Agile Operating System
In this article, I tried to answer the question of where the current manager responsibilities in Agile transformations can be addressed, in the most cliché way, through the Spotify model.
In my previous article, I talked about Agile leadership, what a humble leader is, and the stance of a transformative leader. You can access the article at this link It is unfortunately not a common situation that we can identify a leader with these qualifications in organizations and they are given the authority to lead. Instead, we see that the leadership seats are occupied by people who are strong in politics, not inspiring, but have the ability to get work done, have a developed instinct of control, and are highly results-oriented. In other words, the people who keep the job on track, beyond the leadership skills, are the “everything is under my control” managers. Considering the hierarchical pyramid system we are in, it seems that this seat is also needed in order for the pyramid to stand together.
We now know that the executive chair in pyramid structures is not very suitable for chaotic conditions where there are self-managing teams and trial and error are adopted as the basic way of doing business. Also existing systems:
- are in the act of transforming a good expert into a manager/leader. We know that people who are declared managers for better living conditions are not guaranteed to be good managers.
- often bring feedback on areas of weakness to the people who have become managers. In other words, these people are forced to try to progress by focusing on their weak areas. However, when people focus on their strengths, they progress much faster. (Judging a fish by where it can climb a tree)
- can not distinguish people who do not have any knowledge or interest, but who want to be managers just for a seat, status, extra benefits, etc. Management is a separate profession and field of interest. People who do not like to deepen their knowledge about management should not be expected to do this profession properly.
In general, in Agile methods, apart from the transformative leader (relatively difficult people to find), managerial responsibilities should be distributed in a way that “makes it easier for people to focus on their strengths”. Before we get to that, let’s list the current manager responsibilities in a classic organization as follows:
- Understanding the demands
- Stakeholder management
- Worklist management
- Priority managementDependability management
- Costing of works
- Delivery, getting the job done
- Giving deadlines and compliance with it
- Quality delivery and outputsProducts with low technical debtDelegation and follow-up of works
- Performance EvaluationKeeping the team’s motivation high
- Career development of team members
- Administrative responsibilities
Much more can be written… It is very difficult for any manager to work effectively on all of the items listed here. My observation so far is that the managers who focus on the team and motivation are the people who are loved by their teams, but they have difficulties in delivery, and the ones who are good in delivery are not liked by their teams. I have observed that people who can do all of these are generally marginalized with discourses, such as “workaholic”, “doesn’t have a life”, “all they know is work” and so on. In fact, the main problem is that, as I mentioned before, too many and different interests are concentrated on a single person. If we make a small grouping here, we can create a table like the one below.
Product Backlog and Demand management
- Understanding the demands
- Stakeholder management
- Worklist management
- Priority management
- Dependability management
Delivery and Quality Management
- Costing of works
- Delivery, getting the job done
- Giving deadlines and compliance with it
- Quality delivery and outputs
- Products with low technical debt
- Delegation and follow-up of works
People and Motivation
- Performance Evaluation
- Keeping the team’s motivation high
- Elimination of obstacles
- Career development of team members
- Administrative responsibilities
As a result of this grouping, we can distribute the administrative responsibilities in an organization that takes the Spotify model as a reference as follows.
Thus, it will be easier to find the qualifications required by each role and to focus on the necessity of the role. In addition, different alternatives are offered to people in this scenario. Of course, the operating system of an organization that goes into this scenario is changing. Performance, career maps, how to choose new roles, when roles can change, new feedback loops, how to set salaries, etc. Many infrastructural issues also need to be discussed at some point. If these infrastructure changes are not talked about, the unknown about the new management infrastructure may cause anxiety in the organization and people may start secret organizations in a way that they can feel safe. The basic principle should always be where you think you can create the greatest value, go there.
What will existing managers do in this scenario?
Looking at this scenario in our country, one of the biggest mistakes I see is that all managers are collectively declared as Product Owners or Chapter Leads. In fact, these changes can be terrifying even for a person who has worked for many years and who has become a new manager or who is very close to gaining the title of manager. We can say that softening the change here is the job of the transformational leader we mentioned before. In order for the administrative infrastructure to be changed with an effective transition process, the concerns of the current administration, status, rights/extra benefit issues must be discussed openly, transparently, and without leaving any room for gossip.
In general, existing managers can assume any or more of these roles.
- Those who love technical subjects can become Chapter Leads by establishing a master-apprentice relationship and contribute to the production power.
- Those who are strong on the product and customer side can be the Product Owner.
- Those who have strong communication and people skills can become Scrum Masters.
- At a higher level, real leaders who can support more than 1 team and organization can also serve as Agile Leaders (sometimes called Tribe Leads).
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