How many Agile coaches give a flying fuck about folks’ needs – except perhaps their own?
How many see the direct connection between attending to folks’ needs and their success as coaches?
Quickie: Flying Fucks
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Monthly Archives: January 2022
“Please, just attend to my needs”
“Please, just attend to my needs”
This is the silent plea of everyone in your organisation (and everyone in our lives, for that matter).
Silent because of fear of appearing weak or needy. And silent because those in need rarely realise they have unmet needs, let alone realise that their needs could be attended to.
Are you hearing their requests? Are you doing something, anything, about them?
How would you feel if your heartfelt pleas continually fell on deaf ears? Do you care how others might be feeling?
– Bob
Dynamic Work Design from MIT
Dynamic Work Design from MIT
Nelson Repenning at MIT has come up with a general approach to knowledge-based employees finding and fixing issues, and make improvements, in real time (video).
Four Core Principles of Dynamic Work Design
- Reconcile activity and intent.
- Connect the human chain through triggers and checks (i.e .Escalation: when and how.
- Structure problem solving and creativity.
- Manage “optimal challenge” – problems are useful as signals, and create useful “tension”.
Further Reading
Baskin, K. (2018). The 4 principles of dynamic work design. [online] MIT Sloan. Available at: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/4-principles-dynamic-work-design [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Discover Dynamic Work Design with MIT’s Nelson Repenning. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJwU-MZckTk [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].
Can We Really Trust People To Do The Right Thing?
Believing in the good of humanity is a revolutionary act – it means that we don’t need all those managers and CEOs, kings and generals. That we can trust people to govern themselves and make their own decisions.
Rutger Bregman
It looks like this pandemic is, for the UK at least, coming to end. In terms of a narrative arc the story of Covid-19 started with people stockpiling toilet roll, hand sanitiser and eggs and ended with confirmation of something we had guessed long ago – that those who create the rules for the little folk rarely stick to them.
People really are shit aren’t they? Left to our own devices social order breaks down and we reveal ourselves to be self-centred, selfish and uncaring.
Except there’s little evidence that’s the case.
Whilst the media has delivered us a daily stream of bad behaviour – with even community street parties…
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Product Development Success
Product Development Success
What constitutes “success” in the product development arena, and how might we quantify it, or even measure it?
What is the ultimate unit of measure for success?
Some folks say it’s “life cycle profit impact”. But it really isn’t. Nobody gives a hoot about profit (cf. Deming’s First Theorem). Nor do all but a few take a long term (whole life cycle) view of the products in their product portfolio.
In my experience, the ultimate unit of measure for success in product development is the wellbeing of the folks involved. In particular, the personal wellbeing of executives and senior managers with skin in the game. And to a much lesser extent, the personal wellbeing of the middle managers, developers, and customers (most often in that order).
Of course, nobody wants to talk about this, least of all the beneficiaries. So the measures of success remain undiscussable, and spurious proxy measures such as profit are introduced to lull the unwary and naive.
– Bob
Further Reading
Think Different. (2019). Your REAL Job. [online] Available at: /2019/11/11/your-real-job/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].
The Key
The Key
The key to quintessential effectiveness resides in looking at organisations as systems. I.e. systems thinking. And nobody is up for that.
Put another way, improving the performance of silos in isolation only makes the overall performance of the organisation worse.
Not Up For Systems Thinking
Owners and proxy owners (executives) aren’t up for it because of the effort they assume will be required to convert all those not up for it, to being up for it.
Managers aren’t up for it (in those rare cases when they’re actually aware of the idea) because they assume it threatens their wellbeing and their control over their local fiefdoms (silos).
Consultants aren’t up for it because:
- a) They assume their customers (i.e. managers, see above) won’t like it.
- b) They don’t understand it.
Coaches aren’t up for it because their remit does not extent to the organisation, being rooted in the performance of individuals (and vey occasionally, teams).
And employees aren’t up for it because:
- a) They don’t give a damn (disengaged).
- b) They don’t see the success of the organisation as having anything to do with them.
What Does It Mean to Look At Organisations As Systems?
[I’ll complete this section if there’s any demand]
Where Do The Benefits Come From?
[I’ll complete this section if there’s any demand]
– Bob
Quickie: Am I the Only One?
Am I the only person in the world interested in improving the effectiveness of organisations? In making organisations better places to work, better places to play, better places to learn? Is it just me? Most days it seems like it is.
Needs or Wants
Needs or Wants
Don’t give folks what they want, nor what you think they need, nor even what they think they need.
Give them what they really need. It can take time, effort and skill to discover what they really need (a.k.a. the “Mafia Offer” – Goldratt 2015), but it’s the only legal path to sustained success.
Further Reading
Goldratt, E.M. (2015). It’s Not Luck. Gower Publishing.
One Simple Question
One Simple Question
Answer me just one simple question:
How would you effect a change in the collective beliefs and assumptions of an organisation? Say, your organisation?
If the answer isn’t Organisational Psychotherapy, I’m all ears.
– Bob
Quickie: Acquiescences
The road to approbation is paved with acquiescences.
