Hi guys, I know there are one billion books on management but do you
have some tips on books related to management models and/or efficient
teamwork/team leadership?

Regards

Emil


--- In leandevelopment@yahoogroups.com, Chakravarthy R
<chakravarthy.rajagopalan@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Robin, Mary , George for your replies.
>
> Regards,
> Chak.
>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 10:57 PM, Mary Poppendieck mary@...wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hi Chak,
> >
> >
> >
> > Since you are in India, I would not expect that an American model of
> > self-organized teams would be the only model of leadership that you
might
> > consider. Here are some additional successful models (and these are
not the
> > only ones):
> >
> >
> >
> > 1) The open source model. In this model, the kernel of capability is
> > tightly controlled and managed by a core – often self-managed
– group. In
> > this model, the main role of management is to figure out how to
create an
> > environment in which people are motivated to contribute to the
commons. The
> > best managers are the ones who know how to organize volunteer
efforts.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2) The military model. In this model, small units have appointed
> > leaders who know that "you can't manage men into battle, you
have to lead
> > them". Good small unit leaders are deeply committed to the
people in the
> > unit, to keeping them safe, to sharing the purpose of the mission,
etc. The
> > senior leaders communicate "command intend" and the small
unit leaders –
> > often in consultation with the members of the unit– make local
decisions to
> > achieve the command intent.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3) The reciprocity model. In this model, people contribute their
> > best efforts to the company because they feel the company will take
care of
> > them over time and help them reach their personal goals. When this
model is
> > operative, people respond to a line manager who works to develop the
full
> > potential of every employee. Not a good model for India, because
this model
> > is based on long term, reciprocating relationships.
> >
> >
> >
> > In every case, good leadership means figuring out what motivates
front-line
> > people to contribute their best efforts, and aligning those efforts
(and
> > associated motivation) with the short and long term good of the
larger
> > organization or community. This is not always going to mean
self-organizing
> > teams, which are mainly a reaction to bad management practices
(practices
> > which do not respect the workers).
> >
> >
> >
> > Mary Poppendieck
> >
> > 952-934-7998
> >
> > www.poppendieck.com
> >
> > Author of: Lean Software Development & Implementing Lean Software
> > Development
> >
> >
> >
> > *From:* leandevelopment@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
> > leandevelopment@yahoogroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Robin Dymond
> > *Sent:* Friday, July 03, 2009 11:45 AM
> > *To:* leandevelopment@yahoogroups.com
> > *Subject:* Management value proposition was Re: [leandevelopment]
Re: FW:
> > Sailing a Straight Course in a Time of Variances
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Chak,
> >
> > These are great questions. George has pointed you to some great
resources
> > from Esther Derby on self organizing teams, Esther is an authority
in this
> > space so I recommend you start there.
> >
> > Let's talk about the manager value proposition for a moment.
> >
> > Jack Welch, CEO of GE would regularly assign Vice Presidents to
various
> > plants and facilities to make improvements. He was very clear about
one
> > thing with all of them - make yourself redundant. If you are still
doing the
> > same job in two years I will fire you. He saw management's role as
system's
> > thinkers who could go in, analyze the system, find the urgent things
that
> > needed fixing and work within the organization to fix them. This
philosophy
> > fed the growth of Six Sigma in GE, because it gave a toolset that
could be
> > used across plants/products/markets by managers to analyze a
manufacturing
> > system, find issues and make improvements.
> >
> > I view a manager's most effective role as someone who is continually
> > looking for opportunities to improve the system in which people work
so that
> > it is more effective for the manager, their co-workers, and the
customer.
> > Just as the teams should continually learn about the tools and
business
> > domain to deliver a quality product, an effective manager will also
be
> > reaching for ideas/tools that make them more effective in improving
the
> > system. In this again we see GE's leadership. GE setup GE University
with
> > tough courses that challenged managers with new ideas (like Six
Sigma). They
> > were expected to apply these ideas in their organizations. Most of
us aren't
> > lucky enough to have a corporate learning agenda, so it is up to us
to find
> > our own ways to learn and apply that knowledge.
> >
> > *In the past 17 years, GE has increased its market value from $12
