SPaMCAST 781 - Micromanagement, You Are Not Alone, Essays and Conversations

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 781 begins with a discussion of prioritization and sequencing. These two ideas often get conflated. Work might be important but if it has predecessors and successors it will require sequencing. You can’t deploy a new piece of hardware unless you have it. The acquisition of the equipment comes before deployment. Not letting teams control or have input into sequencing has consequences. Let us discuss avoiding those negative outcomes.

We also have a visit from Keis Kostaqi who returns with her You Are Not Alone column. Keis and I discuss the new Scrum Master that gets thrown to the wolves. Get a coach or risk being eaten?

Re-Read Saturday News

Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t Chapter 8 is titled, The Enabling Play: Connect. This Chapter begins with the story of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The disaster may have been avoided if a single button had been pushed. The button went unpushed until it was too late because the person did not have permission. Marquet states  “How is it that a person could be more afraid of pushing a button without permission, than dying in a fiery explosion?” Hierarchy above all is a power play from the Industrial Age, a play that remains entrenched in corporate life. Fear supported by steep hierarchies, distorts common sense in environments with a strong culture of control and compliance. 

Previous installments of our re-read of Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t (buy a copy)!

Week 1: Logistics, Introduction, Foreword – https://bit.ly/3sTqyu3 

Week 2: El Faro – https://bit.ly/3RnkUue 

Week 3: The New Playbook – https://bit.ly/3Llgmki 

Week 4: Control the Clock – https://bit.ly/45UFp5Z

Week 5: Collaborate – https://bit.ly/3PzFiXI  

Week 6: Commit - https://bit.ly/46DMmsF 

Week 7: Complete - https://bit.ly/47aTDQe  

Week 8: Improve - https://bit.ly/3FMT1Vw 

Week 9: Connect - https://bit.ly/3QW05Wj 

 

Learn to Solve IT's Dirtiest Secret!

Work input, which includes prioritization and sequencing, is how work gets to an organization or team. If you get it wrong you are throwing time and money away. Simply put, poor work intake means no agile for you. Jeremy Willets and I have written Managing Work Intake tackling the topic that JRoss Publishing will publish in January 2024. In support of the book, we are building a live, workshop-based course for anyone involved in deciding on what work gets completed!  This includes Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Project Managers, Program Managers, and Portfolio Managers - there are a lot of people involved and that is part of the problem! The workshop will cover why work intake is the biggest challenge to teams and organizations today. Attendees will also learn what to do to solve this challenge. This cohort-based course will combine very short lectures, discussions, and exercises. It will provide space to learn and share with peers. We’re using a survey to build a waitlist for the first cohort – link below. We will use the list to alert you when the workshop is available.

 Link to Survey!  https://bit.ly/3MdmvQa 

 

Next SPaMCAST 

Software Process and Measurement Cast 782 will feature our interview with Govind Balu. We will discuss the importance of data and how organizations are tackling data transformations.