🚀 The Coaching Architect Manifesto (Roy Osherove)

00:54:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgAJyC5keU0

Sintesi

TLDRIn this talk, Roy A. Sharov discusses the complexities of leadership in software development, particularly in relation to feature branching and team dynamics. He introduces the concept of 'elastic leadership,' which focuses on empowering teams, reducing bottlenecks, and fostering self-organization. Sharov emphasizes that leaders should measure their success by how much their teams rely on them and encourages leaders to create an environment where team members can learn and grow, even if it means facing discomfort. He highlights the importance of transitioning teams from survival mode, where they are overwhelmed and unable to learn, to learning mode, where they can develop new skills and innovate. The talk concludes with practical advice for leaders on how to challenge their teams and create a culture of continuous improvement.

Punti di forza

  • 👥 Leadership is about empowering teams to solve their own problems.
  • 📉 Measure success by how much your team relies on you.
  • 🚦 Bottlenecks slow down team progress; reduce them for better efficiency.
  • 🔄 Transition teams from survival mode to learning mode for growth.
  • 📚 Encourage discomfort as a sign of learning and growth.
  • 🛠️ Use coaching to help team members develop new skills.
  • ⚖️ Balance task delegation between learning opportunities and efficiency.
  • 🚀 Create a culture of self-organization within your team.
  • 💡 The bus factor highlights the risk of knowledge concentration.
  • 🌱 Leadership is a continuous journey of growth and adaptation.

Linea temporale

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker introduces a talk on the challenges of implementing knowledge gained from discussions about feature branching, emphasizing the importance of leadership in navigating these challenges.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Roy A. Sharov shares insights from his consulting experience and his book 'Elastic Leadership', focusing on the role of leaders in fostering team growth and addressing bottlenecks in decision-making.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The concept of a bottleneck is defined as someone who holds decision-making power, which can hinder team efficiency. The speaker discusses the implications of being a bottleneck and the responsibility that comes with it.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    The speaker reflects on his early leadership style, which involved protecting his team, but recognizes that this approach can lead to stagnation in team growth and skill development.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Roy emphasizes the importance of measuring leadership success by how much the team relies on the leader, advocating for empowering team members to solve their own problems.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The concept of 'bus factor' is introduced, highlighting the risks associated with having a single point of failure in a team, and the importance of knowledge sharing to mitigate these risks.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    The speaker discusses the importance of enabling team members to grow and learn, suggesting that true leadership involves making oneself unneeded by fostering independence in the team.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Roy shares personal anecdotes about parenting to illustrate the challenges and growth that come with learning new skills, drawing parallels to team dynamics in the workplace.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    The speaker emphasizes the need for teams to transition from survival mode to learning mode, advocating for open communication with management to address issues that hinder team growth.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:54:06

    In conclusion, Roy encourages leaders to embrace challenges and discomfort as opportunities for growth, both for themselves and their teams, and invites attendees to engage further with his work.

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Mappa mentale

Video Domande e Risposte

  • What is the main topic of the talk?

    The talk focuses on leadership in software development, particularly the challenges of feature branching and team dynamics.

  • What is 'elastic leadership'?

    Elastic leadership is a framework that emphasizes empowering teams, reducing bottlenecks, and fostering self-organization.

  • How can leaders measure their success?

    Leaders can measure their success by how much their teams rely on them for decision-making and problem-solving.

  • What does it mean to be a bottleneck in a team?

    A bottleneck is someone whose decisions are crucial for the team's progress, potentially slowing down the team's workflow.

  • What is the difference between survival mode and learning mode?

    Survival mode is when teams are overwhelmed and unable to learn new skills, while learning mode allows teams to develop and grow.

  • How can leaders help their teams grow?

    Leaders can help their teams grow by challenging them to solve their own problems and learn new skills.

  • What is the 'bus factor'?

    The bus factor refers to the number of people that need to be unavailable for a team to stop functioning, highlighting the risk of knowledge being concentrated in one person.

  • What should leaders do when faced with a dilemma in task delegation?

    Leaders should consider which team member will benefit most from the task in terms of learning and growth.

  • What is the significance of discomfort in learning?

    Discomfort often indicates that individuals are pushing their boundaries and learning new skills.

  • How can leaders create a self-organizing team?

    By empowering team members to solve their own problems and encouraging a culture of learning and collaboration.

