Category: Leadership

Building to Schedule

There’s a common mistake in the thinking of people outside the immediate world of software, and that’s in thinking that it’s a predictable and repeatable process that should be easy to plan.

The comparison that is made is usually towards building houses or something similar. We’ve spoken before about the creative endeavour of software, and about how house building might not be as easy as it seems from the outside. Today I’ll look a little bit more at that.

Across the road from me is a brand new theatre. It’s probably about 60-70% complete, and I’ve been able to watch it take shape over the last year or so. In it, I can see a lot of familiar activity from software development, writ large on the physical world.

It’s particularly relevant as it’s a unique construction. It’s following a plan, but it’s clear that there’s learning and refinement going on all the time. I’ve watched walls go up to be covered in insulation, that’s been inspected, taken down and redone. I’ve seen windows being put in whilst other trades are forced to stop their work to let the glazers past.

There have been days when the main activity is inspecting what’s been put-up, which has again led to rework and changes.

It’s not a simple linear progression of steps, it’s a cycle of work, review, pass / fail and rework or move on.

It’s clear that this distance from the linear progression is even more pronounced due to the unique nature of the building. It’s big and complex, and it’s not the same as anything that’s gone before.

That’s exactly what we get in a software product. Big and complex, a unique creation and something that needs to show learning as you go.

So if you are struggling with someone who thinks it should be an easy task of following a plan step by step, show them someone putting up a complex landmark building to open their eyes to reality.

Tags Leadership, software

Strength of No

There are lots of articles online teaching you about how and when to say “No” to a request. It’s a common problem, especially for those of us who want to be seen as a team player or go-to person.

However, getting your “No” right is a super powerful way of building up this perception. It’s really bad if you say “Yes” to every single request, and end up delivering badly on most of them. The reputation for being flaky or unreliable is definitely not where you want to be.

Recently I had a classic opportunity to say “No” in a constructive way. One of my teams were racing to finish a high profile project with a fixed deadline. In the tech world, that equates to a big “Do Not Disturb” sign flashing over their heads. Another department had an idea for a short term initiative, with a desired start date that would impact the team and risk the high profile project.

First up, I did some fact finding. Pulling in some domain experts to confirm my understanding of the new initiative, and the impact it would have. Then I looked at options. Were there other people available with the skills to help out? What was the actual impact of the current work, and who cared about it being successful. If we left the team alone, when could they pick-up the fresh initiative, and what date could it launch by?

All this came together to present a strong “No” to the other department, backed up by the reasons for that answer. “We cannot support the new initiative by date X, as the required team are fully committed to Project Y in support of one of our major company objectives. They will be available in two weeks time, meaning we could launch the new initiative before the end of the year if that would still provide value.”

Even with the strength of the answer, I was able to present options for the other department, giving them an expectation of when we’d be able to support them, even though it didn’t meet their initially desired dates. This slight softening helps to maintain the long term relationship with the rest of the business.

If the project had been lower profile, there had been more lead time or the team was less committed, then I could have used a different approach. I’d use these for times where I’d prefer not to distract the team, but to keep the conversation open.

The lighter forms are statements like “Yes we can do that if …” or “Yes, but it’ll need …”. These are particularly useful approaches if the person requesting work is also the stakeholder for the existing work. You give them options on what to pursue, whilst being very clear that not everything will keep happening at the same pace.

Saying “No” effectively is a vital skill, so find opportunities to practice it whilst leaving a positive impression as a result.

Tags Leadership, No, Relationships

Coaching Leadership

Artisan or Inventor

Do you prefer to create brand new things, or to refine a craft?

Having just told you not to box yourself in, I thought I’d explore a preference that divides up a lot of creative people (which includes pretty much anyone, but should be relevant to the people in my audience who are building software products ).

Artisans love to refine things, to build the perfect example of their craft. Think of really well put together pieces of furniture, excellently shaped vases or refined and complex mechanical watches. They practice, they get better. The artisan will create many things, and probably never acknowledge a single completed item as perfect.

Inventors go all out. They may have a stunning success or a miserable failure, but they’ll go for it anyway. They probably only enjoy getting to the end of a project and creating the first thing. They don’t go back around to improve, they pickup a new idea and go again.

It’s a preference, so sometimes you’ll flick between the two approaches. If you’re in artisan mode and work with an inventor, then sparks can fly (and vice versa!). A great collaboration can come into being if you recognise this early. Let the inventor rip up the rule book, create a wild prototype and then the artisan can refine towards perfection.

You might think that an artisan is just siphoning energy from their flywheel of change while the inventor is draining it rapidly. That might be true in some situations, but the effort and focus required by a master artisan to strive for perfection is just as significant and draining.

So what’s your preference?

Tags Artisan, Coaching, Inventor, Preference

Coaching Leadership

Follow Through

When you agree on an action, you need to make sure you put in the follow through to be sure it actually happens.

