Leadership in Self Organizing Teams (SOTs)

Probably nothing has been more misinterpreted than the term “self-organizing teams” in the agile world of software development. For some, SOTs are “leader-less-teams”. They are seen as teams with highly motivated individuals, collaborating with each other to deliver tasks. In his recent Cutter article, Jim Highsmith said, “for some, self-organized teams have become, antiorganization!” It is often viewed (by the misinformed crowd) that, because of the operational style of these “super-heroes” of SOTs, there is no necessity for leaders.

Well, I beg to differ.

In my opinion, leaders’ role is more crucial in “self organizing teams” than any other style. Lack of leadership nearly kills teams of any form, self organized or otherwise. Leaders are important for teams for many reasons: translate vision into deliverables, set standards for interactions - inter/intra team communication, unite and lead team members towards achieving common goal etc.

SOTs are highly disciplined teams as contrary to the popular misconceptions. Sanjiv Augustine, in his “Managing Agile Projects”, refers to these teams as “Organic Teams, enabling connections and adaptation through close relationships on small, flexible teams”. Obviously leaderless teams find it very challenging to accomplish these objectives.

I think leaders are naturally chosen by the teams. In all my projects (especially with “agile” flavor), I saw this happen. When you don’t name leaders, teams are naturally going to choose leaders. I think that is the best way for leaders to emerge. But a word of caution: I have also experienced chaos when people were confused and didn’t see big picture. So, you should be extra-cautious in observing the process patterns and ready to adapt to changes.

I also liked Jim Highsmith’s “six-point-formula” on creating empowered teams. May be we will discuss it sometime later.

Huh, heavy stuff? Let me sign-off on a lighter note. This is my favorite on XP :-)
Courtesy - http://beingextreme.blogspot.com/2005/11/light-bulb-jokes.html

How many XP developers does it take to change a light bulb?
What's the test for your use of the room? We cannot possibly estimate the amount of work or the resources required without understanding the "what". Why do you want light in the room? We can simplify the room by deleting the roof, walls and light bulb so that you can get light at least 8 hours a day - of course you should only be doing 40 hours in there anyway. And you'll never need a new light bulb! Which has tangible business value over the life of the system? We estimate it will take 2 developers 4 ideal days provided the roof doesn't cause injury if we refactor the floor first.

Gandhigiri and You!

Latest flick from Bollywood has some great ideas on how "Gandhism" can be applied to current world (our global audience who may not know, Gandhi is our "Father of The Nation" and played key role in Indian independence movement - a quick Google gets you 23 million results on "Gandhi"!).

 

Gandhiji is, unfortunately, is a forgotten hero today.  You may disagree with his actions, but you will agree that he was a great leader.  History tells us how powerful his ideology was in bringing an entire nation together!  That's the fact.  Though many of us (in this generation) almost forgot this gentleman, he was a hero for millions of our fathers' generation.  Gandhiji demonstrated some of the best success principles.  We will see how they can be applied (or at least related) in the context of organizational leadership.

 

Truthfulness and honesty are the core of Gandhiji's values.  He learnt very early in life how valuable these qualities are, and practiced them for the rest of his life.  His leadership-by-example model (practice-what-you-preach) inspired many to develop these qualities.  Let's see how they matter in our context.

 

Honesty and Leadership

Honesty is the best policy.  Isn't it?  I believe honesty is the best way to coexist and build long lasting organizations.  An organization is only as good as it's leaders.  It is the leaders who energize teams with their energy (incidentally, these two qualities - energize and energy - are the first two of Jack Welch's 4E's of leadership).  It becomes much easier for the leadership to motive and energize people when they gain buy-in.  And trust forms the core of this.  People only trust those who are honest.  Obviously, you yourself don’t like bluff-masters, do you?

 

I believe trust forms core of human relationships.  Trusting and being trusted are clearly visible in any healthy relationship.  And lacking them obviously results in conflicts.  Trust is built on the great foundation called "honesty".

 

Honesty is being yourself.  It is about being comfortable without having to wear masks.  It is this core value of people that lets them win others trust.  And honesty is strongly coupled with truth.  They are the Siamese twins of success.  As we observed earlier, without these qualities, people find it very challenging to gain trust.  It is this quality of being upfront builds reputation and wins trust.  Gandhigiri suggests the following simple practice steps:

 

1.      Don’t wear masks.  They are invisible to only ONE person in this world.  And that's unfortunately - you.

2.      Be genuinely interested in people.  Tell them how much you value them.  Tell them how you few being associated with them.

3.      Develop an important quality of leadership - listening.  Understand trust is NOT a one-way route.  Understand what people are genuinely interested in.  And show them how they can achieve them by doing what you want them to do.