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Scorrimento automatico:
  • 00:00:00
    [Music]
  • 00:00:19
    okay there is a really great talk
  • 00:00:22
    happening right now and track two that
  • 00:00:27
    is all about feature branching
  • 00:00:31
    considered evil I would have loved to be
  • 00:00:36
    in that talk listening to that thought
  • 00:00:37
    just so you know however I consider this
  • 00:00:42
    talk to be the parallel of that talk
  • 00:00:45
    because this talk is about what do you
  • 00:00:51
    do with the knowledge that you gain from
  • 00:00:53
    the other talk right so you go to a talk
  • 00:00:56
    and it's all about the evils of
  • 00:00:59
    branching and it's not evil but it can't
  • 00:01:02
    create problems and then what you just
  • 00:01:07
    go and you say okay that's definitely
  • 00:01:09
    evil and then you go back to your
  • 00:01:11
    company and you go right back into that
  • 00:01:15
    branch that you created a month ago and
  • 00:01:18
    you know it might not be the right thing
  • 00:01:21
    to do but you still do it and you might
  • 00:01:24
    even try to convince other people in
  • 00:01:27
    your team to try to change the way they
  • 00:01:29
    work and they might even say yeah sure
  • 00:01:32
    and still nothing changes so this talk
  • 00:01:35
    is about that stuff okay let's begin my
  • 00:01:43
    name is Roy a Sharov this talk is based
  • 00:01:45
    on a lot of consulting and working in
  • 00:01:51
    real companies in multiple roles and
  • 00:01:53
    many many failures okay so this talk is
  • 00:01:56
    based on the book elastic leadership
  • 00:02:00
    that I wrote it originally started out
  • 00:02:02
    with the name called notes to suffer
  • 00:02:04
    team leader I find elastic leadership to
  • 00:02:08
    be I don't know a bit more official for
  • 00:02:12
    that kind of framework but everything
  • 00:02:14
    I'm going to talk about today is based
  • 00:02:16
    on real experience either failures or
  • 00:02:19
    successes that I've experienced
  • 00:02:22
    so we'll talk about what is the role of
  • 00:02:25
    a leader what's the point of us trying
  • 00:02:29
    to lead people how do we grow teams what
  • 00:02:33
    does it mean to be in survival mode how
  • 00:02:34
    does that affect our ability to change
  • 00:02:37
    the structure or the way the teams work
  • 00:02:40
    or people work and I want to start
  • 00:02:44
    exactly what with the way I started
  • 00:02:45
    earlier it's really really difficult to
  • 00:02:47
    say that this talk will have any impact
  • 00:02:49
    on your life whatsoever okay in fact you
  • 00:02:53
    can say that for almost any talk at a
  • 00:02:54
    conference this talk will probably not
  • 00:02:57
    make any difference it's gonna give you
  • 00:02:59
    great ideas and hopefully what you wish
  • 00:03:02
    would happen is that you'll come to a
  • 00:03:03
    company where someone enables those
  • 00:03:06
    great ideas but usually people don't
  • 00:03:08
    come come out of a talk and say I'm
  • 00:03:10
    going to change something what I hope is
  • 00:03:14
    that at the end of this talk this won't
  • 00:03:17
    be true that you'll realize that there
  • 00:03:18
    are things that you can start changing
  • 00:03:20
    even today even if you feel that you
  • 00:03:23
    don't have the power maybe a managerial
  • 00:03:26
    power or the official permission to
  • 00:03:28
    change things I'll show that almost
  • 00:03:33
    anyone can change or start the beginning
  • 00:03:35
    of a change for things that they believe
  • 00:03:37
    in so when I asked at the beginning of
  • 00:03:41
    this talk are you a leader right I asked
  • 00:03:45
    are you an architect or your team lead
  • 00:03:47
    your developer are you UX are you
  • 00:03:51
    security to me those are all types of
  • 00:03:56
    leaders because when I define a leader I
  • 00:04:00
    my question becomes are you a bottleneck
  • 00:04:04
    in your team because if you're a
  • 00:04:07
    bottleneck in your team then you're
  • 00:04:09
    potentially a leader so what is a
  • 00:04:12
    bottleneck a bottleneck is someone who
  • 00:04:15
    gets to make decisions that other people
  • 00:04:18
    don't get to make it is someone that
  • 00:04:20
    someone waits for to do something or not
  • 00:04:23
    do something or to approve something so
  • 00:04:25
    if you're an architect usually by
  • 00:04:27
    definition you're a bottleneck if you're
  • 00:04:30
    a security by definition you're a
  • 00:04:31
    bottleneck if you're I'm gonna say ops
  • 00:04:36
    but not DevOps but whatever it is with
  • 00:04:39
    the ops word you're by definition a
  • 00:04:41
    bottleneck because it means that not
  • 00:04:43
    only do you have expertise many times
  • 00:04:46
    you're the only one with permission to
  • 00:04:48
    make certain types of decisions and that
  • 00:04:50
    makes you potentially a leader now I say
  • 00:04:55
    potentially because you have this great
  • 00:04:59
    power and with great power comes great
  • 00:05:01
    responsibility as we all know but many
  • 00:05:04
    people don't use their powers to do
  • 00:05:07
    something I mean technically some people
  • 00:05:09
    and maybe you've noticed some people use
  • 00:05:11
    that power that bottleneck power for not
  • 00:05:16
    evil but for let's say let's call it job
  • 00:05:19
    security okay they don't share
  • 00:05:23
    information they keep everything to
  • 00:05:24
    themselves and those people become very
  • 00:05:27
    very powerful at the company if you've
  • 00:05:30
    ever had a person in the company that
  • 00:05:33
    everyone is afraid to talk to just to
  • 00:05:36
    not get them angry because that's the
  • 00:05:38
    one person that controls the keys to the
  • 00:05:40
    let's say deployment to production or
  • 00:05:42
    anything like that that's an example so
  • 00:05:45
    it's not specifically used for evil but
  • 00:05:47
    a lot of people can use it for good and
  • 00:05:49
    they don't most people or bottlenecks
  • 00:05:51
    and they just exist they knew they're
  • 00:05:54
    neutral they just make decisions they
  • 00:05:56
    don't use it either for bad or for good
  • 00:05:58
    they just exist as bottlenecks and and
  • 00:06:01
    decisions flow through them and
  • 00:06:02
    basically the more bottlenecks we have
  • 00:06:05
    in teams the slower our teams will be
  • 00:06:07
    right because decisions have to go to
  • 00:06:09
    flow and if we're talking about the idea
  • 00:06:13
    of self-organizing teams and the idea of
  • 00:06:15
    what agile teams are supposed to look
  • 00:06:18
    like and work like agile teams are
  • 00:06:21
    supposed to make their own decisions are
  • 00:06:22
    supposed to solve their own problems and
  • 00:06:25
    by definition bottlenecks are the
  • 00:06:27
    opposite of that
  • 00:06:28
    so the more bottlenecks you have the
  • 00:06:30
    less self-organizing team you have so
  • 00:06:33
    that brings us to the next question what
  • 00:06:35
    is my role as a leader if I know that
  • 00:06:38
    I'm a bottleneck and I don't have to be
  • 00:06:40
    an official manager to become a
  • 00:06:42
    bottleneck right we all know that the
  • 00:06:44
    one person who knows how the build works
  • 00:06:46
    the one person who knows how the
  • 00:06:47
    database schema is written the one
  • 00:06:50
    has permission to change something in a
  • 00:06:51
    specific environment if I'm in that role
  • 00:06:57
    how can i define success for myself
  • 00:07:00
    other than just doing my job how do i
  • 00:07:03
    define what whether this was a good week
  • 00:07:06
    or a bad week for me and when I became a
  • 00:07:10
    team leader for the first time I had
  • 00:07:13
    this question how do i define what is a
  • 00:07:15
    good team leader in the beginning I
  • 00:07:18
    thought that being a good team leader
  • 00:07:20
    means protecting your team has anyone
  • 00:07:23
    been there protecting your team
  • 00:07:25
    shielding them like like Superman from
  • 00:07:28
    the powers that are above so the team
  • 00:07:31
    can work diligently and truthfully and
  • 00:07:34
    not only that sometimes I'll I'll work
  • 00:07:36
    at night to create code for my team to
  • 00:07:38
    use in the morning so that they can go
  • 00:07:41
    ahead and be faster that was kind of my
  • 00:07:44
    definition of a good leader back then
  • 00:07:47
    but the end result of that was that a
  • 00:07:50
    couple of years later my team had
  • 00:07:53
    basically stayed in the same set of
  • 00:07:55
    skills and the same set of knowledge
  • 00:07:57
    that they had when they met me they
  • 00:08:00
    stayed in their own comfort zone and
  • 00:08:01
    they never learned new things because
  • 00:08:04
    they you weren't really challenged all
  • 00:08:05
    they did was they lived in a bubble they
  • 00:08:08
    were fed through a tube and they did
  • 00:08:10
    their work as much as they could and
  • 00:08:12
    whenever they have a big problem they
  • 00:08:14
    would just go to in this case daddy and
  • 00:08:16
    say I have a problem fix it for me and I
  • 00:08:19
    would be dad let me solve it for you and
  • 00:08:23
    that's kind of today I look at that as a
  • 00:08:26
    wrong definition of leadership today I
  • 00:08:28
    think that's not success I think that is
  • 00:08:31
    the easiest form of leadership that it
