Ego Management – Challenges to manage Project Deliverables and Goals / Objectives

Ego, as defined in psychological terms, represents an individual’s sense of self-importance and self-worth. In project management, ego manifests as a personal need for recognition, power, and control. While a certain level of self-confidence is essential for effective leadership, an unchecked ego can lead to conflicts, communication breakdowns, and hinder project progress.

While having a healthy level of confidence and self-assuredness is generally beneficial, an excessively inflated ego can be challenging to handle and can have a significant impact on our work life.

In the realm of project management, achieving success requires more than just technical expertise and organizational skills. The human factor plays a pivotal role, and one aspect that can significantly impact project outcomes is ego management. Ego, often associated with self-importance and pride, can become a stumbling block or a catalyst for collaboration and success in project management. Today in this blog / article, we shall explore the concept of ego management and its critical role in project management, highlighting strategies to nurture collaboration and enhance project outcomes.

The Role of Ego Management in Project Success: Effective ego management fosters an environment where individuals can collaborate, share ideas, and work together towards a common goal. By minimizing egotistical behaviors, project managers can create a culture of trust, open communication, and innovation. Ego management is particularly crucial in project teams that comprise diverse individuals with unique perspectives, experiences, and expertise. When ego is managed effectively, it paves the way for improved decision-making, conflict resolution, and overall project success.

Based on past experiences of managing and participating projects, I have observed others, my bosses, leadership, Project managers on how they managed Ego to ensure their project success … I am listing based on my bets memory recall a few of those approaches:

Strategies for Ego Management in Project Management

1. Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and expectations helps minimize power struggles and conflicts arising from ego-related issues. When everyone understands their contributions and how they fit into the project’s overall objectives, it reduces the chances of ego-driven conflicts.

2. Foster a Positive Team Culture: Encouraging a positive team culture characterized by trust, mutual respect, and recognition of achievements helps diminish ego-related challenges. Recognize and appreciate individual contributions while reinforcing the importance of teamwork.

3. Implement Conflict Resolution Mechanisms: Despite efforts to manage egos, conflicts may arise. Implementing effective conflict resolution mechanisms, such as mediation or facilitated discussions, can address, and resolve conflicts before they escalate and impact project progress. In one of my earlier engagement, the Scrum Master implemented the concept of Team Agreement and Conflict resolution approach, She split the team into two and then asked the team to develop Team agreement (with one group) and Conflict resolution (with the other), Once it was done, then the teams were exchanged and asked to review and suggest chances to the data as written by the other team and finally come to an agreement – which then became the BIBLE for the team to behave and manage relationships internally

4. Promote Collective Ownership: Emphasizing shared responsibility and recognizing the team’s collective achievements helps to mitigate individual ego-driven tendencies. Celebrating team accomplishments rather than individual achievements creates a sense of unity and encourages collaboration. – This has been one of the major elements of implementation with one of my earlier managers – Approach was simple – celebrate the smallest of achievement – Even if that was a successful code review or a major bug fix found, or a Sprint Goal achieved.

5. Cultivate a Collaborative Environment: Project managers should prioritize building a culture of collaboration by encouraging open dialogue, active listening, and valuing diverse perspectives. By creating an atmosphere where team members feel heard and respected, ego-driven conflicts can be minimized. For instance in one of my previous organization, there was a process, where the Project manager would have at least 2 one on one with the team members daily and one meeting (called – “All Hand Meet”) – during this meeting – no project discussion, but more of personal touch, life discussions, general elements were discussed, this helped all the team members to know each other and value the skills and talent that others bought to the table.

Though we have a few interesting ideas for managing Ego, we also need to understand the reasons and challenges from the other side of the fence. Observations and better understanding after 3 decades of working gave me the following elements on Ego:

