lunivore 5 4 3 2 1 Cynefin
20. A Wardley Map Simon Wardley CC-BY-SA 3.0
21. Epiphany and Apophany @lunivore
23. @lunivore Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA 4.0
24. Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GDFL 1.2 Yathin S Krishnappa, CC-SA 3.0
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
26. Early 19th Century, Brooklyn Museum
27. Deliberate Discovery Assume ignorance Assume second order ignorance Optimize for discovery
28. Real Options Options have value Options expire Never commit early unless you know why
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
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%
33. Cynefin Breaking things down Trying things out
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
35. Coherence A realistic reason for thinking the probe might have a positive impact Can you give me an example? @lunivore
36. In high uncertainty… …scenarios provide coherence, not tests @lunivore
37. Multiple success scenarios Ensures you’re not hung up on one outcome Makes it more likely that you’ll consider failure @lunivore
38. Coherence Given Kate doesn’t know much about the PO role When she reads my guide Then she should understand it better. @lunivore
39. @lunivore “That won’t work because…”
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
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
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
43. Fail-Safe Then it should also work in production @lunivore
44. Safe-To-Fail Then we should find out And be able to roll it back @lunivore
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
46. Psychological Safety ‘‘a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up,’’ - Project Aristotle
47. @lunivore Predictable outcome; made of the sum of the parts Unpredictable; the “product of the interactions”* of the agents * Russell Ackoff
48. @lunivore Write a failing test Make it pass Refactor New behaviour Existing behaviour
49. Porpoise feedback Anchor the things you value.
50. Sandwich Model Say something good Say something bad Say something good
51. Tasty Burger Model Anchor the things you value. Provide feedback to increase effectiveness. End with a bright future. (People write their own code!)
52. Atkins (no carbs!) The value is already anchored. The bright future is already understood. Provide feedback to increase effectiveness.
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
54. “Sensemaker” by Cognitive Edge @lunivore Past Present Future
55. “Sensemaker” by Cognitive Edge @lunivore Leadership at every level “Mastery is understanding how to work with the grain.” - Katherine Kirk
57. @lunivore Liz Keogh liz@lunivore.com @lunivore http://lizkeogh.com
58. Dreyfus Modelling Novice Experienced Beginner Competent Knowledgeable Practitioner Expert @lunivore Practitioner
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!
60. The “Grow” Framework Goal Reality Options Way Forward @lunivore
61. A really great leadership trait! @lunivore “I am feeling stressed… that’s interesting.”
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.
63. The Safety Check (ESVW) Explorer Shopper Vacationer Prisoner @lunivore