The New Work of management in Agile Organizations
Sometimes I see teams that reject all direction and go their own way, declaring, 'We are self-organizing'. They are missing an important fact. When someone is paid by a company to be part of a team, that team exists within the organizational context.
On the other hand, some managers hear the words "self-organizing" and believe the team is on its "own" that they can go into semi-retirement. But that's not the case, either.
In fact,both are risky over-simplifications.
When teams self-organize there's still plenty for managers to do, but management attention must shift from individual to team performance, and creating an environment where teams can excel.
Software teams work in the work system and managers work on the work system. That means that a managers job is to engineer the organization so that teams can do their best work. In this session, I'll share ideas and practical techniques that will help managers make the shift from traditional management practices to those that will best support self-organizing agile teams.
About Esther Derby
Esther works with individuals, teams, and managers to improve their ability to deliver valuable software. Esther is recognized as a leader in the human-side of software development, including management, systems-thinking, organizational change, collaboration, team building, facilitation and retrospectives.
She’s been a programmer, system manager, manager and internal consultant. Since 1997, she’s run her own consulting firm, esther derby associates, inc., in Minneapolis, MN. Her clients include small niche firms, mid-size companies and Fortune 500 companies. She’s worked in financial services, insurance, health care and manufacturing as well as in product and software-as-a-service companies.
Esther is the author of over 100 articles, and co-author of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great and Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management. She’s written widely on the topic of management, leadership, collaboration and change as they relate to companies adopting (or considering) Agile Methods, including Three Pillars of Executive Support for Agile Adoption (Agile Journal), Achieving Agility: Means to an End or End in Itself? (insights), and What’s a Manager to Do? (Better Software Magazine).
Esther is a sought after teacher and speaker. She’s given talks and workshops in the US, Europe, China, India, and New Zealand.
She’s a founder of the AYE Conference, and is serving her second term as a member of the Board of Directors for the Agile Alliance. She also was one of the three original founders of the Scrum Alliance.
Esther has an MA in Organizational Leadership and a certificate in Human System Dynamics.
Esther can be reached at (612) 724-8114, or by email.
Take a look at www.estherderby.com for more of Esther’s writing, or follow her on Twitter @estherderby
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