  • 00:08:33
    could be and it definitely works in some
  • 00:08:35
    situations but not in all situations so
  • 00:08:40
    my role as a leader today is different
  • 00:08:43
    my role as a leader today is to make
  • 00:08:46
    myself unneeded I measure my success by
  • 00:08:50
    how much people need me so how do you
  • 00:08:53
    measure that how many questions do I get
  • 00:08:55
    per day on something that only I can
  • 00:08:57
    solve on something that only I know and
  • 00:08:59
    again I don't have to be a tech lead for
  • 00:09:01
    that if I'm an architect
  • 00:09:03
    it could be how many questions about
  • 00:09:05
    architecture or architecture related
  • 00:09:07
    decisions have to be handled by me and
  • 00:09:10
    are coming in into my conscious stream I
  • 00:09:13
    can literally measure how many people
  • 00:09:15
    come into my room how many people send
  • 00:09:17
    me an email how many things I have to
  • 00:09:20
    kind of take care of for other people
  • 00:09:22
    and that could be the beginning of a
  • 00:09:24
    metric and metrics are good because
  • 00:09:26
    numbers can give us trends over time and
  • 00:09:29
    what I'd like to see is that the trend
  • 00:09:32
    goes down the less people need me the
  • 00:09:35
    less I can the more I can teach them how
  • 00:09:37
    to solve their own problems in my field
  • 00:09:40
    of expertise the less they need me which
  • 00:09:43
    means I'm basically empowering them and
  • 00:09:46
    as Kevin said in the keynote today being
  • 00:09:49
    a 10x developer is enabling 10 other
  • 00:09:52
    people around you I think that is a
  • 00:09:54
    perfect definition of what bottlenecks
  • 00:09:57
    can do because by being a bottleneck
  • 00:09:59
    you're by definition encouraging people
  • 00:10:02
    to assemble around you but it also gives
  • 00:10:05
    you the great power to enable many
  • 00:10:07
    people at the same time by teaching them
  • 00:10:10
    skills because they will naturally come
  • 00:10:12
    to you when they're stuck and that is
  • 00:10:15
    the natural opportunity to teach so if I
  • 00:10:20
    want to measure my success my success is
  • 00:10:22
    how much do people need me how much of a
  • 00:10:24
    bottleneck am I another word for it is
  • 00:10:26
    bus factor people have heard me say the
  • 00:10:28
    word bus factor raise your hand if
  • 00:10:30
    you've heard this word the disturb ofor
  • 00:10:32
    for the people who didn't a bus factor
  • 00:10:35
    can be defined as how many people have
  • 00:10:38
    to get hit by a bus for the team to stop
  • 00:10:41
    working okay and in some teams that's
  • 00:10:44
    one there is one person if that person
  • 00:10:48
    doesn't make it tomorrow the team just
  • 00:10:50
    cannot work and I used to work at a
  • 00:10:52
    company like that consult for company
  • 00:10:53
    where there was one person who was in
  • 00:10:55
    charge of the entire build and
  • 00:10:57
    deployment process a big insurance
  • 00:11:00
    company and every month they would
  • 00:11:02
    deploy a new version and one day this
  • 00:11:05
    person was not a manager he was
  • 00:11:07
    basically one of the architects in this
  • 00:11:09
    group he was an outside consultant
  • 00:11:11
    working for seven probably six or seven
  • 00:11:14
    years at the same company and one day he
  • 00:11:16
    decided you know what
  • 00:11:17
    I think I'm gonna switch companies it's
  • 00:11:19
    time and I want to learn new things and
  • 00:11:21
    for three months the company could not
  • 00:11:24
    deliver code to production because this
  • 00:11:26
    person had their entire built process in
  • 00:11:29
    their head it was their job they were
  • 00:11:32
    the ones that would do it and deployment
  • 00:11:36
    would take several days this process of
  • 00:11:38
    running this and running dad and a bunch
  • 00:11:40
    of scripts and making sure database
  • 00:11:42
    schemas were updated and verifying a lot
  • 00:11:44
    of things but it was all in their head
  • 00:11:46
    and maybe a few scripts that they saved
  • 00:11:48
    was not even in source control and even
  • 00:11:50
    if it was nobody knew that there was
  • 00:11:52
    source control that he was using so the
  • 00:11:55
    company had at great expense by my dad
  • 00:11:57
    to bring that person back pay them
  • 00:12:01
    triple for a month and sit there with
  • 00:12:06
    recording his screen and putting a
  • 00:12:09
    microphone on him as he was deploying
  • 00:12:11
    the software so that they could grab
  • 00:12:15
    that knowledge out of that person so how
  • 00:12:18
    much does a bus factor cost it could
  • 00:12:20
    cost everything bus factors are huge
  • 00:12:24
    risks so if you're a bottleneck not only
  • 00:12:28
    that might not be job security it might
  • 00:12:31
    actually be a huge risk to the company
  • 00:12:33
    and if I'm a company and if I'm a
  • 00:12:35
    manager and I have a people that are
  • 00:12:38
    specifically bottlenecks and they refuse
  • 00:12:40
    to let go of their knowledge and share
  • 00:12:43
    it that's a huge risk and I will seek to
  • 00:12:45
    replace those people as soon as possible
  • 00:12:47
    with people that have the same knowledge
  • 00:12:49
    or close to it but are willing to share
  • 00:12:52
    information so there's risk inherent in
  • 00:12:54
    the idea of being a bottleneck but you
  • 00:12:59
    might think about the opposite risk if
  • 00:13:02
    nobody needs me if nobody is coming to
  • 00:13:08
    me for questions and I'm just sitting in
  • 00:13:11
    my office all day does the company
  • 00:13:15
    really need me right do people actually
  • 00:13:18
    need me if they can get rid of me
  • 00:13:24
    if I grow the team around me to solve
  • 00:13:27
    their problems without me and the team
  • 00:13:29
    doesn't need me is that actually good
  • 00:13:32
    for me and that I think is a quite scary
  • 00:13:34
    thought and here's the answer that I see
  • 00:13:37
    I have never seen a situation where a
  • 00:13:41
    person was so good at enabling the teams
  • 00:13:46
    around them that the company let them go
  • 00:13:49
    okay the company never came to a person
  • 00:13:52
    said well looks like they're doing okay
  • 00:13:56
    now thank you
  • 00:14:01
    what happens usually is the company says
  • 00:14:03
    well I noticed that when I put this
  • 00:14:05
    person with that team that team begins
  • 00:14:08
    to work much better than they used to
  • 00:14:11
    that team produces maybe higher-quality
  • 00:14:14
    maybe they work in a maybe they deliver
  • 00:14:17
    sooner but not faster right maybe they
  • 00:14:23
    they can work on features on various
  • 00:14:28
    ranges instead of just on front-end or
  • 00:14:31
    back-end or a specific component I like
  • 00:14:33
    that person what if I put him now on
  • 00:14:36
    this team that has had the same problems
  • 00:14:39
    in my company so then that person can
  • 00:14:41
    grow that team
  • 00:14:42
    so what happens is that you become much
  • 00:14:44
    more important to the company because
  • 00:14:47
    your influence factor increases instead
  • 00:14:50
    of just influencing a single team with
  • 00:14:53
    your expertise each person on that team
  • 00:14:56
    becomes a better expert at what you know
  • 00:14:59
    at what you know how to think of it your
  • 00:15:02
    expertise so imagine that if I'm an
  • 00:15:04
    architect and I slowly create a team
  • 00:15:06
    that knows how to think to think like
  • 00:15:09
    architects those people will then go on
  • 00:15:12
    to other projects and other teams and
  • 00:15:14
    they will use their knowledge in those
  • 00:15:16
    teams as well so my influence is
  • 00:15:19
    actually much bigger my influence factor
  • 00:15:21
    has increased substantially
  • 00:15:25
    so maybe that's not a bad thing maybe
  • 00:15:28
    maybe it's also not a bad thing that not
  • 00:15:32
    only to remove the risk maybe we also
  • 00:15:34
    have time for ourselves to do things
  • 00:15:36
    we've always wanted to do but we never
  • 00:15:38
    have time because we always fix the same
  • 00:15:41
    problems for everybody else and when I
  • 00:15:43
    was a team lead I remember
  • 00:15:46
    multiple times where I just spent hours
  • 00:15:49
    and hours solving the same problems
  • 00:15:51
    small issues that people should have
  • 00:15:53
    been able to solve themselves but
  • 00:15:55
    because they were so busy and we were so
  • 00:15:57
    we didn't have enough time I would solve
  • 00:15:59
    all of it myself and I would work on
  • 00:16:02
    things that would pretty much be boring
  • 00:16:04
    there would wouldn't be enough time for
  • 00:16:06
    me to learn new skills and I wanted to
  • 00:16:09
    learn new skills I wanted to advance I
  • 00:16:11
    wanted to to get better at my own job
  • 00:16:14
    but I couldn't because I was too much in
  • 00:16:17
    the trenches I wanted to get into other
  • 00:16:21
    trenches that's what I'm trying to say
  • 00:16:24
    so if I could get the team around me to
  • 00:16:29
    start solving their own issues how do I
  • 00:16:31
    do that I can say if someone comes to me
  • 00:16:34
    with a problem one thing I can tell them
  • 00:16:36
    is instead of me solving it for you
  • 00:16:38
    let's solve it together right let's I'll
  • 00:16:41
    sit with you while you code on that
