Enthusiasm

I was on TheSource and saw a picture of people taking the “Effective Communication and Leading Change” training on the slideshow images on the right.

Well of course as a fan of John Kotter’s work I was like “Oooh I wonder if they’re teaching his leading change methods”. So I did a search on the source and found the presentation in question. After skimming through it I decided to do a little comparison between this suggested leading change method and the full “Leading Change” method by John Kotter.

I briefly paged through it quickly and saw the DISC breakdown (which I had previously talked with Andrew about) and what seemed to be an abridged version of the “Leading Change” method by John Kotter. I think sometime soon I’ll go through the corporate official training to get some better understanding of the official corporate approach and how it differs from Kotter’s full change process methodology. On a high level though I think there are important pieces that are missing out of the corporate approach that seem key. Particularly, I noticed that the concept of establishing a sense of urgency was missing. Regardless, a little more exposure to things like DISC never hurts. Maybe it’ll help me communicate better and handle situations involving people who’s communication style don’t mess as well with mine.

One thing I do regularly is do what I call “reality checks” into how I do things. It’s one thing I do regularly with my group of people I lead online with my officers. Basically it’s a process of analyzing internal and get external feedback of my leadership and management style and what I can do to improve things. It helps me learn how I work and how best I can work with others. In fact the #1 word people have used to describe my thought process over and over (enough that I personally had to look it up on Wikipedia) is “Pragmatic”. In general this is probably a good explanation on how I work from a 3rd party.

From my perspective, you seem like a combination of a reasonably good natured leader with a sensible dose of ambition to complete objectives and a pragmatic overall view things. You’ve taken many shots from people and handled them gracefully. You’ve continued to soldier on, improving and progressing. I’ve enjoyed yourself depreciating style and openness. Your desire to improve your organization is commendable.

I was recently asked about DISC profiling and I thought it would be interesting to assess myself (based on this http://www.excitivatedeagles.com/newconsultants/DISCGENERIC.pdf).  I would say the majority of the time I am a D/C. Although not all attributes of D because I definitely try to keep what I feel are the “negative” sides of D in check. This is why I try to look at things with at least a C or I viewpoint as well, although I do have a bit of S in me as well. I don’t know I’ve never looked at myself with this particular angle before. It’s definitely an interesting exercise…

I guess I would lay it out more like this. MOSTLY D and C, but a bit of the traits of I and S:

Goals = Accuracy (C), results (D), and order (C)

Fears = Criticism of performance (C), lack of standards (C), losing control of his/her environment (D) and being taken advantage of (D)

Under pressure = Withdraws (C) and becomes impatient (D)

Decision style = Gut feeling (I), Analytical (C), but moves fast (D)

Weaknesses =Argumentative attitude* (D). Hold grudges** (S). Sensitive to criticism (S). Dislikes daily routine (D). Attempts too much at once (D).

Value to team = Bottom line organizer (D). Values time (D). Challenges status quo (D). Innovative (D). Creative problem solver (I), good sense of humor (I), motivates others (I), reliable and dependable (S), loyal to team (S), even-tempered (C), thorough (C). Gathers (C), criticizes (C) and tests info (C).

Loves = Processes (C), procedures (C), priorities (S), do it quick (D), do it big (D).

* I try not to be argumentative, but it’s the way I work as a pragmatic thinker. I many times will argue a point to challenge a point of view to learn more about it. Not because I’m being a stick in the mud and being argumentative for the sake of being augmentative, but because I’m playing devil’s advocate (mostly customer’s advocate) to understand WHY things are being done one way or a decision is being made one way or another. I’m never argumentative for the sake of being argumentative or apposing someone else’s authority. I also make it a point to respect other’s authority, sometimes too much.

** Oh yes, I hold grudges. Particularly grudges that pertain to lying or backstabbing. It’s a trait I have, recognize, and share openly.