1. Intrinsic Nature: Ego is an inherent part of human psychology. It stems from our need for self-identity, self-worth, and recognition. It can manifest in various forms, such as the desire for power, control, or validation. Since ego is deeply rooted in individuals, managing it requires self-awareness and conscious effort. At times this can also happen due to our local environment at home or office
2. Lack of Self-Awareness: Ego management requires self-awareness, which can be lacking in individuals who are not introspective or reflective. Without recognizing and understanding their own ego-driven behaviors, individuals may inadvertently perpetuate conflicts, hinder collaboration, and impede project progress. Sometimes what a person does, may not realize that their actions are counter-productive, but they fail to understand & appreciate this
3. Resistance to Change: Ego often resists change, as it challenges our sense of self and disrupts established patterns of behavior. When confronted with alternative viewpoints, suggestions, or feedback, individuals with strong egos may feel threatened and resist adopting new ideas or approaches. This resistance can hinder collaboration and innovation in project management – This is a basic human nature to resist, we form opinions about things and do not want to change and this itself could be a showstopper in our life.
4. Fear of Vulnerability: Ego can serve as a defense mechanism to shield individuals from vulnerability. Admitting mistakes, seeking help, or acknowledging limitations can be seen as a blow to one’s ego. This fear of vulnerability can make it difficult to foster open communication and address issues proactively, leading to strained relationships and project challenges. This is the most dangerous part of the human character and nature.
5. Competition and Comparison: Ego often thrives in environments where competition and comparison prevail. When individuals feel the need to outperform others or maintain a superior image, collaboration and teamwork can be compromised. Project environments driven by ego-focused competition can undermine trust and hinder collective progress. At times this can be hugely negative element for the project and its team members – but at times it could be a savior in some manner.
6. Power Dynamics: Hierarchical power structures can exacerbate ego-related challenges. In environments where authority is concentrated and decisions are made unilaterally, individuals may feel the need to assert their own importance or protect their ego. This can lead to power struggles, lack of transparency, and diminished collaboration within project team.
7. Emotional Investment: Ego is closely linked to emotions and personal identity. When individuals become emotionally invested in their ideas, decisions, or positions, it becomes harder to objectively evaluate alternatives or consider differing perspectives. Emotional attachment to one’s ego can hinder rational decision-making and impede effective collaboration.

Last few words of wisdom:

Overcoming the challenges associated with ego requires a combination of self-reflection, open communication, empathy, and creating a supportive project environment. By promoting a culture of humility, self-awareness, and collaboration, project managers can address ego-related challenges effectively and foster an atmosphere conducive to project success.

To foster a healthier work environment, it is important for individuals to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which can help them manage their ego and cultivate more constructive behaviors. Organizations can also promote a culture of collaboration, open communication, and continuous feedback, which can mitigate the negative impact of ego-driven behavior and promote a more productive and harmonious work environment.

Ego management plays a vital role in project management. By effectively managing ego-driven behaviors, project managers can create an environment conducive to collaboration, open communication, and innovation. Nurturing a culture of humility, respect, and shared ownership cultivates a high-performing project team that maximizes its potential for success. Embracing ego management strategies empowers project managers to navigate the complexities of human dynamics, ultimately enhancing project outcomes and achieving organizational goals.

It will always be the ownership of leadership to have the right environment and culture in the organization, This should also be reflected in our hiring practices, can we devise some approaches where these symptoms of Ego can be tracked and traced, this would help the organization and project at large in a long way post hiring of the candidate; but to have these ideas and thoughts implemented (at least on a pilot basis), it requires courage, forward thinking, ability to navigate thru a maze of negative and not so proactive thoughts and actions of people and finance (tools are not free)

Leadership / Management should see the writing on the wall before it is too late and the we miss the bus ….

See you later in some other thought provoking article ….

If you have ideas what you want to see me write – Pls let me know.

Conversations – The Forgotten Art of Managing relationship and Creating a Sustainable Team

Good conversations are a two-way street. It’s important to not only express your own thoughts and ideas, but also to listen to and learn from others.  Having a bi-directional conversation within a team is essential for building strong relationships, sharing ideas, and achieving common goals.

It’s important to be aware of how our behaviour can impact a conversation. If you want to keep a good conversation going, focus on being respectful, open-minded, and engaged in the conversation.

In an Agile team, conversations play a crucial role in ensuring that everyone is aligned with the team’s goals and priorities.

Let’s create a background on how to mess up with a team in engaging with a behaviour that is not conducive for any further team building.