It’s especially important to remember this if responsibility is one of your key strengths. It’s very easy to assume that because you will always do everything you say you will, that everyone else will always hold themselves to that standard.

The follow throughs will be different depending on the person, the actions, the length of time to complete and the importance of completing them. You need to make sure that you balance the need for follow through against the tendency towards micromanagement.

I like to use a model of “trust but verify”. Your default position is that the action will be completed as agreed, but as the person eventually accountable, you will check-in on progress.

If you are going to use a formal check-in model, then agree it up front with the actions. I’ve worked with people who want to improve their public speaking skills, in that sort of long lived objective, I’ve then agreed monthly check-ins, to find out what sort of presentations they’ve been giving, the feedback they’ve had and what they are doing based on it. This formal agreement is super useful to make sure the goal is not forgotten, or people try and leave any activity until right before the final review.

For shorter term follow throughs, they can be more informal. Ask “How is X progressing?”, dig in a little bit more with “What’s left to do?”. By asking what’s left, you get a real view on the final 20%, which is a lot more useful than a brief “all on track” or similar.

If it makes sense, grab a demo or draft view, that makes the progress concrete. Give some warning on this, so it’s not a surprise. That’ll also give the person a chance to get the draft together if they’ve not picked it up yet.

Finally, make sure that your check-in is not left until just before a deadline. Reviewing the day before doesn’t give much chance to make any corrections or complete actions, it’s no fun doing homework on the bus, so avoid that feeling by making sure good progress is made early.

Following through is an important leadership skill, so practice until it’s natural and you’ll really drive the effectiveness of everyone you are working with.

Tags Coaching, Follow through, Leadership, Trust

Leadership

Make it Real

Pick the right level of detail to build a connection with your audience and you’ll make it real for them.

We talked recently about storytelling, and how it’s an important skill for anyone in a leadership position. It’s a great way to get better at presenting to people and having the ideas stick in their minds.

Finding the right level is a key ingredient to great storytelling. You are making it concrete, which is a key part of the stickiness. If something is too big, vague or disconnected, then it won’t resonate and it’ll quickly be forgotten.

It’s particularly important when you are connecting the big company ideas to the activities that your team needs to undertake. It’s great to know that a major initiative will secure a significant success at the corporate level, but these things take time to come about.

A year into the effort, an appeal to this large goal may just stir a dim memory of a flashy exhortation relating to shareholder value, but is just as likely to feel like a top down directive that doesn’t engender buy-in.

Instead, think about the specific effort you’re looking for from the team, and the concrete value it will create. Refer to the big goal, but tie it in to your own efforts. What specific outcomes will you achieve, how does that help?

“We have to do this for the big initiative” is not a good way to make it real. “We’re going to deliver a great new product that doubles the number of subscribers and will contribute a quarter of the revenue goal of the big initiative” is a much better way to connect up the efforts at the right level of detail.

Put in the effort to make it real, you’ll find your connections are stronger, your team gets the why and they strive for success.

Tags Leadership, Storytelling

Coaching Leadership

What’s Number 1?

You can only have one top priority.

There’s always lots of important things going on, there’s always a lot of demands on your time and there will always be more than you are able to do.

So, you’ve got to be really clear on what is the top priority at any given time.

The advice is particularly valuable if you work in a team with lots of different stakeholders, or even just one who’s very demanding. As much at they might want to have 5 top priority “must do” items, there is actually a list in order from 1 to 5.

As a leader, one of the major strands of your role is teasing out that ordering. You need to manage the list and set expectations across stakeholders. You want to be pointing your team at item number 1, especially if it’s “important but not urgent”.

A physical list of priority items is a powerful tool. When a stakeholder requests a change, or shares more about the value of an item lower down the list, then you can show them the impact of moving something up, and how it moves other things down.

This approach is particularly valuable as you gain active engagement from the stakeholder. They aren’t able to assume you are working on both the old and new number 1 priorities in parallel. The physical list allows you to document the change, so you’ve covered the case of any accidental misalignment as well.

With a single number 1 priority, you’re then able to focus effort towards the top most important thing, and ensuring that if anything doesn’t get done then it’s less important than what does get completed.

Don’t lose focus, show your working and make sure there’s only one number 1.

Tags Coaching, Leadership, Prioritisation

Coaching Leadership

Recognising the Craft of Others

Post author By James Osborn
Post date October 22, 2020
1 Comment on Recognising the Craft of Others

It’s easy to recognise the complexity and difficulty of your own role, especially when it’s a specific niche or requires a significant amount of expertise.

It can be harder for us to recognise that same complexity in the roles of others. Whether it’s those of you who write software assuming that design is easy, or people in finance who feel like complex products should spring into life fully formed and predictably, when you look at what “they” are doing, you quickly oversimplify.

How to you prevent yourself doing it, and how do you protect yourself from it happening?

Both sides are pretty similar, you need to go on the journey and walk a few miles in the shoes of others.