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Power of Mentorship

I am so excited in life now.  There are so many things happening simultaneously.  And by GOD’s plan I was fortunate enough to be mentored by a couple – a couple who gave a piece of their life to touch others’ lives.  And things happening for the last couple of weeks prove how powerful mentorship is.

 

I was very confused for quite some time.  If I look back in retrospect, I can understand why I was so confused.  I did not have access to people who could show me how to do things that they have done, so that I could be there where they are.  I know people who are very successful in life, in terms of financial success, in terms of career success etc.  But the problem was – no one was willing to spare their time to help me go where I wanted to go (poor guys, they themselves are caught in the proverbial “rat-race”!).  Probably earlier generations did not face this challenge as most of them are mentored by their parents.  With the changing times and work environments, jobs are created to help people cut the mustard! 

 

And while living in such a competitive, busy world, expecting personal help from people to achieve your dreams, means expecting a lot!  I realized that very early in my career.  So, only way you find your way to reach your goals is by reinventing the wheel.  Of course, along with it comes frustration too, right?  I have been looking for a teacher who can guide me reach my goals.  And I have been speaking this into existence for quite some time.  If you don’t understand power of spoken word – my case is a classic example.

 

The teacher showed up when the student was ready.  He answered all my questions, to my satisfaction.  I love his answers for a simple reason:  he preaches what he practiced.  He never said a thing that he never did.  So, it became easy for me to relate to what he was saying.  Sure, I want to be there where he is today.  And the best thing about my mentor is that he is ready to take time out of his life to help me.  And that backup, is quite something!  It’s an amazing sense of security!!

 

Power of association!  Sure you become who you associate with.  Probably you heard this before.  “Tell me your friends, I will tell who you are!”  Doctors hang-out with doctors, lawyers with lawyers and IT guys with the same crowd.  I did not believe when someone told me this.  Then I looked back – my grandfather was a senior advocate, and all his friends, needless to say, are advocates!  I look at myself and listed down my friends.  There you go again – all IT professionals.  There could be exceptions here and there.  But grossly, if you are successful in a career – you tend to be friends with guys in the same profession – most of the time.

 

What an amazing principle of success!  Power of Association!!  I learnt a great lesson about this principle.  I am learning how to disassociate with people who are negative, sarcastic, tying to pull you down or even those who can’t reciprocate with positive vibes.  Hey buddy, life is too small to be worried.  And people take you down if you are not cautious enough.  So, the first step is to stop negative.

 

The second step is to increase positive.  I was amazed at the examples he quoted – things I used to do regularly – even without realizing how it affects my brain.  I got some wonderful tips on how I could increase positive-supply to my mind.

 

Of course, the third is to pass on the knowledge.  Help others if they are looking for help.  Never say things you never did.  Only such things help people which you yourself practiced and got results.   Blessed are those who can touch others’ lives.

 

Phenomenal stuff, man!

Fun with Recruiting

I have been fortunate enough to get involved in hiring activities for the last couple of years.  It gives me great pleasure in meeting new people, knowing about their aspirations, dreams, and things they like etc.  Of course, there were times when things did not happen as expected and with it came frustration.

 

It took some time for me to realize that this frustration tells me that I need to change, than expecting “circumstances” to change.  Long ago, I read a little story about change.  It goes something like this.

 

Carrot, Egg and Coffee

(from unknown source)

 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.        

 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.  She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.  In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.  

 

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see." 

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.  She did and noted that they were soft.  The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.  Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

 

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water.  Each reacted differently.  The carrot went in strong, hard, and relenting.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.  The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.  The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

 

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?  Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?  Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?  Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

 

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean  The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

 

</end-of-story>

 

So, I started enjoying interviews rather than complaining about them.  I started talking to “people” rather than “candidates”.  I started working on improving my skills to bring the best of an interviewee: by having a positive conversation.  Then it became very easy to see if there is a fit – between the role and the person.  Decision is very easy.

 

Thank You GOD, for teaching me valuable lessons of life by providing great opportunities to learn.

E-ntilligence

I recently read an article about “E-Mail Intelligence”.  It’s very interesting.

 

Briefly, email intelligence is analyzing those zillions of emails that reside in the corporate email systems and present it in a dash board to analysts for further analysis.

 

As email has become THE standard of communication these days, it is not surprising at all that most of the information, if not all, which is critical to business, hides in someone’s mail box.  Legal battles like the anti-monopoly case against Microsoft or other infamous litigations of corporate governance heavily rely on email analysis.  And traditionally most of the legal houses carried their job by dedicating large teams to manually analyze corporate email systems, which proved to be expensive and laborious.

 

This is an emerging market for sure (a Google quickie on “email intelligence” brings up 140,000,000 results!!).  There are already various products in the market place with tools that offer application of advanced statistical, linguistic and proprietary analysis techniques.  This, for sure, is an interesting space to watch.