Agile
The age of Scrum is over (via Software Lead Weekly)
The author lays out several points about the shortcomings of Scrum as a general approach to how to “do Agile.” Its simplicity is that it’s a one-sized approach to getting work done. The article claims that having a tailored approach with the help of a coach is more effective.
Business operations
Accelerate: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations (via Wade Chandler)
- The authors set out to study technology transformations to find the relationships among delivery performance, technical practices, cultural norms, and organizational performance. Software delivery performance is key, and is influenced by 24 capabilities.
- Chapters 1-11 cover why software delivery performance matters and how it drives business outcomes. The ability to deliver quality software at a high tempo with stability is pivotal for all organizations.
- Chapters 12-15 cover the science behind the research and how the analysis was done to identify the 24 capabilities that were most statistically significant.
- Chapter 16 is a case study from ING Bank.
- The book also has three appendices to summarize the capabilities and explain more about the statistics used.
Career
A pause to revisit: What’s the Product Manager’s role? (via Software Lead Weekly)
This article enumerates some strategic and tactical responsibilities of a product manager. It’s useful for someone who’s in this role (or aspires to be) to understand their purview. It’s also a helpful guide to help others understand what this role is about.
You Don’t Like Your New Boss. What Should You Do? (via HBR)
As long as you otherwise like your job and have other colleagues you get along with, you and your boss not liking each other isn’t a deal-killer. This article walks through the following situations and provides next steps: you are more conscientious, your more of a people pleaser, you differ on how you approach new opportunities, your boss doesn’t help you prioritize, your boss is more reactive than strategic, you aren’t getting the feedback you need.
Communication
Using Emojis to Connect with Your Team (via HBR)
I can see this being dependent on corporate culture, but where I work we’re pretty consistent in Zoom and Slack to use emojis to communicate that extra level.
What’s Your Listening Style? (via HBR)
The article defines four styles: analytical, relational, critical, and task-focused. We have a default style, and would do well to recognize when we need to shift to another style. Think about why you are listening — is it to provide solutions? Emotional support? Adapt your style to meet the listener’s needs instead of your own.
How to Disagree (via Software Lead Weekly)
This post enumerates the hierarchy of how people disagree: name calling, ad hominem, responding to one, contradiction, counterargument, refutation, and refuting the central point.
Decision Making
Guiding principle: consent over consensus (via Software Lead Weekly)
The author claims that consensus is when everyone is for the decision, and that consent is when no one is against the decision. There are some links to other processes that check for alignment, like fist-to-five.
The dark side of transparency (via Software Lead Weekly)
- Sometimes having information broadly shared leads to more people being involved who don’t understand the whole context, which slows things down or distracts from the task at hand.
- Most people want some level of being informed with the opportunity to dig deeper.
- The article covers an example of a firm that tried compensation transparency with ill-intended effects.
- In creative fields, sometimes sharing early or experimental versions of things can be distracting or cause the creative individuals to be less risky.
- In short, sometimes transparency helps and other times it unexpectedly hinders things.
Hiring
Is Your Hiring Process Costing You Talent? (via HBR)
- Look at your time-to-decision to see if it can be faster
- Share information (at multiple points) about company culture
- Give genuine, timely feedback
- If possible, provide value during the process (e.g., share a resource that could be helpful even if not hired)
Leadership
What Leadership Development Should Look Like in the Hybrid Era (via HBR)
The framework presented here is 70% on-the-job (action / experimenting), 20% interactive (identity / self-discovery), and 10% structured (knowledge / sense-making). The takeways for doing hybrid development: alternate between learning/engaging, embed into daily work, learn from experimentation, have leadership be supportive, use multiple modes.
Strategy
When Your Business Needs a Second Growth Engine (via HBR)
Disruption and change are the new normal, so your main engine may only take you so far. Companies need to look for (1) a target market with large profit potential, (2) a proprietary source of competitive advantage, (3) an entrepreneurial mindset, and (4) the ability to leverage the scale and assets of the first growth engine.
4 Steps to Creating a Strategy in an Uncertain World (via HBR)
- Find the big question that your strategy seeks to answer.
- Break that question down into other questions. Ask people to explain why something isn’t possible.
- Take those sub-questions and start ideating on solutions.
- Identify the best options and use lean approaches to test them out.
Work environments
What Leaders Need to Know Before Trying a 4-Day Work Week (via HBR)
- Reduced hours should come with revision/reduction in workload (otherwise you’re working four 10-hour days).
- The time at work could intensify, leading unfortunately to more stress.
- This feels like me… “Research shows that people with more intensive workloads tend to ruminate about work outside of working hours and are unable to switch off until their work problems have been solved. On the other hand, our own research has shown that some people want to be able to check in on work and keep connected because it worries them more when they do not have oversight of what is going on, which prevents them from feeling in control.”
- “…taking a holistic, long-term focus on the well-being of the workforce is the best path to both happiness and prosperity.”