Also on the side note of “negotiates conflict”, this is one weakness I recognize I have. Generally I like to “cut through the crap” and push aside drama, politics, and work with people in a fair, respectable, but direct approach. While I recognize this is my style I also recognize that the majority of the time this isn’t received well by all people. Particularly S’s who might be more sensitive to my criticisms. Again I’m not good at this and probably the #1 thing I need to work on as a manager / leader.

I’ve been slowly but surely reading the book “Implementing Lean Software Development”. I’m taking it nice and slow allowing for the information to sit and ferment in my brain for a while before drawing in more concepts.  The more I read this book, the more I love it’s approach and the way it presents the concepts, especially the core principles. So the more I learn about Lean principles, the more my brain is starting to draw comparisons between Lean, Agile, AUP, MSF, etc, etc, etc.

So let’s compare the 7 principles of Lean with AUP / Agile (not in any kind of comparable order).

AUP itself doesn’t really define many real “principles” other than deferring to the principles of Agility.

So it really makes more sense to compare the Agile Manifesto with the principles of Lean.

So as we talk about Lean, Agile, Agile Unified Process, TFS, Design Patterns, and Test-Driven development we have 6 things to communicate to our teams.

·         High Level – Agile / Lean which are comparable and supportive guiding principles.

·         Process – AUP / TFS which are a process and tools for driving and organizing those principles.

·         Implementation – Design patterns and Test-Driven development are the techniques for building in the principles into our software.

My big question I ask myself is… why AUP? Why not MSF Agile? At the end of the day, your overlying philosophy is still Agile / Lean. Your implementation of design patterns and test-driven development stay the same. The difference is the terminology that support AUP vs the terminology that exists within MSF. You’re still using TFS which is driving the actual process… so really it’s all about terminology and which/what level of documentation is made. AUP is very philosophical and non-specific in the documentation. MSF for Agile is more suggestive in the proper process and what documents you should and should not be maintaining. So what’s so “broken” about MSF that we’ve decided to move to AUP? Do people want to I’m just trying to wrap my head around the business decision to move to AUP.

Frankly one thing that I feel that is missing from AUP that is clearly stated in MSF process are things like Establish Clear Accountability. Maybe that’s the big difference is that MSF focuses maybe too much on clear specific roles and accountability while AUP focuses more around non-specific roles and flexible responsibilities? Again, I’m just trying to understand the specific reasons so I know what philosophies or practices are “bad” in MSF, which are fixed by some other overlying philosophy or practice in AUP.

Suffice to say with moving, new role at work, and the exciting launch of Warhammer Online, I’ve been very busy. Add two trips to California into the mix and make that VERY TIRED and VERY BUSY. On top of all that, my brother just had his daughter (see Ray’s website on my links list) Rachael Elizabeth Laurence on September 13th at around noon. Very happy things went smoothly and both of the proud parents are doing fine.

In regards to work, I have my Senior Software Engineer (Charles McAuley) hired and recently I’ve been interviewing perspective candidates for Technical Support and my other Software Engineer. Interestingly enough at least 2 people (that I know of) have looked up this website and other websites I’m sure of mine and done research about me prior to the interview. I of course have nothing to hide and am open person, it’s just not something I’m used to (although I should be almost expecting it these days). I think I’ve made my decision at this point about who I want to hire for support, but I’m still working out the details with Tony and corporate (paper work).

In regards to entertainment, Warhammer has been going very well. The guild is up to around 40 members again (plus around 10 alts). The game is great and it’s really awesome to be close to all my good friends again. As always trying manage a guild of 50+ people is challenging, but also rewarding and the members appreciate how I manage things.

In regards to home life and Kerrie… well things couldn’t be better. We’re *mostly* unpacked and have caught up a little bit on the garden. Me being out of town for two weeks in the last month hasn’t helped with the house progress, but even still things have been progressing nicely. We’re enjoying the new house and really settling in well with our lives together finally.

Those are the top events in the last month or so. Will hope to start getting back into the groove of blogging again for those who keep up with my goings on. Life has been busy and I hope all my readers out there have been doing well.