The Great Hiring Debacle Continues
The Great Hiring Debacle Continues
The debacle of hiring (cf. external hires) continues unabated. In my experience, it’s getting worse by the day. And I see every hirer totally oblivious to the data. Here’s a couple of charts:
And some data from various sources:
New Hire Failure Rates (By Job Level)
Overall failure rate – What percentage of all new hires fail within eighteen months? “46%” (Source: Leadership IQ)
Hourly new hires – What percentage of all hourly employees quit or are fired within their first six months? “50%” (Source: Humetrics)
Managment new hires– What percentage of management new hires fail within eighteen months? “Between 40% and 60%” (Source: Harvard Business Review)
High managerial talent – What percentage miss the mark on high managerial talent? “In 82% of their hiring decisions” (Source: Gallup)
Executive new hires – What percentage of executive new hires fail within eighteen months? “Nearly 50%” (Source: The Corporate Leadership Council)
CEO failure – What percentage of new CEOs fail outright within their first eighteen months? “Nearly 40%” (Source: Centre For Creative Leadership)
Unequivocal success – What percentage of new hires can be declared as an unequivocal success? “19%” or 1 in 5 (Source: Centre from Creative Leadership
(Table courtesy of Dr John Sullivan)
And you think you’re so smart?
– Bob
Further Reading
Griffiths, A. (2022.). What You Need to Know About Unsuccessful Recruitment and Ways to Improve Your Hiring Success Rate – Hirenest. [online] Available at: https://hirenest.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-unsuccessful-recruitment-and-ways-to-improve-your-hiring-success-rate/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2022].
What If #10 – Somebody Discovered The Solution
What If #10 – Somebody Discovered the Solution
What if somebody discovered the solution to the vexing question of “how to consistently deliver software products successfully – e.g. reliably, effectively, on-time, with quality, and with controlled costs”?
How would the software community react? I posit it would be just like the reaction of the medical profession to the discoveries of Semmelweis circa 1847. i.e. Ridicule, taking offence, and rejection.
How would the lay (business) people across various industries react? I posit they would remain ignorant, or rail against the suggestion that they examine their perspective.
How would the discoverer react? I posit he or she would becoming increasingly frustrated and eventually suffer a nervous breakdown and maybe die or kill themselves.
– Bob
Other Posts In This Occasional Series
What If #5 – Continuous Improvement Is Useless
Quickie: Being Right
Being right pisses off a boatload of people. Every time.
It’s almost as if being wrong is the passport to acceptance.
Quickie: Displacement Activity
Agile is simply displacement activity.
Quickie: It’s Not the Way That Developers Work That Counts
Success will not come from getting developers to change they way they work.
Success necessitates owners, proxy owners (executives, shareholders) and managers changing the way they think.
And that ain’t never gonna happen.
Quickie: Prosocial
God forbid you put the mission, or the interests of your team, group, or community, before your own.
That would be profoundly anti-anti-social.
Quickie: Cargo Culting
Ironic how folks across the software industry caution repeatedly against cargo culting, and then go right ahead with it themselves:
- Command & control
- Agile
- Hierarchical management
- Hiring of specialists
- Emphasis on talent
- etc.
Quickie: How To Build A Great Product
Seems like NOBODY in management or product consulting has heard the old adage:
Q: How do you build a great product?
A: Build a great team and they’ll build the great product for you.
The Roots of Rightshifting
The Roots of Rightshifting
When I coined the term “Rightshifting” circa 2005 I had already been studying and practicing software development management for at least fifteen years. In that span I had seen time and again dozens of organisations that had literally no clue as to how ineffective they were at the game.
Indeed, I came across zero organisations, both in person and in the literature, who realised how much time, effort, money and lives they were wasting through their ineffectiveness.
Circa 2005 I resolved to make it my business to help the industry, and the organisations in it, appreciate how much better things could be. In 2008 I began presenting “Perspectives on Rightshifting” at conferences and online, incorporating the asymmetric bell curve from Steve McConnell (McConnell . In 2010 I augmented that with the Marshall Model, explaining how collective assumptions and beliefs govern effectiveness.
Here we are at 2022 and the message has not landed. Most organisations are so insular, inward-looking and lacking in curiosity that their relative effectiveness never reaches the level of consciousness thought, let alone action.
Most organisations still have no clue as to how much time, effort, money and lives they are wasting through their ineffectiveness.
I see at least three root conditions that contribute to this continuing waste:
- Software organisations generally have enough money that they can afford to waste circa 80% of it on ineffective practices.
- The folks in charge are pursuing priorities other than effectiveness.
- Almost no one in the industry has ever seen what “effective” looks like, let alone the benefits and how to get there.
Still, I continue carrying the flag for Rightshifting, even though the levels of interest have declined, rather that risen.
If you’re interested, I’m always happy to talk it over.
– Bob
Further Reading
Think Different. (2011). The Origins of the Marshall Model. [online] Available at: /2011/03/25/the-origins-of-the-marshall-model/.
McConnell, S. (1999). After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering. Microsoft Press.
http://www.youtube.com. (2013). The Business Case for Better Software Practices | Steve McConnell. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/kczygFYJzDo [Accessed 17 Jan. 2022].
McConnell, S. (2004). Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers. Addison-Wesley.
Quickie: Requests?
I’m still working on a podcast / vodcast format. But I’ve been stuck for worthwhile topics. If there’s anything you’d like to see featured, please drop me a line in the comments, LinkedIn PM or email (bob.marshall@fallingblossoms.com).
Ta.
Think Different