It’s common for a newly formed agile team to find it unnatural that they could be self directing. “What do you mean we decide the right path?” Creating a team of leaders means empowering the team to have a little more autonomy without a manager dictating their every task. The Ant Colony Ants don’t have a central […]
Category: Leadership
Managing unrealistic expectations of stakeholders
Managing stakeholder expectations is essential in the role of a software development manager. When a stakeholder has an unrealistic expectation of your software development team, you are setting up your team for failure. Stakeholders should expect to have only 2 of the following 3 basic expectations at the release of their anticipated software. A high […]
Motivating developers to increase ROI
Imagine developers being force fed a consistent sense of urgency and anxiety aimed to persuade them to work harder, longer hours and produce more, more, more. All this to benefit a profit fixated corporation which is obsessively refocusing itself to the bottom line. The consequence is a team of unsatisfied developers followed by high turnover and a related cost of rehiring, […]
The manager’s role in Agile software development
The roles of a software development manager are numerous and too complex to explain in one post. However, there are two key roles in the waterfall model that are very visible in the organization and are missing in Agile. Managers create technical solutions for projects and direct the work of the team. Contrarily, Agile software development teams […]
It’s Important to be Empathetic as a Leader, Here’s Why
As a leader you’re communicating with people everyday. Your communication skills are going to be tested while dealing with challenges, delays and conflicts. In these situations, how someone is feeling is just as important as what they’re saying. Enter empathy. It seems overzealous to recommend that leaders approach situations with empathy, but in my experience […]
How to be an authentic leader
As a leader, being authentic is one of the most important traits you can have. Being open, honest and real with your team shows them you’re willing to be vulnerable when working together. When you build that trust with your team, you allow them to build positive relationships with you. It promotes an attitude of […]