If you want to spoil a good conversation, here are some things you can do (and believe me they work and give you the desired results):

1. Talk too much: If you talk too much and don’t let others contribute to the conversation, you can quickly spoil a good conversation.
2. Be negative: If you’re negative and focus on the negative aspects of the conversation, you can bring down the mood of the conversation and make it less enjoyable.
3. Interrupt others: If you constantly interrupt others when they’re speaking, you can quickly make the conversation feel disrespectful and unproductive.
4. Be closed-minded: If you’re closed-minded and not open to new ideas or perspectives, you can shut down the conversation and prevent it from evolving into something productive.
5. Be judgmental: If you’re quick to judge others and their ideas, you can create a defensive atmosphere where people are hesitant to share their thoughts and opinions.
6. Take things personally: If you take everything personally and get defensive, you can quickly turn a good conversation into an argument.
7. Be distracted: If you’re distracted and not fully present in the conversation, you can make others feel like you don’t value their contributions.

It’s important to be aware of how your behaviour can impact a conversation. If you want to keep a good conversation going, focus on being respectful, open-minded, and engaged in the conversation, with this negative approach, you can destroy a team culture, you would not be respected, your opinion is not heard, you are a non-required person on the team.

Scrum master’s should help the team develop a behaviour and approach, where the Scrum Values are practiced and respected, this would help the team to evolve into the next orbit of collaboration.

When you are getting into a new team or supporting a tenured scrum team … I recommend you to adopt the following:

1. Create a comfortable environment: It’s important to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and safe to speak their minds. Encourage open communication, active listening, and respect for each other’s opinions.
2. Define the purpose of the conversation: Ensure that everyone is on the same page about the purpose of the conversation. Make sure that you have a clear agenda, and that everyone knows what they are expected to contribute.
3. Ask open-ended questions: Instead of asking yes or no questions, ask open-ended questions that require more thoughtful and elaborate responses. This can help promote deeper and more meaningful conversations.
4. Be an active listener: Pay attention to what your teammates are saying and respond thoughtfully. Clarify any misunderstandings, and make sure that everyone feels heard and valued.
5. Stay focused: Keep the conversation on track and focused on the topic at hand. Avoid going off on tangents or getting side-tracked by unrelated issues.
6. Encourage participation: Make sure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in the conversation. Avoid dominating the conversation or letting one or two people monopolize the discussion.
7. Summarize the conversation: At the end of the conversation, summarize what was discussed, and identify any action items or follow-up tasks. This can help ensure that everyone is on the same page, and that the conversation was productive.

By following these tips, you can help create a team environment that promotes open communication, mutual respect, and shared success.

Some additional elements to engaging in a delightful and result oriented conversation would be:

• Use visual aids: Use visual aids like Kanban boards or task boards to track progress and make it easier for everyone to see the status of each task.
• Focus on collaboration: Encourage collaboration and teamwork by encouraging team members to work together to solve problems and achieve shared goals.
• Be open to feedback: Be open to receiving feedback from team members and be willing to adapt and make changes based on that feedback.
• Celebrate successes: Celebrate team successes and achievements to build team morale and motivate team members to continue working towards the team’s goals.

Engaging conversations would also aid the Scrum values to be implemented, adopted and lived.

Remember, good conversations are a two-way street. It’s important to not only express your own thoughts and ideas, but also to listen to and learn from others. By following these tips, you can help create a team environment that promotes open communication, mutual respect, and shared success.

Believe that every team and each individual in every team is different, they have different needs, their personalities are different, their skills set, experience, talent, collaboration style are all unique and when we apply the same yard stick of discussions and conversation that has proven to be successful with some other team – we make the classic mistake of One Size that Fits All.

An experienced Scrum Master would / should be able to adjust its own approach / strategies and cater to the needs of the current team where the services are rendered  / provided / assisted

In summary, managing dysfunctional team in an Agile environment requires a proactive and collaborative approach, focusing on communication, education, coaching, and team involvement, and measuring progress and adjusting as needed.

As we always say in Agile … Inspect and Adapt and Be transparent to yourself atleast and do a daily retrospective of Self-Behavior

“How Might We” – A Tool to solve issues that surface @ Retrospective (Innovate your Retrospectives and Product Backlog Management)

The How Might We framework is quite often called HMW. The framework was originally created to define and frame design challenges, but you can use it to address a lot of different challenges you might encounter.

The How Might We framework is basically a way to reframe a problem. You’re not only trying to see the problem from a positive perspective, but also opening your mind and consequently your possibilities to new solutions. This can be an amazing opportunity.

