Who is the one? - A story about shared responsibility and decision making

For more than 8 years teams at Europace were working with agile methods like scrum and kanban as our development processes of choice. Within these years we learned a lot and evolved an understanding and mindset of "agile".

In 2015 we started looking for the next steps in agile. Therefore we adapted aspects of Holacracy and began to do experiments. The experiences we made were challenged by our understanding of a vision of self-organization. As a result we started an ongoing iterative integration of the insights of the experiences.

This talk shares the insights, experiences and failures we encountered so far. This talks aims to start an exchange of knowledge between everybody that has made similar experiences or experiments. Therefore this talk contains practical examples how responsibility and decision making were re-thought. Not only in a technical way like architecture, tools and prioritisation but also when it comes to recruiting, employer branding and salary.

German version: https://speakerdeck.com/strud/who-is-the-one-deutsch

Transcript

1. WHO IS THE ONE? STEFAN RUDNITZKI @STEFZKI
2. Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash
3. Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash SERIOUSLY?
4. Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
5. ME ▸ co-organizer MongoDB usergroup Berlin @mugberlin ▸ co-organizer Async Cat Herding Berlin @achneeberlin ▸ co-founder of FOSS Backstage 2018 @fossbckstg ▸ lead developer at Europace (B2B2C platform, mortgage, loans)
6. ME ▸ co-organizer MongoDB usergroup Berlin @mugberlin ▸ co-organizer Async Cat Herding Berlin @achneeberlin ▸ co-founder of FOSS Backstage 2018 @fossbckstg ▸ lead developer at Europace (B2B2C platform, mortgage, loans) deprecated
7. EUROPACE - 3YRS AGO ▸ hierarchies ▸ steering boards ▸ executive managers ▸ roles like head-architects Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
8. EUROPACE - 3YRS AGO ▸ salaries Photo by LoboStudio Hamburg on Unsplash
9. EUROPACE - TODAY ▸ 4 units ▸ holacracy, sociocracy, teal ▸ custom flavors of self-organization Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash
10. EUROPACE - TODAY responsibility decisions
11. EUROPACE - CIRCLES ▸ people that feel responsible for something ▸ people that feel the outcome ▸ circle decides ▸ accountability ▸ consent vs consensus Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash
12. EUROPACE - CIRCLES ▸ focus on organization topics ▸ pendulum swings back ▸ lead link Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
13. GROWTH & RECRUITING ▸ first: „naive“ approach Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
14. GROWTH & RECRUITING ▸ recruiting can be challenging ▸ get support by good hr people and learn ▸ integration of the team helps a lot Photo by Marcus Neto on Unsplash
15. TWO SIDES OF RESPONSIBILITY ▸ I can decide! Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
16. TWO SIDES OF RESPONSIBILITY ▸ Who is accountable? ▸ What about „uncomfortable“ decisions? ▸ Who has the skills? Photo by Leky Ybanez on Unsplash
17. GROUP DYNAMICS ▸ Is the whole team accountable for its decisions? ▸ one observes sth. vs. many don’t ▸ Who decides when everybody is affected? ▸ Most/all need to decide! ▸ observed fallback: consensus Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
18. FEEDBACK ▸ feedback rules ▸ strengthen strengths ▸ peer feedbacks ▸ 360° feedbacks ▸ „gossiping in the presence of the person concerned“ Photo by Lesly B. Juarez on Unsplash
19. THAT WAS THE TEAM STUFF - HOW DO YOU „MANAGE“ PRECISELY?
20. DECISIONS ▸ circles ▸ hierarchy of circles ▸ Integrative Decision Making ▸ Consent Decision Making Photo by Pablo Garcia Saldaña on Unsplash
21. LEADERSHIP FACETS ▸ disciplinary leadership ▸ confidant ▸ coaching ▸ technical and functional leadership Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
22. DISCIPLINARY LEADERSHIP ▸ circle ▸ focuses on contract topics ▸ you choose a person you trust ▸ consent of the team (salary transparency) ▸ your representative in the circle ▸ can change Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
23. DISCIPLINARY LEADERSHIP ▸ circle ▸ focuses on contract topics ▸ you choose a person you trust ▸ consent of the team (salary transparency) ▸ your representative in the circle ▸ can change Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
24. DISCIPLINARY LEADERSHIP - PRINCIPLES 1. fair to the inside 2. fair to the outside 3. disclosable at any time
25. CONFIDANT ▸ circle ▸ focuses on the people ▸ you choose at least one person you trust ▸ bilateral agreement ▸ can change Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash
26. CONFIDANT - MISSION 1. take care 2. listen 3. feedback
27. COACHING ▸ based on demand ▸ personality development ▸ external Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
28. TECHNICAL AND FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ▸ everybody in the team ▸ pitch your ideas ▸ get challenged and improve ▸ do it Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
29. WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE LEARNING?
30. Photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash
31. LOTS OF THEM! Photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash
32. AND LISTEN! LOTS OF THEM! Photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash
33. WHAT IS THE GREATEST ISSUE YOU ENCOUNTERED?
34. CHANGE!
35. The Oatmeal - Believe http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
36. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
37. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
38. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe IMPOSTER SYNDROME CORE BELIEFS DESIRE FOR THE PAST BACKFIRE EFFECT
39. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe ASSUMPTIONS IMPOSTER SYNDROME CORE BELIEFS DESIRE FOR THE PAST IMPLICIT EXPECTATIONS EXPLICIT EXPECTATIONS BACKFIRE EFFECT
40. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe ASSUMPTIONS IMPOSTER SYNDROME CORE BELIEFS DESIRE FOR THE PAST IMPLICIT EXPECTATIONS EXPLICIT EXPECTATIONS TEAM CULTURE ORGANIZATION CULTURE THEORY X-Y BACKFIRE EFFECT SYSTEMIC STRUCTURE
41. TRUST TAKEAWAY
42. TRANSPARENCY TAKEAWAY
43. EXPECT MISTAKES, FOCUS ON INSPECT AND ADAPT TAKEAWAY
44. CLEAR VISION AND MISSION OF SELF- ORGANIZATION TAKEAWAY
45. ASK FOR SUPPORT IF YOU STRUGGLE TAKEAWAY
46. WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT? TAKEAWAY
47. FOCUSES ON THE PEOPLE TAKEAWAY
48. TAKEAWAY Who is the one? Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash
49. TAKEAWAY This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/rainbow/whose.job
50. QUESTIONS? @STEFZKI Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash further information http://tech.europace.de/soziokratie-zur-staerkung-der-selbstorganisation-und-autonomie-ein-erfahrungsbericht/ http://www.self-managementinstitute.org/misperceptions-of-self-management Reinventing Organization - Frederic Laloux (http://www.reinventingorganizations.com) Organisation für Komplexität: Wie Arbeit wieder lebendig wird - und Höchstleistung entsteht - Niels Pfläging The Impostor Syndrome - Gitte Klitgaard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLpqq0ljawE)