Johanna Rothma n @johannarothma n www.jrothman.com Modern Management: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Many people think we don’t need managers in agile approaches… 2

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Too much of what passes for “management” has little to do with leadership and everything to do with control. 3

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Management Exists to Organize for Purpose • Manage themselves before they manage anyone els e • Create a harmonic whole by leading and serving other s • Every organization exists for one reason: Innovation 4

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for All Managers 1. Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization. 2. Build empathy with the people who do the work . 3. Build a safe environment . 4. Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal . 5. Encourage experiments and learning . 6. Catch people succeeding . 7. Exercise your value-based integrity . Note: I did not add transparency or communication. If you manage with these principles, you will be as transparent as is possible and you will communicate effectively. 5

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Our Agenda • Great managers manage themselves fi rst (Think ) • Great managers serve and lead others (Feel ) • Great managers create an environment of innovation (Act) 6

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 1. Great Managers Manage Themselves 7 Satir Congruence Model

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Brief Explanation of Congruence • Blaming: Disregard Othe r • Placating: Disregard Sel f • Super-Reasonable: Consider Only Contex t • Irrelevant: Consider Neither Self, Other, or Contex t • Congruent: Balance Self, Other and Context 8 Satir Congruence Model

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Manage Yourself Myths • Managers are more valuable than other people. • Managers must solve the team’s problem for them. • Managers are too valuable to take a vacation. • Managers can still do signi fi cant technical work. (Or, player-coach works. ) • Managers can estimate for the team. • Managers micromanage to see state . • Managers think the team needs a cheerleader. • Managers don’t admit mistakes. • Managers can concentrate on the run. • Managers expect people to bring solutions to problems. • Managers believe in indispensable employees. (Or “10X”) 9

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for Managing Yourself • Clarify your purpose. Where do you add value ? • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Assume they know what they’re doing . • Build a safe environment. Admit when you don’t know . • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. Delegate problems and outcomes, not tasks . • Encourage experiments and learning. Offer coaching, not solutions . • Catch people succeeding . • Exercise your value-based integrity. Do the right thing, even when it hurts. 10

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 2. Great Managers Lead and Serve Others • “Managing” others is about leading and serving. • Leading and serving != directing and controlling 11

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman People Remember How They Felt • Think back to the best manager you had. • How did you feel when you worked there ? • What do you remember? (Work/product, teams, something else? ) • Think back to just one of your terrible managers. • How did you feel when you worked there ? • Do you remember any of the work, except to remember how you felt about it? 12

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Outdated Management Assumptions Color Management Actions • People can do the jo b • Because people master challenges all the tim e • Because people take responsibility all the tim e • People might need support or training, but they can . • People live up or down to your expectations of them 13

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lead & Serve Others Myths • No limit to the number of people you can manage . • People don’t need feedback . • Measure busy-ness, not outcomes . • Managers want to know the people are engaged . • Thinking isn't work . • Performance reviews or other evaluations are useful. (They are not. They damage relationships and performance. ) • People don’t need credit for their work . • Hiring shortcuts are fi ne . • People are resources. (No, they are not. ) • We need experts for this work . • Promote the best technical person to be a manager . • You can keep even marginally-useful people on a team. 14

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman When Managers Don’t Lead & Serve… • Feel as if you’re sloggin g • People need : • Autonomy, mastery, and purpos e • Team for collaboration & feedback 15

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles for Leading and Serving Others • Clarify the team’s purpose.What value does your team offer ? • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Offer autonomy, mastery, purpose . • Build a safe environment. Teach feedback and coaching . • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. Use fl ow ef fi ciency . • Encourage experiments and learning . • Catch people succeeding . • Exercise your value-based integrity. Make those dif fi cult decisions. 16

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3. Great Managers Lead for Innovation 17 “...every organization…needs one core competence: innovation.” — Peter Drucke r (Especially management innovation — Rothman)

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Where Do Managers Spend Their Time? 18

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Organizational Leadership Myths • Great management looks easy so it is easy . • Treat everyone the same way . • Performance management creates employee engagement. (It does not! ) • Comparing teams is useful . • “Friendly” competition is constructive . • 100% utilization works . • No time for training . • It’s okay to move people wherever they need to go, whenever the manager wants . • Lower salaries means lower project cos t • Manage by spreadsheet . • It’s a great idea to standardize on how people work (especially their agile approach.) 19

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Embrace the Organization’s “Messiness” • De fi ne the organization’s “Why ” • Iterate on the strateg y • Plan for change 20

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Innovation Principles • Clarify purpose (why) for your organization. • Build empathy with the people who do the work. Reduce bureaucracy. • Build a safe environment. Decriminalize mistakes . • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal. • Encourage experiments and learning . • Catch people succeeding . • Exercise your value-based integrity. (Say No to too much work.) 21

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What Does Your Organization Reward? 22

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman A Focus on Resource Ef fi ciency • Manage via cost accounting • Divide-and-conquer work s • Inventory is goo d • Cost accounting works for softwar e • Knowledge work != factory work != slaver y • All of these are antithetical to agile approaches 23

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Managers Create & Re fi ne the Culture • For everyone as individuals, in teams, and in group s • (Schein discusses artifacts, values, and assumptions ) • How people treat each othe r • What people can discus s • How the manager and organization rewards people 24

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lewin’s Equation • B = f (P, E ) • Behavior is a function of the Person in the Environment 25

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman “The Culture of any organization is shaped by the wors t behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.” — Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch. 3 (2015) 26

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Build Your Agile Management Habits • Progress, not perfection! ! • Behaviors before belief s • Start with yoursel f • Remember that people remember how you make them fee l • If you don’t know the “why” nothing else matters. 27

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman The Seven Principles 1. Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization. 2. Build empathy with the people who do the work . 3. Build a safe environment . 4. Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal . 5. Encourage experiments and learning . 6. Catch people succeeding . 7. Exercise your value-based integrity. 28

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanage r • Please link with me on LinkedI n • Modern Management Made Easy books: • https://www.jrothman.com/mmme 29