Johanna Rothman @johannarothman www.jrothman.com Create a Career Ladder for Real People: Vertical and Lateral Movement

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Current Career Ladder Problems • Only go in one direction: Up • But many people have non-linear careers • Few organizations have effective parallel tracks • Many senior people become “managers” because they get more money • Based on personal “deliverables” (achievements) instead of team-based deliverables 2

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman “Personal” Deliverables Drive Rewards • How many principal or consulting engineer slots does your organization have? • Many fewer than the manager roles • The only real way to move up/more money is to take a management role. 3

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Problems with Only Moving to Management • Two losses: • Team loses a great technical contributor • Person might not want management, so might not want to be a manager • Too few people realize management is a career change 4

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Personal Deliverables: Anti-Agility • Bold statement: No one works alone on any product • Especially not on an agile team 5

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Solo Achievements Ignore Agile System • Agility: • Short feedback loops • Team works together in flow efficiency 6

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Flow Efficiency Shortens Feedback Loops • Resource efficiency slows work • You wait for the next piece of work. • Work queues behind experts. • When we optimize for individual busy-ness, we slow the team • When teams work in flow efficiency, they finish as fast as possible. 7

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman See Flow Efficiency with Value Stream Map 8

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman When Team Works Together 9

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Change Our Language • Stop saying, “Individual Contributor” • Start saying, “Team Member” • Humans are not “Resources”—they are resourceful people 10

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What About Technical Leaders? • They lead a team, informally or formally, often through influence 11

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman We Need “Agile” Career Ladders 12

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Career Ladders Serve Several Purposes • Where to hire a person into the organization? • When to promote someone • Criteria for the behaviors you want to reinforce and reduce 13

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman (Agile) Behaviors We Want to Reinforce • Collaboration to learn and deliver together • Feedback and coaching (to create psychological safety) • Ability to ask for help • Experimentation (to increase learning speed and feedback loops) • Adaptability • Influence (not coercion) 14

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Agility Requires Collaboration & Influence to Drive Rewards 15 Less influence More influence

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Three Key Areas for Collaboration & Influence • Technical Ladder: • Code and product • Process Ladder (got a better name for me?) • Code and process • People Leadership • Organization and product • When we clarify the areas of leadership, we can create a jungle gym for a ladder 16

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Several Types of “Technical” Leadership 17 Less influence More influence

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Influence • When we show: • Competence • Trustworthiness • Build small wins every day • And we build rapport • Base influence on: • Mutually agreeable outcomes • Short- and Long-term objectives 18

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Technical Team- Product- & Process-Based Influence • We can always control our actions • When we collaborate with others, we expand our influence • How much do we work inside the team, across teams, and across the organization? 19

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What Technical Influence Might Look Like • Primarily code- and product-based leadership • Collaboration inside the team and across teams (pair, mob, …) • Model asking for help & experimentation • Inside the team (technical lead) to entire organization (architect) • Architects participate with the team(s) • Technical facilitation (coaching and feedback) • What did I miss for influence? 20

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What Process Influence Might Look Like • Team, product, and organizational process issues • How to support team’s collaboration (cycle time, item aging) • How teams work (not specifics, but the facilitation) • Influence the way team, product and organization uses agile approach • What did I miss for influence? 21

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What People-Based Influence Might Look Like • Culture • Maybe some process influence, but primarily around guidelines and constraints • What did I miss for influence? 22

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Leadership Influence Circles • The more you exert your leadership, the more influence you have • The circles “collapse”— you have more total influence • Leadership defines and refines the culture • What people can discuss • How they treat each other • What the org rewards 23

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Why Influence Can Work • You can influence if you: • Build rapport with other people • Show your competence • Work together • Achieve shared goals and achievements 24

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Consider These Possibilities • Create at least three tracks in your current ladders • Move from “up” thinking to “over” thinking • Rethink achievements via influence: • How the person helps the team, product, organization • Who would you need to talk with first? 25

© 2021 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • The books: • https://www.jrothman.com/mmme • https://www.jrothman.com/hiring • Blog series: https:// www.jrothman.com/careerladder • Pragmatic Manager newsletter: www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn 26