This concept has been borrowed from Design Thinking approaches. I have personally used this concept to resolve issues and impediments in my clients Agile transformation and adoption journey. It is a different way and a method to tackle things that would bring different views and perspective to life.

Normally HMW question can be quickly formulated if good findings / issues / problems statements have been identified. This definition of HMW should not take more than 15-20 mins / issue or problem. We would typically do this with a lot of white boarding, using Post Its, Pen and Paper.

When we redefine our problem with the How Might We approach, we are actually turning challenges into opportunities. It’s a process, and you might not get it right the first time. It’s an important tool for mastering the ability to develop creative solutions to problems. Redefining our problems in this way can unlock a world of possibilities.

Make sure your team is empowered to come up with even silly and crazy ideas. Create a safe environment where brainstorming is truly valued. At this point, don’t worry about the feasibility of the ideas, just brainstorm and go crazy. In some cases, the crazy-impossible ideas can be reframed in a brilliant and innovative way, so don’t constrain your mind or your team. HWM questions are a way to foster brainstorming and other ideation sessions.

Why are they called “How Might We”

“How” part suggests that we do not yet have the answer. It allows us to consider multiple avenues for innovation and reinforces that we are still exploring the problem and solution space.

“Might” emphasizes that there are many different paths we can go down when thinking about solutions. This allows for open-minded creativity and brainstorming and thinking about the problem from multiple perspectives. This “might” is where innovation becomes part of the process.

“We” immediately brings in the idea of teamwork. “We” should all work collaboratively to come up with a joint understanding of the problem and put our heads together to come up with a joint solution.

How should this work for an Agile team?

Reflect upon all the issues / challenges / Improvements as needed and identified during the retrospective, then reflect upon them to see and understand the context a lot more better (at times, we are emotional during the retrospective and want the whole world to improve)

Motivate the team to explore and come up with several HMW questions that could address the needs or the problem statements

Each question should follow the logic of “How Might We” and it should be followed by a verb, noun and type of the user base that we are trying to address the problem for

As a passing thought this approach of HMW can be used for any type of problem solving or identifying new ideas / thoughts / innovations or opportunities – this could be used in resolving the issues or challenging the current status quo of the Product backlog approaches, how user stories are to be developed, what solution would address the problem in hand.

I have seen a lot of people using HMW statements to invoke discussions leading into innovation, but as the case with some other models, they can go horribly wrong… Like too much of Open Ended Ness

• How might we make our app more usable?
• How might we redesign our website to make it better?

Or at times, we go so deep, that we have created a narrow view:

• How might we make our app’s add to cart experience more functional?

When HMW statements are too narrow, we lose all the incredible, innovative ideas that can come from them. With too much focus, we are stuck on one particular solution already. We want several different ideas to test at the end, so focusing too much on one solution will limit creativity and innovation.

Always remember that in addition of the description of the problem, a target customer must be defined for the project / problem to be resolved. In doing so, we are now trying to highlight the user and his / her needs (now notice we have got Persona as concept involved here)

Have multiple HMW ‘s for each problem statement, Each HMW question can then be understood as a prototype and testing in a short brainstorming session, The one that is the most appropriate one will then be chosen and pursued.

Key elements to take care of:

• Do not discuss a HMW question for too long, Timeboxing should be performed for each HMW and do not get bogged down in the phrasing of the question.
• It is essential to be optimistic and close to the needs of the user to come up with several good HMWs

Use the above ideas and thoughts in your next retrospective or product backlog refinement session, do share your experience and help us improve the approach and tool sets for continuous improvement approaches.

I propose this approach to be added to the concept of Liberating Structures

Gemba Walk – A method to collect requirements & observe current approach of working (Forgotten tool in the industry)

A Gemba Walk is the practice of Product Owners, Product Managers, Business Analyst personally observe the place where work is being done. The original Japanese term comes from gembutsu, which means “real thing” or “real place.” Thus, the Gemba is wherever work happens, and value is added to products or services. The Gemba may be a production floor, an emergency room, a construction site, or a classroom.

During a Gemba Walk, PO’s / PM’s should physically go to the places where people are putting together products or using them, helping customers, analyzing data, maintaining machinery, or any other process. The philosophy behind Gemba Walks rests on the idea that it is easier to gather feedback, spot process or workspace issues, and build trust with the team by observing work firsthand. Employees tend to be more open to pointing out opportunities for improvement or sharing concerns when they are in their own workplace.