billion
> > to some $280 billion. For all that time of stupendous enrichment,
the
> > management training centre at Croton-on-Hudson (known as
Crotonville) has
> > been central to the company's vaunted management system. The
three-week
> > development course for high-fliers is so important in GE's scheme of
things
> > that CEO Jack Welch (who is even more vaunted than the system) goes
to
> > Crotonville every month to teach its 700-odd students.*
> >
> > http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/management-training.php
> >
> >
> > When we watch the Olympics or a master artist perform on stage it is
> > amazing to see what they have accomplished. Athletes often put their
lives
> > and careers on hold to perfect that one skill, usually with little
reward
> > other than the satisfaction of the process of training and
improving. Even
> > if they set a world record, how long will it stand before someone
else
> > breaks it?
> >
> > What is the perfect company? Can we make one? Think of all the
moving parts
> > required to deliver a non-trivial software product to market. What
would the
> > perfect company look like to its customers, its employees,
shareholders? If
> > we take the customer as the first stakeholder, then I am sure they
would
> > have opinions on what the perfect company would be. Applying Lean
thinking
> > to the process from a customer request to request fulfilled gives us
a long
> > list of work we need to do to become better at what we do. Asking
the same
> > question of the people who work there will also provide a long list
of
> > things we can improve. These are not trivial things on the surface,
but core
> > issues that impact the activity of work. Consider the athlete. If
you
> > thought of yourself as a coach, and everyone who reported to you as
athletes
> > looking to experience the satisfaction of the process of training
and
> > improving, how would that change your perspective? How would it
change
> > theirs? How do we measure our improvement?
> >
> > The specific steps you take to become a great manager are the same
things
> > one would do to be good at anything, learn, practice, reflect on the
> > improvements, what is working, what isn't, repeat. Lean, Scrum, XP,
are all
> > inspirational sources of learning about what works. None of these
methods
> > are comprehensive, so the learning never really stops. :) I just
took Luke
> > Hohmann's course on Innovation Games. Luke has built some very
useful tools
> > for collaboration on product vision and process. These are
complementary to
> > Agile ideas, teamwork collaboration. However they are not specific
to Agile,
> > for example they are regularly used by a company that manufactures
> > airconditioning (HVAC) systems.
> >
> > cheers,
> > Robin.
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 10:44 AM, George Dinwiddie lists@...
> > wrote:
> >
> > Chakravarthy R wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi Robin,
> > >
> > > As a newbie to this entire philosophy, i still dont get one thing.
How
> > > exactly does an Agile Manager train his team to be self managing ?
> >
> > One way is http://estherderby.com/workshops/secrets.htm
> >
> >
> > > How
> > > does he know this self managing team is in line with the quality
> > > standards and other objectives of the company ?
> >
> > Can you not see the quality being produced? And what other
objectives
> > do you mean? Are these not observable?
> >
> >
> > > How exactly does an
> > > Agile manager strike a balance between a 'free for all' delegation
on
> > > the one hand, and command and control autocracy on the other ? If
he
> > > delegates to these self managing teams then what exactly does he
do with
> > > his time, and justify his presence in the company ? If he only
coaches
> > > these teams, then what does he do after they have been coached and
ready
> > > to carry on ?
> >
> > There's still management to do other than telling other people how
to do
> > their work. Esther Derby's blog has a bunch of stuff on this.
> >
> >
> > > I had asked the same question in a different way and got a lot of
> > > specific steps, but even if this question is naive, could you
please
> > > point me to some resources on how to be hands off and yet be hands
on ?
> > > Okay so the manager can build an atmosphere of agile and lean . He
sees
> > > the big picture and teaches his people to do so. . However the
bottom
> > > line is that if this team fails, he is accountable to his seniors.
So he
> > > needs to keep an eye without being intrusive. How does he do it ?
> >
> > Maybe
> >
> >
http://www.estherderby.com/weblog/2009/06/when-to-stand-back-when-to-ste\
p-in.html
> > will be of help.
> >
> > - George
> > --
> >
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > * George Dinwiddie * http://blog.gdinwiddie.com
> > Software Development http://www.idiacomputing.com
> > Consultant and Coach http://www.agilemaryland.org
> >
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Robin Dymond, CST
> > Managing Partner, Innovel, LLC.
> > www.innovel.net
> > www.scrumtraining.com
> > (804) 239-4329
> >
> >
> >
>