  • 00:16:44
    problem and I'll sit with you and we'll
  • 00:16:46
    do pair programming on it together so
  • 00:16:49
    that you can actually learn how from
  • 00:16:51
    through your fingers how to solve this
  • 00:16:53
    issue and maybe next time you won't even
  • 00:16:55
    need me when you come across this sort
  • 00:16:57
    of problem if someone comes to me with a
  • 00:17:00
    specific lack of permission I might give
  • 00:17:02
    them permission to make some type of
  • 00:17:04
    decision and I can coach them on how to
  • 00:17:07
    make that decision so instead of me
  • 00:17:09
    doing it at the beginning I could
  • 00:17:11
    challenge people to do it themselves or
  • 00:17:13
    I can enable them to do it themselves
  • 00:17:15
    and I'm talking very loosely here in
  • 00:17:18
    specific points in time it's not that
  • 00:17:21
    from this point on I have like ten
  • 00:17:24
    people in my team and whoever comes to
  • 00:17:26
    me I'm gonna say you do it okay and then
  • 00:17:30
    second time is like you do it and the
  • 00:17:33
    third person you do it because at some
  • 00:17:35
    point no one will approach me anymore
  • 00:17:36
    right hey Roy what's the time
  • 00:17:38
    check your
  • 00:17:38
    watch I don't care at some point people
  • 00:17:41
    will stop trusting me so what I want to
  • 00:17:44
    do is that for each person I will choose
  • 00:17:46
    a specific skill that I think that they
  • 00:17:48
    need to master that they're missing and
  • 00:17:50
    for anything else I will still solve
  • 00:17:53
    their problems but for that specific
  • 00:17:55
    thing I will coach them so they won't
  • 00:17:58
    have to solve their problems with me so
  • 00:18:00
    they can solve it alone and for each
  • 00:18:02
    person I can choose one skill that I
  • 00:18:03
    think they're missing from my own
  • 00:18:05
    expertise and that is the thing that I
  • 00:18:07
    can focus on and that way people still
  • 00:18:10
    trust the fact that I'm trying to coach
  • 00:18:12
    them but I'm still helping them actually
  • 00:18:15
    deal with the real world instead of just
  • 00:18:17
    learning new skills and you might be
  • 00:18:21
    thinking at this point okay so you want
  • 00:18:24
    me to start coaching and asking people
  • 00:18:26
    to solve problems that only I can solve
  • 00:18:28
    at this point I I mean I like the idea
  • 00:18:31
    Roy but you know there's a couple of
  • 00:18:35
    people you know in my team I'm not sure
  • 00:18:39
    that's gonna work on like there's this
  • 00:18:40
    one person if I ask that person to work
  • 00:18:43
    on something that only I know like on
  • 00:18:44
    architecture I don't think that person
  • 00:18:47
    is gonna get it or there's a few people
  • 00:18:49
    in my team that are just there's
  • 00:18:51
    something I don't know that I don't
  • 00:18:53
    think this is the right team to try it
  • 00:18:54
    on that's what I'm saying right but
  • 00:18:56
    maybe on the next team that I'll have
  • 00:18:58
    that I'll be part of I'm definitely
  • 00:19:00
    gonna try it and of course you're never
  • 00:19:02
    gonna get the perfect team no one ever
  • 00:19:04
    gets the perfect team that doesn't exist
  • 00:19:07
    perfect things don't exist because
  • 00:19:09
    humans are so different everyone comes
  • 00:19:11
    from different backgrounds everyone
  • 00:19:12
    comes from different sets of knowledge
  • 00:19:15
    and experience and so you will basically
  • 00:19:17
    have so much diversity in terms of
  • 00:19:20
    knowledge and experience I'm not talking
  • 00:19:21
    about diversity in terms of race but I'm
  • 00:19:25
    talking about diversity in terms of
  • 00:19:26
    experience that you will never get a
  • 00:19:30
    team of people who think the way you
  • 00:19:33
    wish they thought
  • 00:19:36
    so maybe the role of a leader is not
  • 00:19:40
    just to get make themselves unnecessary
  • 00:19:42
    it is to grow the team into the team I
  • 00:19:46
    wish I had if great teams are grown
  • 00:19:49
    they're never hired you will get a bunch
  • 00:19:52
    of people
  • 00:19:52
    and they're random people you don't
  • 00:19:54
    usually control who you get if you're
  • 00:19:57
    lucky you can control a few of who you
  • 00:19:59
    get but you will never get the perfect
  • 00:20:01
    amount the perfect set of people that
  • 00:20:03
    are just right for challenging and
  • 00:20:05
    trying new things instead what's gonna
  • 00:20:08
    happen you're gonna go a bunch of people
  • 00:20:10
    they're all different than you in some
  • 00:20:12
    way they're all different from each
  • 00:20:13
    other some of them sometimes they don't
  • 00:20:15
    even agree with each other sometimes
  • 00:20:17
    they have very little experience
  • 00:20:19
    sometimes they come with so much
  • 00:20:21
    experience that they're kind of trying
  • 00:20:23
    to take over the entire team there's so
  • 00:20:24
    many different variations and now you
  • 00:20:27
    have to take this group of people
  • 00:20:29
    whether you have permission as a manager
  • 00:20:32
    or whether you're just an expert in the
  • 00:20:34
    team and kind of transform them into the
  • 00:20:37
    team you wish you were working with and
  • 00:20:39
    I think to me that is the true purpose
  • 00:20:43
    of leadership is to grow a team that we
  • 00:20:46
    wish we could work with and this is a
  • 00:20:48
    process that takes years this is not a
  • 00:20:50
    process that takes weeks not even months
  • 00:20:53
    this is a process that will never end
  • 00:20:55
    because you will never have a lifetime
  • 00:20:58
    of work with people unless you work at
  • 00:21:00
    the same company for 20 years but what
  • 00:21:03
    we can do is we can realize we can
  • 00:21:05
    recognize that leadership is the
  • 00:21:08
    struggle to create the team we wish we
  • 00:21:12
    had through many many small experiences
  • 00:21:15
    and challenges over a long period of
  • 00:21:18
    time and if that is my moral compass if
  • 00:21:21
    that's how I kind of try to accomplish
  • 00:21:23
    that then I also have a way to make
  • 00:21:26
    decisions whenever I'm in whenever I
  • 00:21:29
    have a dilemma if I have a dilemma which
  • 00:21:32
    person to give a specific task to I can
  • 00:21:34
    use this moral compass to decide which
  • 00:21:37
    person is going to learn the most from
  • 00:21:39
    this task versus which person is gonna
  • 00:21:41
    do the task in the fastest way now the
  • 00:21:44
    dilemma might also be a bit more
  • 00:21:46
    challenging than this but imagine that I
  • 00:21:49
    did grow the perfect team what would it
  • 00:21:51
    look like and in my head the perfect
  • 00:21:55
    team is a team of team leaders if you've
  • 00:21:59
    ever seen a team of team leads you can
  • 00:22:02
    imagine how they work how they operate a
  • 00:22:05
    team of team leads that were
  • 00:22:07
    together usually will be completely
  • 00:22:10
    self-organizing because whenever they
  • 00:22:13
    approach a problem they know how to
  • 00:22:16
    approach the problem correctly it
  • 00:22:19
    doesn't mean they know how to solve it
  • 00:22:20
    by the team of team leaders is a team of
  • 00:22:23
    people who have faced the situation
  • 00:22:25
    where they have a problem and they don't
  • 00:22:28
    know what to do now here's to me is like
  • 00:22:31
    a very small but noticeable difference
  • 00:22:33
    usually when I try to coach people and
  • 00:22:36
    people come up to me it's when they come
  • 00:22:38
    up to a task and they're stuck and they
  • 00:22:41
    don't know what to do they come to me
  • 00:22:43
    and then what do I do if I don't know
  • 00:22:47
    what to do because many times I won't
  • 00:22:49
    know what the right answer is we will
  • 00:22:51
    never have all the answers to all the
  • 00:22:53
    problems the difference to me between a
  • 00:22:55
    team of team leads and a team of people
  • 00:22:58
    who still have to learn that type of
  • 00:23:01
    thinking is that a team of team mates
  • 00:23:03
    will know what to do when they don't
  • 00:23:05
    know what to do that's kind of the
  • 00:23:07
    difference if I know what to do when I
  • 00:23:10
    don't know what to do and the person
  • 00:23:12
    coming to me has no idea what to do when
  • 00:23:16
    they don't know what to do what is my
  • 00:23:19
    job my job is not to give them a
  • 00:23:23
    solution because then they will not
  • 00:23:26
    learn anything my job is to transfer the
  • 00:23:29
    skill of knowing what to do when you
  • 00:23:32
    don't know what to do to that person
  • 00:23:35
    okay the way that I think about the
  • 00:23:38
    problem is what I want them to learn I
  • 00:23:41
    want them to think about the problem
  • 00:23:43
    like I think about the problem so for
  • 00:23:45
    example when I do the workshops and
  • 00:23:47
    tomorrow I think we have like a full-day
  • 00:23:48
    workshop on this when I do the workshop
  • 00:23:50
    one of the things that I challenge
  • 00:23:52
    leaders to do is if someone comes to
  • 00:23:54
    them with the problem is to never ever
  • 00:23:57
    give a solution or not even to ask a
  • 00:24:01
    leading question because just by asking
  • 00:24:03
    a leading question let's say someone
  • 00:24:05
    says Roy we need faster build machines I
  • 00:24:10
