Does Lean Software Developement Motivate?
Here is an excerpt from an interesting blog I read on Lean Software development.
Empower the team
There has been a traditional belief in most businesses about the decision-making in the organisation – the managers tell the workers how to do their own job. In a Work-Out technique, the roles are turned – the managers are taught how to listen to the developers, so they can explain better what actions might be taken, as well as provide suggestions for improvements. Most experienced project managers have simply stated the key for a successful project – “Find good people and let them do their own job.”
Another mistaken belief has been the consideration of people as resources. People might be resources from the point of view of a statistical data sheet, but in software development, as well as any organisational business, people do need something more than just the list of tasks and the assurance that they will not be disturbed during the completion of the tasks. People need motivation and a higher purpose to work for – purpose within the reachable reality, with the assurance that the team might choose its own commitments. The developers should be given access to Customer; the team leader should provide support and help in difficult situations, as well as make sure that skepticism does not ruin the team’s spirit.
Empower the team
There has been a traditional belief in most businesses about the decision-making in the organisation – the managers tell the workers how to do their own job. In a Work-Out technique, the roles are turned – the managers are taught how to listen to the developers, so they can explain better what actions might be taken, as well as provide suggestions for improvements. Most experienced project managers have simply stated the key for a successful project – “Find good people and let them do their own job.”
Another mistaken belief has been the consideration of people as resources. People might be resources from the point of view of a statistical data sheet, but in software development, as well as any organisational business, people do need something more than just the list of tasks and the assurance that they will not be disturbed during the completion of the tasks. People need motivation and a higher purpose to work for – purpose within the reachable reality, with the assurance that the team might choose its own commitments. The developers should be given access to Customer; the team leader should provide support and help in difficult situations, as well as make sure that skepticism does not ruin the team’s spirit.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by M. Edward (Ed) Borasky on -
I'm signed in on the new site, but it didn't seem very active. Are you going to be able to move the discussions from here, or do we need to start over?
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Jenkins on -
I haven't officially announced it yet so nobody really knows about it. We are still ironing out some kinks and polishing things over there. I just wanted to give you heads up. Unfortunately, we need to start over ... but the vastly superior functionality is well worth it. Cheers, Kevin
-
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Starr on
-
Yep!
Agile is all about empowerment in my opinion. If you empower people in the software industry, you get up to 10x productivity gains. And because it's a natural process, it makes writing software more fun.
BTW, Agile as an empowerment tool works really well in other settings as well... Not just software dev.
My $0.02.
-
Permalink Reply by Ray Cassick on -
While from an 'HR' perspective, and a people management perspective, I tend to agree on the statement that "..people do need something more than just the list of tasks and the assurance that they will not be disturbed during the completion of the tasks." but when I put my PM hat on, and get right down to it, people ARE resources, and I think there is some real value in addressing them that way - to a point.
A resource has:
- A name.
- A listing of existing time allocations.
- A defined set of available skills at various levels of knowledge.
- A finite number of available hours it can be used.
In order to properly work with people these are really all things you need to take into account.
I think that a good manager can (must) take this into account when dealing with people (resources) on any project.
It becomes even more important when dealing with:
- People that have allot of knowledge and can cross functional areas and\or a wide range of project types.
- People that are new and do not have a wide range of experience but want to learn and are eager to get involved.
Just my personal experiences flowing here...
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
About
© 2010 Created by Kevin Jenkins on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
