Agile Learning Labs

Our First Video Lecture!

OK, this isn't really from the Technical Management Institute, but I think it sets a high bar for computer-based learning.

Cheers,

Chris

IEEE Silicon Valley Technology Management Council - February Notes

At the February IEEE Silicon Valley Technology Management Council meeting the group did an exercise to generated practical suggestions for implementing four management ideals. The group broke up into 4 teams; each considered one management ideal, and then reported their suggestions for implementing the ideal back to the whole group. The whole exercise took 30 minutes and included networking as well as idea generation.

Here are my notes on the ideas that each team generated. Clarifications and additions are welcome!

Clear Communication
This team decided to focus the topic more tightly to: 'clear communication with a remote team.' Here are some of their suggestions.

Prefer written communication to verbal.
Write in a simple, understandable style.
Take the time to verify that that each side of a communication really understands the meaning.
Acknowledge each communication.
Take the time to learn about the cultural differences.
Have a master schedule.
Anything that increases visibility is good.
Make use of structured system for communication.
Make use of chaotic informal communication channels.
Establish shared vision and goals, and get the buy-in of all team members.
Use visual elements to enhance communication.

Appreciates the Service of Others
Be generous with rewards.
Verbally praise people when they do good work.
Take the person to lunch or dinner.
Provide ongoing feedback, both positive and negative.
Don't forget to appreciate the work of junior people.
In high-pressure situations, take the time to listen to people, and appreciate their input.

Know each team members strengths and weaknesses
Read the resume and personnel file of each person on your team.
Communicate regularly and take notes.
Focus on personal goals and aligning those with the team and company goals.
Ask them what their strengths and weaknesses are!
Assign them a variety of tasks, requiring different skills, and note the results.
Study how volunteer organizations work, as many are excellent at making the best use of the strengths of their volunteers.
Do a group exercise to discuss the strengths and weakness of the team.
Do a review after each milestone.
Decide if it is better to strengthen weaknesses or play to strengths.
Don't forget to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole.

Be a team builder
Be sure to acknowledge the work of people on the team.
Give people clear objectives.
Listen first.
Choose projects that will be successful.
Provide realistic and well-defined goals.
Talk things through calmly when there are conflicts.
Promote open communication.
Be the best leader that you can be!
Allow all to explore their ideas.
Support each other; keep your commitments to each other.
Verify assumptions.
Allow for creativity.

Dear XP

I'm very enthusiastic about agile software development. I have a special place in my heart for eXtreme Programming (XP), which was where I started with agile. That said, I don't have anything on these guys.

The XP video reminded me of this B of A video from a while back. The difference is that XP folks seem to be having a really good time, and the B of A folks... well, I'll just say that I know which party I want to be invited to.

IEEE Offshore Panel Discussion

Today's engineering managers need to be able to manage projects where some, or even all, of the engineers are located offshore. While the situation is becoming more common, the challenges and opportunities are still not widely understood. On the evening of March 6, the Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council is bringing together 4 panelists, with diverse backgrounds and experience, to answer your questions about managing with offshore engineers.

Richard Danielson is Founder and President of PlanV Software. He has been a consumer and a provider of outsourced software development services since the mid-80s, working with offshore engineers from India, Russia, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam. One of Rich's projects was helping Honeywell set up their Bangalore development center. In early 2007 Rich founded PlanV Software which provides Vietnam-based web and mobile device application development services to small and young companies.

Rakesh Gowda is the Director of Software Development at QuinStreet, a provider of online marketing and media services for nearly 600 clients, headquartered in Foster City. In 2005, Rakesh traveled back to his home country of India to set up QuinStreet's development center in Pune, outside of Mumbai. He is pleased to report that the Pune team no longer requires his direct supervision for day-to-day operations. Rakesh holds a MS in Computer Science from Stanford and BE from the University of Mysore in India.

Accelerance CEO Steve Mezak has more than 25 years of software development experience and is a veteran of six Silicon Valley startups. He has served in a variety of management and technical roles, including CTO and CEO. Steve is also an internationally acclaimed speaker and author. His most recent book is Software Without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development. Steve holds a BS Degree in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he now serves as an advisor to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Dmytry Mykhaylov is a software engineer and project manager who has been working on geographically distributed projects for over 6 years. As a project manager he specializes in helping small to mid-sized projects in the Bay Area effectively incorporate offshore engineering talent. Dmytry firmly believes that an agile approach to project organization on all sides of a distributed team is key to a project's success and profitability.

Chris Sims, founder of the Technical Management Institute, will moderated the panel.