    came to you because I don't know what to
  • 00:24:12
    do about that right now maybe as a
  • 00:24:15
    leader I don't have budgets or
  • 00:24:17
    permissions to do that either
  • 00:24:20
    but I know what to do when I don't know
  • 00:24:23
    what to do about that right so what I
  • 00:24:25
    want to ask them is questions like okay
  • 00:24:29
    what are we going to do it's a really
  • 00:24:33
    weird question it's a big challenge
  • 00:24:35
    usually people when you ask them that
  • 00:24:37
    weird question they already know the
  • 00:24:39
    answer they already know what they would
  • 00:24:41
    have done if they had to solve
  • 00:24:43
    everything themselves they already have
  • 00:24:45
    the notion of what to do but they don't
  • 00:24:47
    feel they have permission to ask it to
  • 00:24:49
    themselves so people even if they know
  • 00:24:51
    the question is coming and I still ask
  • 00:24:53
    what are you going to do they might
  • 00:24:55
    still be there's this gas with what am I
  • 00:24:58
    going to do because what I'm trying to
  • 00:25:01
    teach them is what if I wasn't here what
  • 00:25:03
    if you were the leader what would you do
  • 00:25:05
    in that situation because when they get
  • 00:25:08
    to the point where they say oh you know
  • 00:25:10
    what I actually have a couple of ideas
  • 00:25:11
    of what I could do in this situation
  • 00:25:14
    that's the beginning of the realization
  • 00:25:17
    that you can actually solve your own
  • 00:25:20
    problems because if a team of if I have
  • 00:25:23
    a team of people that when they're faced
  • 00:25:27
    with a problem they look inward but what
  • 00:25:30
    they could do about it instead of asking
  • 00:25:32
    me then that is the beginning of a
  • 00:25:34
    self-organizing team a self-organizing
  • 00:25:37
    team isn't a team that just knows how to
  • 00:25:38
    build software it is a team that knows
  • 00:25:41
    how to solve problems that they've never
  • 00:25:43
    faced before that is to me the true self
  • 00:25:45
    organization because usually when people
  • 00:25:47
    come to the edges of their knowledge and
  • 00:25:50
    they're stuck they either feel they
  • 00:25:52
    don't have permission or they don't know
  • 00:25:53
    what to do about specific situation the
  • 00:25:56
    people after that edge are the people
  • 00:25:59
    that know what to do or they know how to
  • 00:26:01
    handle unknown situations and we've all
  • 00:26:05
    faced unknown situations and we will
  • 00:26:07
    always face unknown situations because
  • 00:26:09
    every software project is different and
  • 00:26:11
    this is really tough I mean can you
  • 00:26:14
    imagine yourself as a leader people
  • 00:26:16
    coming to you and instead of really and
  • 00:26:19
    you know what the solution might be is
  • 00:26:21
    to teach them to think how to come up
  • 00:26:23
    with the solution on their own that's
  • 00:26:25
    really difficult it's very challenging
  • 00:26:28
    and I think Jerry Weinberg put it best
  • 00:26:31
    in a book that he wrote
  • 00:26:34
    calling managing teams congruently by
  • 00:26:37
    the way congruently is a word I had to
  • 00:26:39
    look up congruently means and flow in
  • 00:26:42
    the same vein as it can everything fits
  • 00:26:45
    together and I'm paraphrasing he says
  • 00:26:48
    leadership done right is a tough job
  • 00:26:51
    that's why leaders get paid more well a
  • 00:26:54
    lot of leaders like to take the money
  • 00:26:56
    and not do all the difficult parts
  • 00:26:58
    what is the difficult part about
  • 00:27:00
    leadership what are the difficult parts
  • 00:27:02
    can anyone tell me to delegate anything
  • 00:27:06
    else responsibility like it's my
  • 00:27:10
    responsibility that's the easy part
  • 00:27:13
    to take responsibility it's my
  • 00:27:15
    responsibility I'm gonna work until 3:00
  • 00:27:16
    a.m. because it's my responsibility
  • 00:27:18
    that's the easy part
  • 00:27:19
    anything else mm-hmm sorry
  • 00:27:23
    motivate the team anything else sorry
  • 00:27:27
    you were saying something coach those
  • 00:27:32
    things that you're saying they're people
  • 00:27:34
    related people are the most difficult
  • 00:27:37
    thing about leadership if we could get
  • 00:27:38
    rid of people in teams leadership would
  • 00:27:42
    be so easy yeah I know it's really
  • 00:27:46
    really sad we really understand machines
  • 00:27:50
    but we don't understand people not even
  • 00:27:54
    that it scares the hell out of us to
  • 00:27:57
    work with people that's why a lot of
  • 00:27:58
    leaders hide in their room and send
  • 00:28:01
    emails why a lot of leaders are always
  • 00:28:04
    busy in so many meetings and you can
  • 00:28:06
    never get them because deep down and
  • 00:28:09
    this is not a conscious thought you know
  • 00:28:11
    that when you have time to work with
  • 00:28:13
    your team you're gonna have a lot of
  • 00:28:15
    one-on-one meetings where you're gonna
  • 00:28:17
    have tough conversations and tough
  • 00:28:20
    conversations are very definition tough
  • 00:28:23
    what do you do with that one person
  • 00:28:25
    who's always negative in the team do you
  • 00:28:26
    want to have that tough conversation
  • 00:28:28
    what about that one person always smells
  • 00:28:30
    so bad nobody wants to work with them
  • 00:28:31
    I'm sorry that happened what about the
  • 00:28:34
    one person who is missing a really
  • 00:28:37
    important set of skills but you and that
  • 00:28:39
    person grew up together and you became a
  • 00:28:42
    team lead and now you're leading that
  • 00:28:44
    person are you actually going to talk to
  • 00:28:46
    him about something that is missing or
  • 00:28:47
    doing wrong that's a really tough
  • 00:28:49
    conversation what's a really easy way to
  • 00:28:52
    solve it not talk to people that's doing
  • 00:28:56
    all the easy parts and taking the money
  • 00:28:58
    but how do you actually challenge people
  • 00:29:01
    to grow and learn new skills if I wanted
  • 00:29:05
    to get people to learn new skills what
  • 00:29:07
    can I do well another book by Jerry
  • 00:29:12
    Weinberg talked about how people learn
  • 00:29:14
    things becoming a technical leader but
  • 00:29:16
    two books that I highly highly recommend
  • 00:29:17
    a few good years ago I read this book
  • 00:29:20
    and I really like this chart this is the
  • 00:29:22
    chart of Jerry pinpointing scores on a
  • 00:29:26
    pinball machine right over time he was
  • 00:29:28
    getting better you know what a pinball
  • 00:29:30
    machine is right you have the ball and
  • 00:29:31
    you have the to flip earth whatever and
  • 00:29:34
    he was saying over time I was getting
  • 00:29:36
    better so given time you will get better
  • 00:29:38
    at something but when he was plotting
  • 00:29:40
    the same chart with higher resolution
  • 00:29:43
    you could see that there were periods of
  • 00:29:46
    slow growth and periods of fast growth
  • 00:29:49
    it was wondering what the hell happened
  • 00:29:51
    in those periods what why are there
  • 00:29:53
    times where I'm learning something and
  • 00:29:55
    I'm getting much better faster and there
  • 00:29:57
    are times where I'm learning about
  • 00:29:58
    something but it's a much slower
  • 00:30:01
    learning curve and you realized that
  • 00:30:03
    those faster curves are happening
  • 00:30:05
    whenever he learned something new about
  • 00:30:07
    playing the game like when he learned
  • 00:30:10
    how to play the game differently for
  • 00:30:12
    example if you get more than a single
  • 00:30:13
    ball at the game the same time right if
  • 00:30:16
    you have two or even three you get
  • 00:30:18
    double points or triple points for every
  • 00:30:20
    hit so you can maximize your points much
  • 00:30:24
    faster you can become better but your
  • 00:30:26
    strategy has to change instead of trying
  • 00:30:29
    to get the ball in specific way you want
  • 00:30:31
    to try to get to a different way and now
  • 00:30:33
    you have to learn how to manage more
  • 00:30:34
    than one ball in the game that's a
  • 00:30:37
    completely different strategy than
  • 00:30:39
    working from before so it's a different
  • 00:30:42
    it's a paradigm shift okay but whenever
  • 00:30:45
    he learned a new paradigm at the
  • 00:30:49
    beginning he was actually worse he was
  • 00:30:52
    worse because he had to practice the new
  • 00:30:54
    way of working so whenever he became
  • 00:30:57
    better
  • 00:30:57
    he became worse before he became better
  • 00:31:00
    this is basically unlearning the
  • 00:31:03
    previous way so that I can learn the new
  • 00:31:06
    way now when I looked at this chart it
  • 00:31:11
    reminded me of so many things in my life
  • 00:31:13
    that I had to go through to where I
  • 00:31:15
    became worse before I became better I
  • 00:31:17
    mean the obvious thing to say is
  • 00:31:19
    programming languages I started in
  • 00:31:22
    Visual Basic don't say anything I still
  • 00:31:26
    love that language I wish it were
  • 00:31:28
    open-source but then I moved to C sharp
  • 00:31:32
    and I programmed in Java and Python and
  • 00:31:36
    Ruby and a little bit of C++ but I'm
  • 00:31:41
    really not proud of that but every time
  • 00:31:44
    I learned a new language I remember the
  • 00:31:46
