Scott’s begun posting op-eds on Gama - and today’s excursion is pretty good! Ladies, look past the laddishness and man-crushing to find some really solid wisdom about managing people and teams. Snippet:
The 12 Laws of Wiener
1. Be Part of the Solution, Never a Part of the Problem. Quite simply, it’s much easier to be critical than it is to be correct. If you can’t to help solve problems, then leave so quickly that there is nothing left but a you-shaped hole in the wall.
2. First, Do No Harm. You have to treat each decision as if you are a physician: First, do no harm. Make sure that while you’re being part of the solution, you’re not causing other problems as a side-effect.
3. It’s the People, not the Products. Intellectual Property and hard assets are nice, but talent is the most valuable part of your organization - and talent should be treated as such. Ten smart people in an empty room can do more and better than a hundred dumb people charged with the care of a great product.
4. Align Utilities To get the best from people (and, to wit, the best from other organizations), their utilities must be aligned with your own. Create win/win situations and you will win, win, win some more.
5. There are No Laurels What you did yesterday doesn’t entitle you to bad office coffee: It’s what you are doing tomorrow that makes all difference to the team.
6. Execution, Execution, Execution The road to hell is paved with pretty PowerPoint slides. You have to be honest in your ability to execute on a strategy, and then you have to execute on that strategy and then execute some more.
7. Remove Obstacles A manager is there to remove obstacles to execution: Let other people run with the ball while you block for them.
8. You’ll Have to get Blood on Your Hands. If an obstacle to organizational execution is a member of the organization, you’re going to have to get blood on your hands - you’re going to have to remove or reposition that person, even if doing so causes immediate pain.
9. One-on-One Gets it Done. The best way to make a decision is to poll individuals in one-on-one conversations - where individuals are more likely to give you the straight beef. Speak to as many people as is possible, synthesize, and react.
10. Do the Due. Preparation, preparation, preparation - do your due diligence. Know what you’re talking about: If you’ve been asked for a meeting concerning a topic about which you know nothing, it’s time to hit the books like the books owe you money.
11. C.Y.A. Saves the Day. Always cover your ass - know who your attackers will be and what weapons they will use against you. Have your shields ready. My favorite corollary to this is the evidentiary hearing: Never make one complaint. If you are going to complain about something, be ready to lay down a stack of evidence supporting your concerns.
12. Mea Culpa. The three sweetest words in the English language are not, “I love you,” but, “it’s my fault.” If you’ve screwed things up, you have to bite the bullet, bite it in half.
Beyond the basic “how to’s of management” there is an interesting segment on publishers using
Scrum-like processes to manage internal process for external projects.
Scrum is lauded and applauded for its management of complexity in workflow, its leveraging of the Surowieckian Wisdom of Crowds to result in better decision making. But where the hammer really meets the nail is that Scrum does a lot to trivialize the flawed monkey in all of us.
Well, what’s good for the developer is also good for the publisher. How many times have you heard of a project put at risk because, “Our publisher wanted us to switch to an engine that didn’t suit our purposes mid-project.” Or, “Our publisher insisted that we stop everything to add a certain feature.” The stories are litany. And in the end of the stories, it’s usually the developer and/or the consumer who have suffered the most, which is probably why publishing organizations look today a lot like they looked yesterday: No pain, no change.
Also litany are the incessant comparisons of “business,” to “warfare.” General George S. Patton knew a lot about warfare, was considered one of the greatest battlefield commanders in history. In the movies, General Patton can be seen rallying his men, “When you stick your hand into a pile of goo that used to be your best friend’s face, you’ll know what to do!”
The movies have done the world a disservice: General Patton’s greatest quote is, “Don’t tell people how to do something: Tell them what you want and let them surprise you.”
I’m by no means suggesting that we crash Amazon.com with the world’s largest order for books about Scrum, but wouldn’t it be great if more organizations ran by not telling how but by telling what? Wouldn’t we achieve more great things more often if organizations observed the military doctrine of Commander’s Intent?
Scrum-like reporting has become a very strong element in my own personal production toolbox. In fact - the Commander’s Intent statement was written in huge letters on the white board above my desk for the entire course of BBBP. And it does seem like something that could transform higher level management.
Someone should figure this out on a production-managment team and publish a few articles on it. That would be very benificial to the industry.
*cough* Lulu *cough*