Full details and registration can be found here.

IEEE Group Answers: "What makes an engineering manager great?"

Last night the San Francisco / Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council met to examine the question: "What makes an engineering manager great?" Nearly 30 people participated. Over 40 good ideas were presented and considered. In the end the group ranked the following skills, attributes, and behaviors most important.

It is interesting to compare these results with those that two other groups generated here. Also interesting is how similar these results are to those generated by a group considering the most important things a technical manager can do to retain key contributors, which can be found here. While there are common themes that run through each group's responses, the results are far from identical. This makes sense to me. Each group is unique, and has different values and needs. There is no 'One True Way' to be a great manager. Certainly there are core skills and knowledge, but to rise to the level of greatness requires really understanding the group to be led, and giving them what they need.

Tier One
Integrity
Enthusiastic & inspiring
Praise & reward
Listen well
Ask questions rather than give orders
Clear communication
Have a vision
Interpersonal skills
Respect staff input

Tier Two
Appreciates the service of others
Team builder
Honesty
Build consensus
Know each staff member's strengths and weaknesses

Tier Three
Recognize individuals, share blame
Big picture knowledge
Focus on fixing, not on blame
Ability to prioritize
Engender ownership
Clear goals

To learn more about the San Francisco / Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council click here.

IEEE Presents: What Makes Engineering Managers Succeed?

Have you worked for a great manager? What were the qualities that made him or her stand out from the rest? Share your experience and tap into the collective wisdom that will be present. We will uncover the most important qualities and skills for a technical manager to posses.

Tonight (Wednesday, January 30), I will be facilitating this workshop for the IEEE San Francisco / Silicon Valley Technology Management Council. The event is open to the public, and will be held at the Ramada Silicon Valley. Details here.

IEEE Engineering Management Society Event

I'll be leading a workshop called "What Makes Engineering Managers Succeed?" at the next IEEE Silicon Valley Engineering Management Society event. It's open to the public, and a real bargain. For the cost of dinner, you get a facilitated networking session, dinner, and my workshop.

When:
Wednesday, January 30th, 6:30 PM.

Where:
Ramada Inn
1217 Wildwood Ave, Sunnyvale CA 94089

All the details are here.

Engineering Managers Support Group - Tonight

The October 2007 Engineering Managers Support Group meeting is just a few hours away!

Where:
Round Table Pizza (event room)
61 43rd Ave
San Mateo, CA

Schedule:
7:00 PM Socializing and free pizza
7:30 PM Getting a New Hire Up and Running

You have found an ideal candidate; made them an offer, and they start in two weeks. Now what? I will share an approach that has worked for me, and some lessons learned as well. Please bring your experiences to share, and together we will unearth best practices for integrating new hires into the team.

After that, we will have a facilitated discussion where participants can share challenges that they are facing and get feedback, ideas, and support from the group. The event is free and so it the pizza! Come out, join the discussion, and become a better manager.

Joel On Software Stuff

I just read this rambling interview with Joel Spolsky, over at ACM Queue.

He mentions the early days of Joel on Software, even before he started Fog Creek Software. Back then he had a bit more time for writing, and created some essays that I still consider required reading. Examples include:

• Command and Conquer Management
• The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing
• Painless Software Schedules
• Things You Should Never Do, Part 1
• Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don't Have Testers

Wait a minute! I’m basically giving you the links from his archive, starting at the bottom and working up! You can do that for yourself. Go to the archive, and start at the bottom. The old stuff is generally good and generally still relevant. I do have a personal soft spot for this one, if only because I was there for the birth. Joel shared the idea with me on May 30th, over lunch in New York City.

In the Queue article, he mentions evidence-based scheduling. The idea is very interesting and I’m going to make a point of picking his brain about it when he’s here. Oh yeah, Joel is coming to town in October. He has 4 demos scheduled in the San Francisco Bay area. They are free, but space is filling up quickly. Register here.

SDForum SEM Sig

I spent the evening at the SDForum Software Engineering Management Special Interest Group (SEM Sig) meeting. The room was filled with engineering managers of almost every type and experience level. The presenter tonight was Narinder Sandhu, who worked at HP and Intuit before founding T-Rex Global. He managed to get everyone in the room to do a basic skills-assessment and career action plan, as part of his presentation comparing large companies to small startups.

After the formal presentation, the informal discussions were amazing. I talked with people about things as diverse as: finance, feedback, agile development, a mathematical model for organizational structures, and C vs. Lisp vs. Verilog! Oh yes, I’ll be back.