    first hello hello world that actually
  • 00:31:49
    had to had to happen right just learning
  • 00:31:51
    the new syntax that was a horrible
  • 00:31:54
    experience remember the first hello
  • 00:31:56
    world and then the second one in a
  • 00:31:58
    different language everything is
  • 00:31:59
    different the idea is different the
  • 00:32:01
    buttons are different the semicolons
  • 00:32:02
    look different hundreds of compiler
  • 00:32:06
    errors oh I'm missing references what is
  • 00:32:09
    the system war and this is like a first
  • 00:32:12
    day or two where you just feel like an
  • 00:32:14
    idiot okay but after that you feel much
  • 00:32:18
    better but then he said in the book you
  • 00:32:22
    know this applies not only to learning
  • 00:32:24
    tech skills it applies to life skills
  • 00:32:26
    whenever you learn a new skill in life
  • 00:32:30
    you will be worse before you become
  • 00:32:32
    better and I immediately thought about
  • 00:32:35
    my own life experience of having
  • 00:32:37
    children because I have three kids and
  • 00:32:41
    this really mimics my three kids and my
  • 00:32:45
    behavior with my wife when they were
  • 00:32:47
    born because this is us let's see if
  • 00:32:49
    this works is this working it's working
  • 00:32:54
    the other way there you go okay this is
  • 00:32:57
    me my wife with no kids everything is
  • 00:33:00
    perfect working full-time always
  • 00:33:04
    complaining we don't have enough time
  • 00:33:05
    and then here it's our first kid right
  • 00:33:08
    here okay well actually it was here
  • 00:33:11
    that's the beginning of the
  • 00:33:12
    deterioration
  • 00:33:14
    and then the first few weeks just go
  • 00:33:15
    downhill for the first few months of our
  • 00:33:19
    first child being born life was worse
  • 00:33:23
    I'm saying worse I mean I love my kids
  • 00:33:26
    but life was difficult okay really
  • 00:33:29
    really difficult we had to learn new
  • 00:33:32
    skills of survival we were so tired just
  • 00:33:35
    learning how kids sleep what they don't
  • 00:33:38
    and just learning how kids it kids kids
  • 00:33:41
    eat they always do just learning how
  • 00:33:45
    when they cry and why because they're
  • 00:33:47
    burping they always do just learning
  • 00:33:49
    just just dealing with that and being
  • 00:33:52
    able to somehow work and sleep and eat
  • 00:33:56
    ourselves that was a horrible horrible
  • 00:33:57
    couple of months just learning we were
  • 00:34:00
    basically in survival mode
  • 00:34:02
    people had to bring food to our house
  • 00:34:05
    because we didn't have enough energy to
  • 00:34:07
    bring food we would kind of beg for
  • 00:34:09
    people to hey can you bring some food
  • 00:34:11
    over when you're here and then learn how
  • 00:34:12
    to sleep when the baby sleeps you know
  • 00:34:15
    that right and then one person goes out
  • 00:34:17
    for groceries and the other person it's
  • 00:34:19
    like military but then after a few
  • 00:34:22
    months things become better after a few
  • 00:34:24
    months we were kind of uh here we're
  • 00:34:27
    like okay this is actually getting
  • 00:34:29
    better it's getting easier we've learned
  • 00:34:31
    a few skills and now we're handling
  • 00:34:34
    everything we did before but we also
  • 00:34:35
    have a third person in the house third
  • 00:34:38
    person which we will never get rid of a
  • 00:34:41
    third person that is now a part of our
  • 00:34:44
    lives we were different people from the
  • 00:34:47
    second point to the first point we had
  • 00:34:49
    better skills and we looked back at the
  • 00:34:51
    time before kids and we didn't realize
  • 00:34:53
    how did we ever say we don't have enough
  • 00:34:55
    time to do things because now we're
  • 00:34:57
    doing the same things with the baby and
  • 00:34:59
    of course a couple of years later second
  • 00:35:03
    child was born and immediately life
  • 00:35:05
    became much more difficult and I say
  • 00:35:08
    much more I mean much much more because
  • 00:35:11
    I thought well it's just another kid we
  • 00:35:13
    already know how to handle kids but two
  • 00:35:15
    kids is a completely different situation
  • 00:35:17
    than one child because two kids first of
  • 00:35:20
    all now it's it's a local defense right
  • 00:35:23
    it's like first it was like two parents
  • 00:35:25
    one child now he's two parent one child
  • 00:35:27
    for each
  • 00:35:28
    they wake each other up at night there's
  • 00:35:30
    chain reaction going on there is a lot
  • 00:35:32
    there is teaming up going on one gets
  • 00:35:35
    sick the other gets sick you can't just
  • 00:35:39
    go out for groceries and leave me at the
  • 00:35:41
    house with two kids what are you crazy
  • 00:35:43
    no you have to take one child with you
  • 00:35:46
    now I want to say that shopping for
  • 00:35:51
    groceries with a child is a completely
  • 00:35:54
    different experience than just alone the
  • 00:35:58
    amount of skill that you have to handle
  • 00:35:59
    just to handle that one person going and
  • 00:36:02
    not killing themselves constantly is
  • 00:36:05
    just amazing and of course crying and
  • 00:36:07
    all that and there's so many things but
  • 00:36:10
    after a couple of months well I'm gonna
  • 00:36:12
    say a year things became better became
  • 00:36:15
    easier and so by the third point we were
  • 00:36:18
    again different people and we couldn't
  • 00:36:20
    even believe that we had a problem with
  • 00:36:22
    one child because if I now if you leave
  • 00:36:24
    me with one child it's so easy I can
  • 00:36:26
    handle one child but two kids now that's
  • 00:36:29
    kind of a you know still a bit difficult
  • 00:36:30
    and then our third child was born and I
  • 00:36:33
    realized that everything I knew about
  • 00:36:34
    life was completely wrong because three
  • 00:36:38
    kids they outnumber you they outnumber
  • 00:36:42
    you but your skills from the first two
  • 00:36:43
    kids also help because in the first when
  • 00:36:47
    you have one kid and they get hurt
  • 00:36:50
    you're like oh my sweet baby are you
  • 00:36:53
    okay let me handle everything for you
  • 00:36:55
    and cuddly you but when you have three
  • 00:36:59
    kids and the smallest one gets hurt you
  • 00:37:03
    basically go to the oldest one and you
  • 00:37:05
    say handle that they take care of
  • 00:37:10
    themselves they're a self-organizing
  • 00:37:11
    team by this point it was the most
  • 00:37:14
    amazing experience they helped each
  • 00:37:16
    other they work with each other it
  • 00:37:18
    wasn't difficult as much as it was
  • 00:37:21
    illuminating the fact that we have grown
  • 00:37:24
    our own little self organizing team and
  • 00:37:26
    they're learning skills not just about
  • 00:37:29
    the world they live in but about their
  • 00:37:31
    own brothers and how to take care of
  • 00:37:33
    their own team members
  • 00:37:34
    so now as parents I get to decide
  • 00:37:37
    whether whenever someone needs something
  • 00:37:39
    can I teach
  • 00:37:41
    this new skill to one of their brothers
  • 00:37:44
    for example getting a glass of milk for
  • 00:37:48
    example warming up your own food in the
  • 00:37:51
    fridge I can do that for you but what if
  • 00:37:54
    I teach you to do that on your own right
  • 00:37:56
    and if you're too small what if I teach
  • 00:37:57
    you to ask for your older brother
  • 00:37:59
    suddenly our life is freeing up so we
  • 00:38:02
    have more time to do things that we're
  • 00:38:04
    more interested in that doesn't sound
  • 00:38:08
    right but things that were that that
  • 00:38:10
    we're more having fun with like we can
  • 00:38:12
    go out and we can actually take care of
  • 00:38:14
    each other so this learning this kind of
  • 00:38:17
    downturn before we learn something new
  • 00:38:19
    is part of life and if it's part of life
  • 00:38:22
    if it always happens before we truly get
  • 00:38:24
    better at something then instead of it
  • 00:38:28
    happening to us we can plan it that was
  • 00:38:30
    my realization if I want people to learn
  • 00:38:33
    new skills to learn paradigm shifts in
  • 00:38:36
    how they work because what is it when I
  • 00:38:38
    ask someone to solve their own problems
  • 00:38:40
    I'm asking them for a paradigm shift I'm
  • 00:38:42
    asking them to think differently I'm
  • 00:38:44
    asking them to think about what to do
  • 00:38:46
    when you don't know what to do no one
  • 00:38:48
    has ever asked me that before before
  • 00:38:50
    that happened at work it might be very
  • 00:38:53
    annoying it might be very very
  • 00:38:55
    frustrating for a person to get asked to
  • 00:38:57
    solve a problem that I usually solved
  • 00:39:00
    for them I remember the first time I
  • 00:39:02
    asked my manager to solve a problem for
  • 00:39:06
    me and he said I want you to do it
  • 00:39:08
    and I was really really annoyed because
  • 00:39:11
    in my head it was like but that's your
  • 00:39:14
    problem the fact that I cannot code
  • 00:39:17
    right now or the fact that this is not
  • 00:39:19
    happening for some reason that's on you
  • 00:39:22
    to solve and my manager calmly said if I
  • 00:39:27
    solve it for you you will never learn
  • 00:39:28
    how to solve it yourself and I'd love to
  • 00:39:31
