It's tempting to micro-manage anything not producing what we want.
Sometimes it's appropriate. For example, if we're trying to maximize the power of a race car, there can't be anything about the car which isn't highly measured/controlled. Cars have to be micro-managed because they perfectly do what they're told. In other words, all our mistakes are its.
On the other hand, people function best when they understand (and are accountable for) a goal and have the freedom to find the best method. It's better to micro-measure business value (which stakeholders define through acceptance criteria) than story points and velocity.
Scrum is about ensuring people have a common understanding at critical points in time:
(1) Release Planning - Does the team understand what it needs to solve over time?
(2) Sprint Planning - Does the team understand what it needs to solve in the short term?
(3) Story Tasking - Does the team agree on the best software design to deliver the solution?
(4) Daily Stand-up- Does the team understand what others are working on today?
(5) Sprint Demo - Will the solutions delivered by the team solve the problems of the product owner?
If the team isn't delivering solutions which remove business problems (determined in step 5), the scrum master and team members should identify the root cause why it's not working. Product owners should hold teams and scrum masters accountable which means failure is shared and not transparent (micro-managed) down to the individual team member.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Sorting a list of email recipients
I like using scripting to make aspects of business work easier. Here's an example that is useful to anyone sending emails to groups of 15 or more and wanting the recipient lists alphabetized.
What problem am I solving?
When sending emails, I prefer the recipient's names alphabetized. This can be done manually pretty quickly, but for distributions over 10 it's easier to use a simple PowerShell script.
What's PowerShell?
If you're not familiar, PowerShell is Microsoft's scripting language to replace batch files and VBScript. It has all the power of .Net (if you ever need it), but for my purposes it provides a language for accomplishing minor items like the one below.
Is this more trouble than it's worth?
What do I do?
"b_person@email.com; z_person@email.com; a_person@email.com;" | sort_string.ps1
From the PowerShell command line, I copy/paste the contents of an email's "To:" (need to enclose in quotes so PowerShell treats it like a string) onto the PowerShell command line and pipe the results to sort_string.ps1. The sorted emails are sent back clipboard ready for the email.
How does it work?
1. The script can accept two parameters: the list of email addresses and a delimiter.
param(
[String]$sort_string = "",
[string]$delimiter = ";"
)
2. It creates an array of emails, trims spaces, sorts them alphabetically, and sends the emails to the clipboard - ready to be pasted back into the email's "To:".
What's the whole script look like?
~~~~~~
sort_string.ps1
param(
[Parameter(
Position = 0,
ValueFromPipeline=$true,
ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyNam
]
[String]$sort_string = "needs_sorting.txt",
[string]$delimiter = ";"
)
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Sort a delimited string
#>
$sort_string.Split($delimiter) | %{$_.Trim(" ")} | sort | clip
What problem am I solving?
When sending emails, I prefer the recipient's names alphabetized. This can be done manually pretty quickly, but for distributions over 10 it's easier to use a simple PowerShell script.
What's PowerShell?
If you're not familiar, PowerShell is Microsoft's scripting language to replace batch files and VBScript. It has all the power of .Net (if you ever need it), but for my purposes it provides a language for accomplishing minor items like the one below.
Is this more trouble than it's worth?
It might be for you if scripting is foreign. However, this is low effort and high reward since I especially prefer names in large lists sorted.
What do I do?
"b_person@email.com; z_person@email.com; a_person@email.com;" | sort_string.ps1
From the PowerShell command line, I copy/paste the contents of an email's "To:" (need to enclose in quotes so PowerShell treats it like a string) onto the PowerShell command line and pipe the results to sort_string.ps1. The sorted emails are sent back clipboard ready for the email.
How does it work?
1. The script can accept two parameters: the list of email addresses and a delimiter.
param(
[String]$sort_string = "",
[string]$delimiter = ";"
)
2. It creates an array of emails, trims spaces, sorts them alphabetically, and sends the emails to the clipboard - ready to be pasted back into the email's "To:".
$sort_string.Split($delimiter) | %{$_.Trim(" ")} | sort | clip
What's the whole script look like?
~~~~~~
sort_string.ps1
param(
[Parameter(
Position = 0,
ValueFromPipeline=$true,
ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyNam
]
[String]$sort_string = "needs_sorting.txt",
[string]$delimiter = ";"
)
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Sort a delimited string
#>
$sort_string.Split($delimiter) | %{$_.Trim(" ")} | sort | clip
Monday, October 28, 2013
Leaders should orbit but land
Leaders who trust their teams give them enough space to grow and make decisions - orbiting leaders. They know what's going on down below on the planet, but they're not micro-managing every little thing.
First class leaders are able to stop their orbit during a crisis and assist in sorting out all the details to get them through the problem. Once the crisis is solved they return to orbiting - trusting the team.
It's easy to orbit but never land (detached / out of touch). It's also easy to be on the ground and never orbit (micro-management). The best leaders can do both and (more importantly) know when the time is right for each.
First class leaders are able to stop their orbit during a crisis and assist in sorting out all the details to get them through the problem. Once the crisis is solved they return to orbiting - trusting the team.
It's easy to orbit but never land (detached / out of touch). It's also easy to be on the ground and never orbit (micro-management). The best leaders can do both and (more importantly) know when the time is right for each.
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