[Geecon 2022] Are Agile Leaders Really Wizards

The idea for the talk came when I had finished bedtime reading “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy to my two daughters. It took us more than a year to go through the journey of the fellowship together, with plenty of questions and digressions, some harder to even wonder about, sometimes existential. That’s why this talk will be different than others, there’ll be no programming languages but rather human language (and a small dose of elvish). Today let’s go together on an adventure and find out what does it mean to be a leader! In Middle-earth we’ll explore why it’s important to answer “why?”, what’s the difference between a good and bad leader, featuring Gandalf and Saruman (also what kind of games they were playing), what’s a diverse team, and why interns are like hobbits. There’ll also be a touch of psychology, sociology, and capitalism, plus our “industry buzzwords” like agile, senior leadership, scrum team, open-source contributions. We’ll find out where to find these in Tolkien’s fantasy world where there are no computers (unless you count palantíri as handheld peer-to-peer devices) but there’s a lot to learn from and benefit — as a leader, contributor and human being. If you are one of those, you’re welcome here (hobbits, dwarves, elves and others are welcome as well!).

Transcript

1. Are Agile Leaders Really Wizards? Grzegorz Rożniecki http://sli.do #GeeCon2022 @xaerxess
2. Ayia!
3. Adventure with Tolkien Journey to Faërie Recovery 02 Modern Day Wizards Escape 03 Fellowship for Every Day Consolation 04 Recurring Eucatastrophe Table of contents 01
4. Start With Why Your WHY is your purpose, cause or belief “JRR Tolkien” Donato Giancola
5. How it all started Eala Earendel engla beorhtast Ofer middangeard monnum sended Earendil by alystraea
6. How it all started She danced, and at her feet was strewn A mist of silver quivering
7. Find Your Why „To create beauty in daily life” —T.C.B.S (1911)
8. 1937 This was the year in which The Hobbit was first released
9. 1937 This was the year in which The Silmarillion was rejected
10. Tolkien’s books The Hobbit After 7 years of writing The Lord of the Rings After 18 years of writing On Fairy-Stories Manifesto for fantasy genre Last book published? „The Fall of Gondolin” 1937 1955 ? 1939
11. Somme (1916) ”Canadian Artillery in Action” Kenneth Forbes
12. Faërie
13. Finding leaders in a fairy-story Fantasy A link between imagination and the final product Recovery Regaining of a clear view Consolation Joy beyond the boundaries of this world Escape Return to the permanent truths
14. Guess the leader • Member of Istari • Emissary of the Valar • Sent as an aid to Free peoples of Middle-Earth • Disguised as an old man • Studies history of Middle-Earth • Knows his purpose
15. Saruman or Gandalf ”Saruman vs Gandalf” Angelo Montanini
16. Gandalf the Black What if…? ”Gandalf the Black” José L. Serrano Silva
17. Saruman of All Colors White or …? “Saruman of Many Colours” TolmanCotton
18. Istari
19. One Sentence “To support Free peoples of Middle- Earth in fighting evil”
20. One Sentence “To defeat Sauron”
21. One Sentence “To protect all creatures of Middle- Earth from destruction”
22. One Sentence “To help the West by helping the East” “The Blue Wizards” Giuliano Brocani
23. One Sentence “To reduce waste and make order in Middle- Earth” “The Blue Wizards” Giuliano Brocani
24. Control What is the Ring? Order Power
25. What motivates us? Biological drive Eat, drink, live Intrinsic drive I love what I’m doing Extrinsic drive Get a reward for a good job Get a punishment for a bad job The future … 5000 BC 2000s … 1950s
26. Motivation Autonomy The desire to be self- directed Mastery The desire to get better at something that matters Purpose The yearning to do something in the service of something greater than us
27. One Sentence “To secure the peace by transporting the One Ring to a safe place”
28. Servant Leadership Focus on the growth and well-being of
29. Meet The Scrum Team Junior Dev Brilliant Jerk Scrum Master Senior Leader Senior Devs Product Owner Interns
30. Ten Characteristics of Servant Leaders Empathy Listening 1 2
31. Persuasion Ten Characteristics of Servant Leaders Awareness Healing 3 4 5
32. Stewardship Ten Characteristics of Servant Leaders Foresight Conceptualization 6 7 8
33. Ten Characteristics of Servant Leaders Building community Commitment to the growth of people 9 10
34. But Interns? Fresh perspective is great for innovation
35. What about Senior Devs? Build a culture — the ethos
36. Sam The Scrum Master „The Shire must truly be a great realm, Master Gamgee, where gardeners are held in high honor.”
37. What about BJ? Culture supersedes people, and celebrate the value
38. 16personalities.com Meet My Scrum Team
39. When is an Agile Eucatastrophe? • End of each sprint • End of quarterly goals cycle • Teammate leaving • New manager • Requirements changes • Peers’ personal problems • Fights inside the team • Your family member is sick
40. Every day consolation? There’s no courage without vulnerability
41. Future Leaders What’s your WHY?
42. References — books 1. “Start With Why”, “Leaders Eat Last” and “The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek (http://y2u.be/qp0HIF3SfI4) 2. “Drive” by Daniel Pink (http://y2u.be/u6XAPnuFjJc) 3. “Culture Wins” by William Vanderbloemen 4. “Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss (http://y2u.be/veRIlVdIuyI) 5. “The One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard (http://y2u.be/F4VnMmSr0HM) 6. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey (http://y2u.be/WFc08j9eorQ) 7. “Servant Leadership in Action” by Ken Blanchard , Renee Broadwell 8. “Atlas of the Heart” by Brené Brown (http://y2u.be/iCvmsMzlF7o)
43. References — JRR books 1. “The Lord of the Rings” 2. ”The Hobbit” 3. ”The Silmarillion” 4. ”On Fairy-Stories” 5. ”Ufinished Tales” 6. ”The Peoples of Middle-earth” 7. ”Beren and Lúthien”
44. Namárië! Look not to far ahead! But go now with good hearts! Farewell!