    tell you that that solved all of my
  • 00:39:33
    annoyance but it did not I was annoyed
  • 00:39:36
    and I was frustrated and I did what I
  • 00:39:38
    had to do but I was grumbling I was like
  • 00:39:42
    this sucks this isn't in my job
  • 00:39:44
    description
  • 00:39:45
    this isn't what I was signed up to do um
  • 00:39:48
    I work on mobile and you're asking me to
  • 00:39:50
    work on back-end I'm working on this and
  • 00:39:53
    you're asking me to work on that's not
  • 00:39:54
    my
  • 00:39:54
    description you're asking me to teach
  • 00:39:55
    people I was annoyed I was frustrated
  • 00:39:59
    kind of felt like this so if we think
  • 00:40:04
    about it the annoyance and the
  • 00:40:05
    frustration and the and the difficulty
  • 00:40:07
    that's part of the learning curve so I
  • 00:40:10
    can plan this learning curve for the
  • 00:40:13
    people in my team and I can expect them
  • 00:40:17
    to feel annoyed and frustrated and I can
  • 00:40:20
    expect them to come out on the other
  • 00:40:21
    side better but I know that there's
  • 00:40:23
    gonna be a period where people might not
  • 00:40:26
    necessarily be happy what I'm trying to
  • 00:40:28
    say is that happiness is not that it
  • 00:40:30
    doesn't mean that you're actually doing
  • 00:40:32
    your job what I look for usually in
  • 00:40:35
    teams that are learning is I look for
  • 00:40:38
    people being uncomfortable because when
  • 00:40:41
    they're uncomfortable it means they're
  • 00:40:42
    learning a new skill it means that
  • 00:40:44
    they've done something that they've
  • 00:40:45
    never done before
  • 00:40:46
    and when I say uncomfortable I don't
  • 00:40:48
    just mean learning a new framework I
  • 00:40:51
    mean working differently in a way that
  • 00:40:53
    has consequences something that feels
  • 00:40:56
    weird or even wrong in a way that feels
  • 00:40:59
    like this could have a real effect on my
  • 00:41:01
    life if I keep doing it and I do it
  • 00:41:03
    badly something that feels a bit scary
  • 00:41:06
    it has to feel a bit scary otherwise
  • 00:41:09
    we're not truly pushing ourselves to
  • 00:41:11
    learn new skills this is by the way what
  • 00:41:14
    it really looks like this is a true
  • 00:41:15
    diagram so you can see that every day
  • 00:41:18
    has ups and downs or every month but the
  • 00:41:21
    real downs are much bigger than the
  • 00:41:24
    regular ones so learning a new framework
  • 00:41:26
    that's right here okay
  • 00:41:29
    learning vim that's right here okay
  • 00:41:32
    this is vim if you don't know vim I'm
  • 00:41:37
    happy for you I love it
  • 00:41:41
    but there's definitely a learning curve
  • 00:41:43
    for it so if I can do that and I can
  • 00:41:47
    plan it for myself I can also decide if
  • 00:41:49
    I want to learn a new skill I have to
  • 00:41:51
    put myself in a very uncomfortable
  • 00:41:52
    situation and that uncomfortable
  • 00:41:55
    situation has to do with something that
  • 00:41:58
    feels scary so I at some point I quit my
  • 00:42:01
    job as a CTO in the company and I went
  • 00:42:04
    to work as an intern at a ruby shop for
  • 00:42:08
    six months I went and I worked as an
  • 00:42:09
    Internet that Ruby shop I never worked
  • 00:42:12
    with with Matt book Aires
  • 00:42:15
    I never but I got one I never worked
  • 00:42:17
    with them and I had to work with them I
  • 00:42:20
    never worked with Ruby before and I had
  • 00:42:22
    worked with Ruby I never worked would
  • 00:42:23
    get before correctly and I had to work
  • 00:42:27
    and get and do smaller commits a bunch
  • 00:42:29
    of different things happened so if for
  • 00:42:33
    those six months it felt terrible but it
  • 00:42:36
    also felt amazing because I did it on
  • 00:42:39
    purpose
  • 00:42:40
    I chose to jump into a ravine so I can
  • 00:42:43
    climb out on the other side and the
  • 00:42:45
    things that I learned from doing that
  • 00:42:47
    were things that I would never have
  • 00:42:49
    learned but just doing it on the side in
  • 00:42:51
    the evening after regular day hours
  • 00:42:54
    because what I learned are things about
  • 00:42:56
    culture about working about lightweight
  • 00:42:58
    tooling about different ideas of how to
  • 00:43:01
    work differently not just a new
  • 00:43:04
    framework or a new language that's the
  • 00:43:06
    easy part
  • 00:43:07
    Andy Reid we really have to put it on
  • 00:43:10
    ourselves to to jump into ravines and
  • 00:43:13
    try to solve things in a way that makes
  • 00:43:16
    us feel uncomfortable so we can say that
  • 00:43:20
    growing the team could be our ravine our
  • 00:43:24
    thing that scares us if I ask every
  • 00:43:26
    leader to do one thing after this talk
  • 00:43:28
    is to do something that scares the hell
  • 00:43:31
    out of you something that scares the
  • 00:43:33
    hell out of you could be asking the team
  • 00:43:36
    to start solving their own problems
  • 00:43:38
    while you're not solving the problems
  • 00:43:40
    for them can you imagine doing that I
  • 00:43:43
    mean can you imagine the idea of having
  • 00:43:46
    to tell someone no but let's do it
  • 00:43:49
    together some people might like it
  • 00:43:51
    some people might really not like it
  • 00:43:53
    that's scary and that's scary because
  • 00:43:55
    it's about people this would take time
  • 00:43:58
    we would have tight we would have to
  • 00:44:00
    choose whether we can actually do it
  • 00:44:02
    tomorrow we have to choose whether our
  • 00:44:05
    team has the time to invest in learning
  • 00:44:08
    new skills time is the one factor that
  • 00:44:11
    we feel we cannot control and this is
  • 00:44:14
    where the model of elastic leadership
  • 00:44:15
    comes in because if I ask you to do that
  • 00:44:17
    and challenge people tomorrow you're
  • 00:44:19
    gonna say okay Roy but we don't have
  • 00:44:21
    time for that
  • 00:44:21
    we're too busy fixing fires were too
  • 00:44:24
    busy doing things that are already late
  • 00:44:27
    we don't have time to start challenging
  • 00:44:29
    people to do that I mean I like the idea
  • 00:44:32
    and this is what I would call survival
  • 00:44:35
    mode and in survival mode which I think
  • 00:44:37
    probably 85 90 percent of the teams that
  • 00:44:39
    I see are in we don't have time to learn
  • 00:44:43
    new skills we don't have time to slowly
  • 00:44:46
    practice any survival mode there really
  • 00:44:50
    is no reason for you to challenge teams
  • 00:44:53
    because it will fail you don't have time
  • 00:44:56
    to slowly practice a new skill if I ask
  • 00:44:59
    you to work with vim and we are on a
  • 00:45:01
    time schedule time pressure and it takes
  • 00:45:04
    you two hours to close them we've
  • 00:45:08
    already lost what we want we want the
  • 00:45:12
    team to be in learning mode and learning
  • 00:45:14
    mode is where you actually have time to
  • 00:45:15
    learn new skills the switch between
  • 00:45:17
    survival mode and learning mode requires
  • 00:45:19
    something really really scary it
  • 00:45:21
    requires us to talk to management and
  • 00:45:24
    explain that we are in survival mode and
  • 00:45:26
    that it is a spiral that will only get
  • 00:45:29
    worse and worse and worse if we don't do
  • 00:45:31
    something about it technical debt like
  • 00:45:33
    we saw at the keynote is definitely part
  • 00:45:35
    of that spiral we have to re-estimate we
  • 00:45:39
    have to remove commitments so that we
  • 00:45:42
    have time to work on our current
  • 00:45:43
    commitments in a slower fashion once we
  • 00:45:47
    have rias Tamayo move into learning mode
  • 00:45:51
    this sounds really really scary right
  • 00:45:53
    can you go to your manager and say this
  • 00:45:56
    doesn't work we have to re-estimate
  • 00:45:58
    everything is gonna take longer in a
  • 00:46:00
    month and then but we're gonna learn new
  • 00:46:03
    skills and if it sounds scary to you to
  • 00:46:06
    do that
  • 00:46:07
    I'm really happy because scary is good
  • 00:46:11
    remember if it's scary to do something
  • 00:46:13
    maybe that's the right thing to do maybe
  • 00:46:16
    if you get out of the comfort zone and
  • 00:46:17
    actually try to push the team into
  • 00:46:19
    learning mode there's so much you can
  • 00:46:21
    learn from it yourselves and truly in
  • 00:46:24
    learning mode we keep teaching skills to
  • 00:46:27
    the team until they don't need us at
  • 00:46:29
    that point the team could be considered
  • 00:46:30
    self-organizing but most teams are in
  • 00:46:33
    survival mode and we treat them as if
  • 00:46:34
    they're self or
  • 00:46:35
    we treat a team of people just running
  • 00:46:38
    around like headless chickens and we're
  • 00:46:40
    saying you are self-organizing I will
  • 00:46:42
    close the door and I will meet you in 14
  • 00:46:44
    days and you will give me something and
  • 00:46:46
    I open the door after 14 days and
  • 00:46:48
    there's a bunch of bodies laying around
  • 00:46:50
    they're all dead
  • 00:46:51
    they don't know how to take care of
  • 00:46:53
    themselves in those situations because
  • 00:46:55
    they don't have permission they don't
  • 00:46:56
    know what to do when they don't know
  • 00:46:58
    what to do but somehow we're treating
  • 00:47:00
