Essential Techniques for Leading Software Teams in the Work From - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Essential Techniques for Leading Software Teams in the Work From Home Era Robin Bate Boerop 13 August 2020 Agenda Why Lead? Audience About Me Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs Context, Part 2: Definition of Leadership

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Essential Techniques for Leading Software Teams in the Work From Home Era

Robin Bate Boerop

13 August 2020

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Agenda

  • Why Lead?
  • Audience
  • About Me
  • Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs
  • Context, Part 2: Definition of Leadership
  • The New Essential Leadership Techniques

These slides are at https://blog.robinbb.com

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Why Lead?

To make change.

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Audience

Any individual on a software team. Not necessarily a designated leader.

  • Software developers
  • Designers
  • Product owners
  • Technical project managers
  • Any stakeholder of a software team

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About Me

Robin Bate Boerop

  • https://blog.robinbb.com
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinbb
  • 20+ years of software development experience
  • 9 years managing teams

Motivated by wanting to make software development better. Better teams means better software.

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)
  • 3. Choice of instant messaging (chat) software

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)
  • 3. Choice of instant messaging (chat) software
  • 4. Choice of video conferencing software

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)
  • 3. Choice of instant messaging (chat) software
  • 4. Choice of video conferencing software
  • 5. Asynchronous communications software

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)
  • 3. Choice of instant messaging (chat) software
  • 4. Choice of video conferencing software
  • 5. Asynchronous communications software
  • 6. Preference for asynchronous communications

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Context, Part 1: Work-From-Home Needs

  • 1. Reliable internet access
  • 2. Computer equipment (video camera, mic)
  • 3. Choice of instant messaging (chat) software
  • 4. Choice of video conferencing software
  • 5. Asynchronous communications software
  • 6. Preference for asynchronous communications
  • 7. A clear way to submit work deliverables

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Learn More About WFH

Book: REMOTE: Offjce Not Required by Basecamp team - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

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Context, Part 2: Leadership

  • Definition of leadership
  • Leadership versus management
  • The purpose of leadership
  • Leadership activities
  • Engagement
  • The skills of leadership
  • The role of trust

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Why Define Leadership?

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The Definition of Leadership

Leadership is the practice of social influence.

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What Leadership Is Not

  • A set of personality characteristics.
  • A title.
  • A degree of seniority.
  • Position in a hierarchy.
  • The practice of management.

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Leadership vs. Management

Management -> stability Leadership -> change

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Leadership vs. Management

Management plans, schedules, and budgets. Leadership sets direction and strategy.

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Leadership vs. Management

Management organizes and staffs. Leadership aligns.

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Leadership vs. Management

Management controls and problem-solves. Leadership motivates and inspires.

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The Purpose of Leadership

To effect positive change.

  • To create a great mission.
  • To align to the mission.
  • To inspire.

○ Engagement.

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Engagement

  • The emotional commitment of an employee to the company.
  • Not the same as happiness or satisfaction.
  • Predicts productivity.
  • Measurable.
  • https://blog.robinbb.com/blog/engagement-for-software-teams/

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Leadership Activities

  • Define the mission
  • Formulate a strategy
  • Communicate the vision
  • Create alignment
  • Build culture
  • Inspire effort
  • Facilitate engagement

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The Skills of Leadership

  • 1. Ability to communicate.
  • 2. Emotional intelligence.

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Leadership: Further Reading

  • “What Leaders Really Do” by retired Harvard Business School

professor John P. Kotter, in Harvard Business Review, December 2001 (first published in 1990).

  • “What Is Leadership?" by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 2013.
  • “What Makes a Leader” on HBR by Daniel Goleman. The thesis is that

emotional intelligence is necessary for effective leadership. Intelligence and technical skills are merely “threshold capabilities”.

  • “Leadership for Software Teams” by Robin Bate Boerop, 2020.

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Trust

Leadership is the practice of social influence. Trust is the currency of social influence. Without trust, leaders will have little influence. Leaders must engender trust.

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Trust

Trust is engendered by:

  • 1. Authenticity
  • 2. Logic
  • 3. Empathy

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Trust: Further Reading

  • “How to build (and rebuild) trust” by Frances Fei, TED, 2018

(video).

  • “The Neuroscience of Trust” by Paul J. Zak, Harvard Business

Review, 2017. Motivates the understanding of trust in creating employee engagement.

  • “On Trust” by Robin Bate Boerop, 2020.

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Essential Technique: Recognize What Was Communicated With Body Language

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Essential Technique: Document The Vision

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Essential Technique: Use ROWE

  • Grant autonomy
  • Use a Results-Oriented Work Environment

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Essential Technique: Over-Communicate

  • Use words (online) to replace body language
  • Allow the extra time required for this

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Essential Technique: Demonstrate Exemplary Remote Tool Use

  • Model online relationship building
  • Conduct “public” conversations
  • Schmooze or lose

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Essential Technique: Watch For WFH Habit Problems

  • Monitor for burnout
  • Monitor for loneliness

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Essential Technique: Revisit Trust via Empathy

Reconsider how you build trust with empathy: Have my behaviours been consistent with someone who is empathetic with the other?

  • 1. What have I done to display this?
  • 2. Have I listened to them?
  • 3. Can they see that I have listened?

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Essential Technique: Revisit Trust via Logic

Reconsider how you build trust with logic: Have I communicated my reasoning suffjciently well? Is it rigorous?

  • 1. What have I done to display this?
  • 2. How should I communicate this differently in WFH?

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Essential Technique: Revisit Trust via Authenticity

Reconsider how you build trust with authenticity: Have I been true to myself and my ideas? Have I been authentic and congruent in my interactions? How is this made visible in the WFH environment? E.g. Have more conversations in “team channels”.

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Essential Technique: Reach Outside The Company

  • WFH culture makes it easier for outside consultants to

integrate with your team.

  • Take the opportunity to upskill your team by hiring experts.

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Essential Techniques: Further Reading

  • https://hbr.org/2020/07/the-implications-of-working-without-an-offjce
  • https://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/fulltime/nadler/Morris_Nadler_Schmo
  • zeOrLose.pdf
  • https://hbr.org/2011/05/defend-your-research-effective-managers-say-the-same
  • thing-twice-or-more
  • https://hbr.org/2018/11/helping-remote-workers-avoid-loneliness-and-burnout

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Tweag: Software Engineering Leadership

hello@tweag.io https://www.tweag.io