PO’s / PM’s who have committed to Gemba Walks typically spend about 60 minutes a week at the Gemba. They pay careful attention, ask questions, and observe processes, The idea is to catch on ground information and understand the nature of work getting performed

Some Tips on doing a GEMBA walk:

• Define a clear focus – In terms of what is to be observed? Who is to be observed? What is the purpose and scope of my learning?
• Communicate with the Team Before the Walk:You don’t want your client / end users to feel blindsided by a Gemba Walk – it isn’t a surprise inspection, rather it is a technique for collecting requirements, it is essential to describe the purpose of Gemba Walks and let the team know what to expect. Open communication in advance will help people feel more comfortable and foster engagement.
• Pay Attention to the Handoffs: If you follow the value stream, you will likely find that all the stakeholders and output of that process along with the handoffs between processes, peoples, or departments. Those areas may yield the most potential for eliminating waste.
• It’s not about just observation: The process of capturing the information / data is very important.
• Separate Observations from Interpretation: Pay heed and attention to the methods of working, work around solutions as used, challenges faced, discussions between 2 people (do OSMOTIC communication – do not participate)
• Pay attention to routines and details: Qualify how long a work takes (measure it), Quantitative analysis can be easily visualized with charts and graphs and more meaningful insights can be obtained.
• Based on all of the above: Obtain new insights on how the problem is resolved today and how the process is lived in the real world
• Do not fire or make judgement calls.
• Follow Up: After your walk is over, be sure to follow-up with the teams, let them know what you learned and ask for additional input. It’s a good idea to close the loop so people aren’t left wondering about your impressions.

Gemba Walk Checklist

Every time when a PO / PM performs a Gemba walk, they will need to prepare a checklist in advance. This list will help them focus and target their efforts in right direction.

The checklist has to include questions that will help understand the process that they are going to observe in a better way. Questions may vary depending on the theme of your Gemba walk.

Here are some basic Gemba walk checklist questions:

Use Gemba walks a means to collect needs, observe the current behavior and work as performed, challenges, If possible speak to end users or doer’s of the process, understand their needs and viewpoints.

Perform this activity for multiple days and across different segments of people, this would enable you to focus on different situations and scenarios that may come up.

Indecisive – Use 2×2 matrix – A tool to narrow down options and help prioritize your ideas / Product Backlog

The 2×2 Matrix is a decision support technique where the team plots options on a two-by-two matrix.

Each axis represents a decision criterion, such as cost or effort. Each axis is divided into two sections (example: low cost/high cost and easy/difficult).

The matrix is drawn on a whiteboard, then the team plots the options along the axes. This makes it easy to visualize the options that are low cost and easy, and low cost and hard, for example.

The best results happen when the team defines the boundary between the quadrants. For example, if the horizontal axis represents the time it would take to complete a project, the boundary line between the Fast and Slow quadrants might be defined as 4 weeks.

Where is the value for 2×2 matrix in usage?

• It helps in quickly determining which ideas / thoughts or options should be pursed or rejected or parked for now
• Obtain a 1^st hand overview of ideas that have already have a certain qualification and maturity
• Carry out prioritization, innovations, identify market opportunities
• In cases where the problem statement is complex, it helps in breaking down the idea into individual components
• Use it when you have a decision to make

Use this tool in place of:

1. Kano Model
2. Dot Voting

Use this tool in conjunction with:

• Venn Diagrams for feasibility, economic viability and desirability
• Dot Voting for prioritization within a quadrant

This tool can be as versatile as a Swiss Army Knife (multiple purpose), It can be used across spectrums ranging from basic technical decisions to solution-oriented business models. Quantification in form a cost / yield chart can be of help, Sponsors are happy to use such a chart as a basis for decision making.