    them as if they do and the other way
  • 00:47:02
    around is sometimes you'll have a
  • 00:47:03
    self-organizing team these people know
  • 00:47:05
    what they do they've been doing it for a
  • 00:47:07
    long time they work together but we
  • 00:47:09
    treat them as if they're in survival
  • 00:47:11
    mode what are you gonna do today
  • 00:47:14
    what did you do yesterday anything
  • 00:47:15
    stopping you and their time treating
  • 00:47:17
    like a military exercise those people
  • 00:47:19
    will leave because you're treating them
  • 00:47:21
    as if they don't know what they're doing
  • 00:47:23
    and they and they and we're kind of kind
  • 00:47:26
    of dumbing down everything for them and
  • 00:47:28
    we're chewing up their food so treating
  • 00:47:31
    teams in the wrong in the wrong status
  • 00:47:34
    could definitely lead to a degradation
  • 00:47:36
    degradation and people leaving basically
  • 00:47:40
    if we don't realize in which mode you
  • 00:47:42
    are in we will not be able to get out of
  • 00:47:45
    that mode and move into
  • 00:47:46
    self-organization so there's a manifesto
  • 00:47:50
    that I I wrote this and keeps changing
  • 00:47:54
    we believe that to make things better we
  • 00:47:59
    need to actually adapt our own
  • 00:48:01
    leadership style based on the current
  • 00:48:03
    situation because in survival mode I
  • 00:48:05
    might have to be a different type of
  • 00:48:07
    leader maybe not coaching but definitely
  • 00:48:10
    more of a captain that turns the ship
  • 00:48:12
    around
  • 00:48:13
    but if I try to be that captain with a
  • 00:48:16
    sinking ship and but the team is
  • 00:48:19
    learning the team will never learn
  • 00:48:20
    anything so the word in survival mode is
  • 00:48:23
    if the ship is sinking the captain
  • 00:48:26
    doesn't call a meeting the captain gives
  • 00:48:27
    orders because we want to get out of
  • 00:48:29
    survival mode but in learning mode you
  • 00:48:32
    definitely want to be much more of a
  • 00:48:33
    coach and enabled people to make
  • 00:48:35
    mistakes that's why the rest amasian
  • 00:48:37
    happens there and self-organization is
  • 00:48:40
    where our leadership style reduces the
  • 00:48:42
    most into more of an enabling factor not
  • 00:48:45
    telling people what to do but making
  • 00:48:47
    sure they get the
  • 00:48:48
    goals achieved people already know how
  • 00:48:50
    to achieve the goals were just kind of
  • 00:48:52
    watching over teams can move between
  • 00:48:54
    these different processes different ways
  • 00:48:56
    of work because reality keeps changing
  • 00:48:58
    around them we have to constantly watch
  • 00:49:00
    out
  • 00:49:00
    so our leadership type is adaptive based
  • 00:49:04
    on what those people are experiencing at
  • 00:49:06
    this point in time we want to
  • 00:49:08
    participate in human interaction we
  • 00:49:11
    understand people just as much as we do
  • 00:49:12
    machines we have to learn more people
  • 00:49:15
    skills not just how to be nice or to
  • 00:49:17
    give feedback how to have tough
  • 00:49:19
    conversations how to approach things in
  • 00:49:21
    a way even if it scares us how to jump
  • 00:49:24
    over that hump I think if we learn how
  • 00:49:26
    to jump over that hump we're gonna be in
  • 00:49:28
    a much better position so how much time
  • 00:49:31
    we have left two minutes okay so in two
  • 00:49:33
    minutes I want to talk about a few
  • 00:49:35
    things you can take with you today if
  • 00:49:37
    you're not a manager how can you get out
  • 00:49:39
    of your comfort zone today
  • 00:49:41
    what is your ravine so here are a couple
  • 00:49:44
    of examples next time someone comes to
  • 00:49:46
    you and asks you to solve a problem for
  • 00:49:48
    them say this let's solve this problem
  • 00:49:52
    together but make sure that you either
  • 00:49:54
    don't write the code you don't write the
  • 00:49:56
    stuff on the whiteboard you ask
  • 00:49:58
    questions that will lead the person to
  • 00:50:01
    think the way that you think about the
  • 00:50:03
    problem this is a difficult part this is
  • 00:50:05
    a difficult part because we tend to
  • 00:50:07
    already solve the problem in our heads
  • 00:50:10
    and already ask a leading question
  • 00:50:11
    towards that solution but it's asking
  • 00:50:14
    the right question that is the thinking
  • 00:50:17
    process and we want them to ask that
  • 00:50:19
    question so we have to kind of be a
  • 00:50:21
    mirror and almost not interfere and
  • 00:50:24
    sometimes just guide towards things that
  • 00:50:27
    we've experienced before
  • 00:50:28
    etc have a meeting that scares you you
  • 00:50:33
    have a meeting you there's this one
  • 00:50:34
    person you've always wanted to talk to
  • 00:50:36
    about something that bothers you have it
  • 00:50:38
    do that meeting scares you I'm really
  • 00:50:41
    happy for you you're gonna learn
  • 00:50:43
    something from that meeting you're gonna
  • 00:50:44
    learn what happens when you actually do
  • 00:50:46
    those things you might find out the
  • 00:50:48
    devil is not so bad a couple of more
  • 00:50:51
    suggestions work on something in a
  • 00:50:53
    different way that scares you right
  • 00:50:55
    working a different paradigm work in a
  • 00:50:58
    different team switch to a different
  • 00:50:59
    role do something that scares
  • 00:51:02
    hell out of you something that's not
  • 00:51:04
    maybe in your job description even but
  • 00:51:06
    you've always wanted to do maybe but
  • 00:51:08
    you've never had the chance or never had
  • 00:51:10
    the courage to ask okay if you were
  • 00:51:15
    managers try getting the team out of
  • 00:51:18
    survival mode I promise it's gonna scare
  • 00:51:20
    you but it's gonna be a great learning
  • 00:51:23
    experience you're gonna have to do it
  • 00:51:25
    anyway at some point and I truly believe
  • 00:51:27
    that is part of what we're supposed to
  • 00:51:28
    do challenge team members to do
  • 00:51:30
    something that scares them that's gonna
  • 00:51:32
    scare you it scares me to ask someone to
  • 00:51:35
    do something that scares them if I've
  • 00:51:36
    never done it before but we should be
  • 00:51:38
    able to accept the fact that people are
  • 00:51:40
    gonna be annoyed and maybe sometimes
  • 00:51:42
    frustrated but that it's a temporary
  • 00:51:44
    thing
  • 00:51:44
    we don't have to make sure everyone
  • 00:51:46
    loves us okay that's why my moral
  • 00:51:49
    compasses do they need me or not and
  • 00:51:51
    that is how I measure my effectiveness
  • 00:51:53
    and it scares me to realize that some
  • 00:51:56
    people might not love the fact that I'm
  • 00:51:58
    challenging them and that's okay it's
  • 00:52:00
    okay change team structures roles and
  • 00:52:04
    processes that's scary too because you
  • 00:52:06
    might have to answer to management but
  • 00:52:08
    why you did all those things but we have
  • 00:52:10
    to learn to experiment with our teams
  • 00:52:12
    anyway to experiment in different ways
  • 00:52:14
    of working and the fact that it's
  • 00:52:16
    difficult for management will give us a
  • 00:52:18
    chance to dive into a ravine to explain
  • 00:52:21
    why this experiment might be useful so
  • 00:52:23
    the point of it is if you end up with
  • 00:52:25
    something that scares you to do try to
  • 00:52:28
    do it I think that will be the biggest
  • 00:52:30
    factor on the way to start changing real
  • 00:52:33
    things because that will enable you to
  • 00:52:35
    challenge other people to do something
  • 00:52:38
    different because you've already been in
  • 00:52:41
    that path you know what they're going to
  • 00:52:43
    feel like when you ask them to do it and
  • 00:52:46
    until you've actually done it yourself
  • 00:52:47
    you cannot ask other people to do it
  • 00:52:50
    because it's gonna feel insincere it
  • 00:52:52
    feels like you're cheating so you have
  • 00:52:55
    to go through it yourself so you know
  • 00:52:56
    that it's crappy on the inside but it's
  • 00:52:58
    great on the other side you have to have
  • 00:53:01
    that feeling because when you explain it
  • 00:53:02
    it's you've much more tendency to
  • 00:53:05
    actually try things when you've actually
  • 00:53:06
    experienced those things we can change
  • 00:53:11
    things much more than we realize we have
  • 00:53:13
    the ability but we have to do things
  • 00:53:15
    that scare us
  • 00:53:16
    on the way to achieve that if you want
  • 00:53:18
    to learn more the book elastic
  • 00:53:21
    leadership there's a workshop tomorrow
  • 00:53:23
    and you can read my blog at five wise
  • 00:53:26
    comm find me on Twitter
  • 00:53:28
    we don't have slack time but I promise
  • 00:53:32
    to look at slack later and answer all
  • 00:53:34
    the questions and I'll also remain here
  • 00:53:36
    during lunch if anyone wants to ask me
  • 00:53:38
    any other questions and with that may
  • 00:53:41
    your life be scary a little bit but
  • 00:53:45
    learn to enjoy it thank you very much
  • 00:53:47
    and good luck
  • 00:53:48
    [Applause]
  • 00:53:50
    [Music]
Tag
  • leadership
  • software development
  • feature branching
  • self-organization
  • elastic leadership
  • team dynamics
  • bottlenecks
  • learning mode
  • survival mode
  • empowerment