Stop and think hard about a job that isn’t yours, but you think is easy. What’s driving that thinking. Do you have any evidence, or is it just a feeling?

If it’s a feeling, seek out an opportunity to join in on the complexity. Sit in on a user research session and watch the skills of an experienced questioner gathering powerful insights. Get a software engineer to run you through the systems and show you how new features are launched. Spend half an hour with a finance professional to understand how they join together complex data sources to create vital governance reports.

Once you can see the complexity, it’s a lot harder to write them off as having it easy.

So if you are suffering the slings and arrows of someone shouting “simple”, then you need to get them inside and see that difficulty. It may be harder as if they don’t recognise the pain, they won’t be as proactive.

Appeal to their experience or see their insight. Get them into a session where they’ll see the difficulty and how you need experience to do well. If you can safely let them experiment in the space then that’s even better. Practical experience of failure will live on in their mind as a lesson far longer than seeing you succeed at something they still think is eay.

Recognise the craft and contribution of others, and help others to recognise your own craft. When everyone understands this, then you’ll form more effective teams, and crush complex problems by pulling in all the relevant experts at the right time.

Tags Coaching, Craft, Leadership

Coaching Leadership

Being Wrong

Count the number of times that you admit to getting it wrong. Pull out a piece of paper and make a tally of every time you say “I’m wrong”. Half marks if you think it but just say it, bonus points for putting it out there in a conversation where you are the leader in the room.

If you are regularly hitting zero, then you’ve not got the right balance for learning fast. You aren’t pushing enough, you’re stuck in the comfort zone and you aren’t making much progress. It’s also important to check in here with how honest you are being. Reflect fully on the past and make sure that hubris is not setting you up for a fall. Retelling the story to make you right from day 1 is not going to support your desire for growth.

If you are just thinking it, then you need to make some more space to fail. You’ve got into the space of learning, and assuming you are changing your behaviour or actions then it’s a good start. To make it great, you need to build the safety in the group to willing to admit to being wrong. That’ll speed up the learning journey for all of you, building more momentum for change.

The bonus points for doing it in a leadership context come because you are setting the example for behaviours you want to see. If you want people to innovate, to take risks and to learn, then you need to show that with your actions. Own it when it goes wrong, show people how you are changing and be a role model for that behaviour. Remember, as the leader in the room, you are always being closely studied for signs of how to be successful.

Finally, if you are always admitting to being wrong, dial it back a bit. There’s certainly a balance to be found here, where “always” is as bad as “never”. Try highlighting 4-5 positive things for each negative, and make sure that hitting one small mistake doesn’t turn an overall success into something you were totally wrong about.

If you’re never wrong, you aren’t learning.

Tags Coaching, Leadership, Learning

Coaching Leadership

Learn Fast

Fail fast is a common and popular refrain in certain circles. It’s something you’ll hear from a lot of people as they are busy shouting about “pivots” and other sudden changes of direction.

It’s a useful approach, but it’s easy to miss the point by taking it at face value. If you just keep throwing out ideas, trying them and failing, then all you’ll end up doing over time is building up to a big failure. That’s not a positive outcome.

Instead, think about what you are learning from every effort. The goal is to then design activities so you get to learn something quickly, to feed into the next cycle. This puts focus back onto the positive iteration, skipping the sometimes negative tones of failure.

Sometimes, the thing that you learn is that your idea was not right. That’s a great outcome so long as you’ve learnt something, and use it to make your next effort better.

So learn fast, pivot with meaning and build your momentum with positive iterations.

Tags Coaching, Fast, Leardership, Learning

Leadership

Planning

The value of planning is the process, it’s very rarely the plan itself.

An effective planning process drives out the complexity of what you are trying to achieve. It shows you the priority, who needs to get involved and where the difficulties may be. You also get to say what you aren’t going to do, which is especially valuable before you’ve invested a lot of effort.

One quick test for effectiveness, check the level of detail you are working to, and measure it against the scope and duration of the plan. If the scope is more than a couple of weeks, then anything talking about specific days or people is too much detail to be useful. By the time you are looking at a year, then the plan is more of a strategy, and you are better placed to think about a focus of effort and the outcomes you are chasing, rather than the specific things and order they will be done.

Once you’ve built a plan, get ready to rip it up. Things change, and the only thing that’s uncertain is how quickly they will change. If you stick dogmatically to the plan, you’ll quickly find yourself chasing dates that don’t make sense, or pushing for features that are no longer needed.

The most painful failed projects are those that treat the initial plan as a rigid structure, rather than a guide towards a potential future.

Still, keep cycling through the planning process. Take in what you’ve learnt, what’s been completed and consider what’s changed. This means you are not starting from scratch each time, but course correcting with more information.

Iterating is key, especially in a fast moving environment. If you find planning a chore, then doing it little and often should cure this feeling. If you plan by six-month cycles, try cutting it to three and I’m sure you’ll get a better outcome.

Create your plan, throw it away when it’s no longer helping!

Tags Leadership, Planning