Steps to use 2×2 Matrix

1. Draw the 2 x 2 matrix and designate your X and Y axis as per your needs and requirements. Use opposite references such as High: Low / Important: Negligible / Cost: Savings and so on..
2. When evaluating for ideas, focus more on the benefits for the user and the feasibility and use measurable and tangible criteria for evaluation / opportunity analysis
3. Start with a board classification and question in which quadrant the idea should be placed
4. Place your current idea in relation to the other already existing ideas
5. Pay attention to the opinions of the team and try and find consensus
6. First take the idea and position it for X or Y axis, once a side is decided, then plan for the next axis, this approach would help in identifying the right or more suitable quadrant.
7. Repeat this process for all the ideas on the table
8. If there are several ideas in a quadrant, then select the top 3 for further discussions (do not attempt all)
9. Also check if there is any quadrant which are empty, they represent further opportunities and unfulfilled needs

Key elements to be aware of:

• Keep ideas as simple as possible – complexity means confusion on the matrix
• Rewrite or split the idea into several ideas if it helps to clarify the positioning
• Experiment with different possibilities and adapt the axes to the problem statement and the objectives

This tool can be used for Product Backlog Prioritization, Involve your customers to do the 1^st level review and then involve your scrum team to perform the 2^nd level of review from a technical stand point

Use different approaches and mix and match to get the best and the optimum results for your product, customer, end users and the team Innovate yourself, to engage the customer and keep your scrum team motivated

Offer Shopping – A new trend

Always a raging debate on the social media – Problem of non-joiners in our industry. There are a lot of theories and thought processes that are moving in circles on this front. Some claim the root cause to be a 90 days notice period, others have on some other elements.

Well, having a 90 days or 30 days has got nothing to do with a candidate looking out for more offers …. Is there any scientific proof that in 30 days, one cannot search for different offers in spite of having one, well there is no such relevance,  lot of us say when there is a 90 days period available, candidates would be bound to search for more …

Even in 30 days, one can find more offers, appear for multiple interviews … there is no co-relation of notice period to searching for more offer letters.

We have suffered for candidates not joining as they have got better offer (and majority of times, the better offer is equal to more salary).   

Candidates tell me that they are looking better offer (which in real terms is SALARY and ONLY SALARY) … I really wish the better offer could be for:

• Onsite Opportunities
• Different Role
• Different Projects
• More Responsibilities
• Travel Time is getting reduced (from Home to Office)
• Relocation is not required
• Better Technology exposure

This leads me to a thought, if the new salary of the earlier offer was not good, why did one accept, nobody forced any person to accept, was it at the GUN POINT your acceptance?

Retaining Vs. New Offers

Over a period of many months (and more in recent times) – I have realized that searching for new offers and getting retained in one’s own organization are 2 different elements. May be some of reasons due to which one would be leave the current organization are getting resolved such as:

• Salaries could be matched
• Role definition could be better
• Projects could be different
• At times reporting manager is a challenge (that could be changed).

I would not equate new offers with retaining in the same organization.

But the basic question for candidates searching for more offers – Is that ethical or not …. Nobody can judge that and each of us would have our own views on the system.

I would like to take an analogy on this front. Some may find this analogy quite ridiculous and other may find some solace in the same.

Let’s consider a person – finds a spouse, they have engagement / ring ceremony done with each other for the life (consider this to be the offer letter acceptance) …. Now consider that the marriage is about 90 days away (for whatever reasons it may be). Does this mean that either of the spouse has now got to search for better (or a new person to be engaged)? Will this be acceptable that I found a better person … so now I break the engagement and then get engaged with the new person and again one more and again ….

If this is fine … then I believe the approach of candidate searching for more offers is also valid and if we believe this is not right then we have a bigger question on the hypocrisy of ourselves that we have dual standards (we believe in convenience based approach)

For me it is all about being professional and ethical.

I have also heard and read the statements that HR of an organization does not respond, or they do not give feedback and so on … many such elements … but if they (meaning the HR) behave in a particular fashion / manner, that is not right for us (as candidates) to reciprocate in the similar manner (of accepting the offer and then not joining).

For me it is a story of ethics and moral … Each of us has one that guides us in a particular manner, ethics is not universal today. Ethics depends on your current situation, opportunity at hand and how one see’s the world and due to this factor – Ethics as a concept has no universal definition.

I am sure in my life time – this issue of Offer shopping (looks more like Diwali shopping) will not go away. Industry is not ready to take a universal and a united stand … As we all are fighting on the scarcity of the talent available in the market.

As they say in economics – demand and supply problem. Good Once agreed to be SOLD (and advance payment taken (read as offer accepted) are subject to be RESOLD at a higher price) – this is the new economics of our sweet little IT Industry

All I can hope and pray is for better sense to prevail in this industry for all stakeholders

Image is what sets you apart – Are you working on it?

