- Brian Boyer
A lot of managers see themselves at the center of the team’s universe — the linchpin, making the decisions every day. And that’s a great way to burn out, stifle the growth of your teammates and totally avoid thinking about the important stuff, like the future. So, forget that! Let’s talk about the tools and techniques you can use to make yourself non-essential. (This session is also good for non-managers who have bosses that are making poor choices.)
I don't want to be the single source of truth. I want to be able to go on vacation.
We're not interchangeable but we need to be able to take a break.
Having the opportunity to think about higher-level stuff. You can spend time planning.
An exercise in self-control. Easiest to be the person who tells everybody else what to do.
Roles, goals and rules.
We have rules so we don't have to argue.
Daily scrum. Room: 5-30 minutes. Try keeping it to 5 minutes or less. Team of 50 can do it in less than 10.
Set parameters for what you talk about: Yesterday, today, blockers and that's it. Be prepared for it.
Slack channels can work. Sometimes followup is an issue.
How much detail? Depends on context. Maybe have two if you've got a regular meeting and a significant project.
If you have rules, you can call it out when someone is violating them. If you don't you just look like a jerk.
Iteration review — weekly review. Like a scrum but with outside parties.
Secrecy and investigations. Codenames. Multiple meetings.
"I don't know what my job is."
Without a set of clearly defined roles, people step on each others' toes, ask why they weren't consulted. "You're allowed to have an opinion? I thought I was the boss of this." Job descriptions.
Job descriptions might describe your job but they don't describe how people interact with each other.
Responsibility matrix (RASCI). Across the top are people's names. Jobs down the side. What that person's responsibility is for that job at intersection.
Responsible for != boss.
A for Accountable. S for Support. C for Consulted. I for Informed.
Relationships among your team but also between other teams.
If you're not in agreement about who has a say about what, you've got problems.
Create a sense of co-responsibility. Teams should feel responsible to each other. No one's too important to do QA.
Don't want to be teams of divas.
People feel like process is extra. Stylebook metaphor might be helpful. How do you create rules where life is easier when you have them. e.g. Checklists. Implemented process and gotten buy-in because they can explain why the process is there. Get people on the same page about the problem first. Transparency and visualizations.
Strategies for getting other managers on board for making room for these new processes. Luck with being very visible about it. Keep it short and keep it planned. Don't waste people's time. Be open about whys and whats. Treating process with a design eye. Keep a cadence. "Scrum Lunch Coffee".
After a project or for a defined period of time. Catalogue everything.
- What went well.
- What didn't work. What was hard.
- What should we do differently next time?
Write down on post-its for defined period (5 minutes).
Come back to it later, pick a few of #3, talk about how you'd deal with it. That's what makes it actionable.
How do you do it when you're distributed? Chat with a designated post-it writer. Mural app.
"Yes, and" rule.
Pair praise and ask. Play to ego.
"What are we trying to do as a group?" "What are we trying to do as a company?"
OKRs: Objectives and Key Results. Objective: Let's build the best photo website for Chicago. Key Results: What is evidence that we did that? (views, revenue, etc. needs to be measurable)
Look at the key results every week. What is our confidence we're going to hit it?
Send it to other teams so they know what they're doing.
Book: "Radical Focus"
Give them a project and ask them how they would've solved that problem.
How do you know if you're good at managing? One on one conversations with your reports. Regularly and predictably. Find someone else on the same level to talk to.
"Decided I was jazzed about catalyzing work instead of doing it." Service leadership. Do the work and help people do their jobs well.
"Delegate everything that's fun."
"Give the credit but take the blame."
Bringing it to newsrooms?
Breaking news checklist. Have to trust each other is doing their job. And that they know what their job is.
Covert operation.
Brown bags/show and tell.
We hold our dysfunction close. The news is not different. It just doesn't value good management.
Brian is the vice president of product and people at Spirited Media. Previously, he was the visuals editor at NPR, founded the news applications team at the Chicago Tribune, and was a happy intern at ProPublica. He was one of the first programmers to receive a Knight-funded scholarship to study journalism at Northwestern University. @brianboyer
Description and speakers from official schedule