Awesome People Management with Agile

As promised, here are my slides from my Agile on the Beach 2014 talk.

I also mentioned my Coaching & Mentoring talk which you can find here (including video kindly published by the Dare Mini folks).

Books Mentioned in This Talk

Subscribe to my Newsletter

Interested in geek management? Sign up here for occasional updates and bundles of interesting links: Geek Management tinyletter.

Stealing Management Lessons from Artificial Intelligence

Was delighted to speak at Thinking Digital 2014 in my adoptive UK hometown of Newcastle.

As promised here are my slides:

I also mentioned my Coaching & Mentoring talk which you can find here (including video kindly published by the Dare Mini folks).

Books Mentioned in This Talk

Subscribe to my Newsletter

Interested in geek management? Sign up here for occasional updates and bundles of interesting links: Geek Management tinyletter.

Creating Space for People to Be Awesome: Highland Fling Sessions

Today I was in Edinburgh speaking at Highland Fling: Sessions. It was a very enjoyable day, with a theme of “in the trenches”, i.e. how we get things done day-by-day.

My talk centred around people management and inclusion, on what people need to get & stay motivated in their work, and how to make our spaces more inclusive. The slides are embedded here or can be viewed directly on Slideshare.

Books Mentioned in This Talk

Subscribe to my Newsletter

Interested in geek management? Sign up here for occasional updates and bundles of interesting links: Geek Management tinyletter.

Practical Diversity – Expanded Edition

I was honoured to be asked to speak at two internal conferences recently — the first for GE Oil & Gas in Florence last week and the second in Amsterdam at Booking.com’s Annual Meeting. I gave an extended version of my OpenTech Practical Diversity talk, diving into more detail on the challenges and practical approaches that we can take to make our workplaces more inclusive.

Interested in my giving this talk or running a workshop or seminar on Practical Diversity for your company or event? Get in touch by emailing enquiries@chromerose.co.uk.

Studies in Terror: Becoming a People Manager

Today I spoke about people management (and how frankly terrifying it is) at the wonderful Dare Conf.

Here are my slides:

UPDATE(2): The nicely edited video is now up: Studies in Terror: Becoming a People Manager. You can also view many of the brilliant Dare Conf talks. They’ve been made freely available, but if you find them useful please donate so that Dare can return next year.

Books Mentioned in This Talk

My Upcoming Book

I’ve got a book coming out on this topic late 2013 / early 2014 — if you’re interested in hearing about it when it’s ready, please sign up here for updates about the book and occasional bundles of interesting links: Geek Management tinyletter.

People Management in an Agile Setting

This was first published on the Cabinet Office website.

After speaking at AgileTeaCamp, I thought I would share how people management has evolved in the GDS Delivery Team.

What you get for free with agile

Agile product teams are self-managing. With the users’ needs in mind, the product manager defines what needs to be done and the team itself decides how to achieve it. This is instantly a more motivating approach. You’re trusting people to design the best solution to meet the need, rather than handing down a ‘solved problem’ to be implemented. You’re also making the most of the smart, talented people you’ve worked so hard to find.

The approach we’ve taken at GDS is to create high-performing multi-disciplinary teams.  These teams consist of designers, developers, user researchers, content designers, technical architects, delivery managers, product managers and experts in customer insight, web operations and product analytics. These people all work together to build digital products and services. Managers are no longer expected to tell people what to do and how to do it.

So what do the people managers do and do we still need them?

How the role of ‘manager’ has evolved

The role of the manager now focuses on:

  • looking after people (what used to be called ‘pastoral care’)
  • matching people to challenging, engaging work (ie understanding what someone’s skills and interests are and then matching them to an appropriate team and opportunity)
  • personal development and training (discussing with folks whether they want to deepen their specialism or widen their skill set, and helping them plan how to make that happen)
  • career guidance (coaching, mentoring and helping people find out what the opportunities are)

Communities of practice

Most of our managers are specialists in their own right and they’re extraordinarily good at what they do. They act as head of the specialism and they line manage the specialists in their area. They arrange training and regular meet-ups, and they create opportunities for work to be shared across the different product teams.

At GDS, these communities are at various stages of maturity. One of the best examples is our design team. Ben Terrett, head of design, holds regular ‘design crits’ in which designers share their work and receive feedback from other designers. The design team visit relevant exhibitions and attend design-related events.

The advantage of this approach is that most people can learn from their line manager, who is a specialist in their field. People also have the opportunity to work with colleagues with different skills and viewpoints. This diverse mix generates excellent solutions to challenging problems.

The future

We will of course continue to evolve our approach. We’re eager to hear about other people’s experiences of agile and their views on how traditional people management is changing. What needs to be preserved and what is no longer necessary?