Your image as a Scrum Master or a Product Owner or even as Stakeholder in the eyes of the world could be an asset or a liability for you as a leader. Building an image is magic wand, it could not superficial or unimportant activity. Crafting your own image requires a better understanding of what people in the group, project, organization or the society at large are perceiving, you need to gain a clear picture of your image in their eyes and needs.

Your image is the concept that others form about you as a result of the impression you make on them. It can be an asset or a liability as you engage in tasks and roles of Leadership. It is not easy for anyone to see themselves as the world see them or thinks about them. One needs to have a clarity how your image is hindering or making your effective in the world where you operate. You also need to decide what image you would like people to perceive about you.

Your image is based on multiple elements, which would include but not limited to: Physical appearance or formal status, behavior, body language, your tone when you speak and style of communication – all these contribute to the image of yourself.

People form opinion of others all the time (that is the favorite – pass time of this universe), People make assumptions about you, in absence of solid information and frequent communication people form opinions based on some assumptions, and what they invent is likely to be a distortion of truth, which then leads to your image risk. Remember your image speaks louder than you

Image is always referenced by personal experience, People want their leaders to be likable, approachable, be above average, be their role model and so on…

As you work to convey your effective leadership style, keep in mind that working on your image is not about faking anything, it is all about polishing your behavior and skills that allow your authentic self to be most effective.

Myths about Leader’s perception of Image Management:

• Only celebrities and political leaders have to manage their image
• People know me, what is there to manage
• What you see is what you get
• Creating an image is all about faking
• My position creates the image

Assess your Image and Leadership Style:

1. What feedback have you gotten about your image and how you communicate?
2. What image is conveyed by your leaders in the Organization and how does your image fit in this puzzle?
3. Think of time when your image worked in your favor or advantage
4. Also think of time when your image worked in against you
5. Does your body language show that you are comfortable in your role?

Based on your observations from the above and the data you have, plan to do the following (if appropriate):

• Seek feedback from your colleagues / peers
• Seek opinion of your strongest critic (they would give you the best view)
• See guidance from your reportees
• Pick a focus area to improve upon
• If your office or the area where meetings are held has a CCTV – seek if you can get access to the tapes of your meetings / discussions – observe your tone, behavior, approach, body language.

As Scrum Master / Product Owners, we are always under pressure to deliver value to the customer, improve morale of the team, create the right environment for success / failures and many more. We get pulled in multiple different direction and each stakeholder has an agenda of their own and not serving any of them, creates an impression, leads to an assumption, that forms an opinion and creates the image (GOOD, BAD or UGLY)

Like we do Product review during Sprint Review and Process / Relationship review at Sprint Retrospective, it is equally important to review our own behavior, our own internal approaches and see what corrective actions have to be taken, what tweaks have to be performed.

As we always it is all about Transparency (with your own self), Inspection and Adaption is the key to success … it is time we implement the scrum guidelines on ourselves before we move to conquer the world

Open Secrets for creating High-Performance teams.

Collaboration and teamwork are minimum pre-requisite for Agile ways of working and delivery high value outputs to produce the desired outcomes for our clients and end-users.

Today via this blog, I am going to be expressing a set of ideas … some old (old wine packaged in new bottle and a few new ones)

Open Secret # 1

Always work to provide leadership, relationship, and scope for creativity

Many and most of the team members think that they have been hired strictly for what is written on their profile / resume: Skills and their experience, honestly it is only 33% truth. Everyone should know that their capabilities are really only one-third of the pie, other parts of the pie are providing direction and providing confidence.

How does a team member provide direction when it does not fall under their job titles? It is important to keep in mind that it is best t provide direction in the area that falls under your unique skills an ability, otherwise it would not come across as credible.

Many folks do not realize that confidence is just the tonic that any organization, project, or business requires to be successful. It our job to provide the right kind of environment to our team members for them to demonstrate and exercise the confidence. Trust people to do the job and they would just do fine and at times better than your expectations.

Speaking about creativity, team members sometimes think that only the people who innovate ad initiate new ideas are creative, well I should say that is partially true. If you are involved in doing some research and you can be creative on how information is gathered, stored, analyzed and presented. If you are someone who is best when it comes to organization, you are creative when you are creating a new integrative systems that allow people / end-users to access what they do need quickly and efficiently

Remember always to be looking out for ways on how can you / your team can produce faster, easier, cheaper and bigger and better results.

Open Secret # 2

Focus on bigger results and the desired results and not just time and effort required.

Take a situation here:

Manager: I am so disappointed that we did not close this contract. It was vital for our success for the current quarter and we have blown it way.

Team Member: But we put in a lot of time, we worked nights and over 2 weekends and a lot of effort to put all things together, doesn’t that count for anything?

Manager: Since we did not get the contract, No !!!

Both leave feeling hurt and mis-understood …

I am sure we all have faced this situation several times in our career. In the truth both are right, putting in a lot of effort and not getting the desired results … Teams and Team members need to understand that management, sponsors, and shareholders live in RESULT ECONOMY and not time and effort economy.

In time and effort economy – one has a job security along with the paycheck, whereas in RESULT economy – it is 100% risk line and with no guarantee for the next dollar cheque to arrive.

So how does the team find out what is the desired result?

Simple – ASK

In current fast pace of day-to-day business, it is easy for others to assume that we think and understand the project and its related outcomes like they do, to see if this is true, then you would have to ask

Always ASK – What does this look like when its done and done well?

Open Secret # 3

Take full ownership for your projects, Have an ownership attitude.

Is Responsibility = Blame? – The new paradigm.

Taking responsibility means to most folks and people is taking blame.  Interesting blame is the first word as synonym in MS Word thesaurus.

Responsible means – “Able to Respond”. One of the best phrases is “It is not my job”, Really !!! – Is success of your company important to you? If yes, then it is your job.

The best team members take responsibility for the experience the company is creating, even though it may not be part of their day-to-day activities. They know that its important and find a way to make the right things happen, usually by engaging other team members to help solve the problem.

The boarder perspective is vital, not everything in projects / business are defined, crystal, predictable and consistent. Unexpected things are going to come up and the whole team needs to be ready and be able to respond.

Our greatest lessons and learnings come when things do not go as expected and what we learn to do differently next time.

If you never take a risk, if you never make a mistake; you’re playing safe. One can do all the research one wants, but at some point, one must take action and learn from what happens in real life.

Always know – what can go wrong? What is the worst-case scenario? Plan yourself upfront so that these identified situations do not occur and on similar grounds find what is does success look like and what one needs to do to achieve it?

It is important for all of us to know that if we want to grow professionally, we need to be prepared to grow personally too.

Open Secret # 4

Be Open – Be receptive to new ideas and initiatives. Prepare and Plan for change

Staying always open to new ideas and thoughts can be a huge challenge, we often get comfortable with our ways of thinking and doing things and believe that is the most right / correct way of doing things. It takes courage and willingness to get out of our comfort zone and entertain a new or a different approach.

Teams would be becoming high performing ones when they are able to look at the situation from Product Owner’s viewpoint or End user view, they need to be receptive to different thinking and thought process.

If the team looks at the changes as interruptions and wrong ways of doing things, then life in a project / team / product development would be very difficult.

Each team member should be willing to go outside of their comfort zone and consider new ideas and opportunities.

One should always pay attention to patterns of activities, call and other similar events to be able to anticipate on what’s coming in next.

Each and every role (not limited to the 3 roles in Scrum Team) in Agile ways of working needs towards these open secrets, they all known to all of us, this is nothing new (as I said old wine in new bottle) and be able to embrace and practice them in real projects.

<p class="has-drop-cap" style="line-height:1.3" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">It takes courage to be different. It requires respect of all those involved in this journey and there has to be openness in discussion ideas and thoughts and be ready to agree to dis-agree. You need commitment from all stakeholders, roles and colleagues to implement and try new ideas and experiment. Remember we all need to collaborate and trust each other’s abilities and expand our reach of thoughts process.It takes courage to be different. It requires respect of all those involved in this journey and there has to be openness in discussion ideas and thoughts and be ready to agree to dis-agree. You need commitment from all stakeholders, roles and colleagues to implement and try new ideas and experiment. Remember we all need to collaborate and trust each other’s abilities and expand our reach of thoughts process.

Competency and Competency Mapping – A tool for Organization to survive.

In today’s global economy with the pandemic situation firms are becoming more and more aware of the need to have competent employees. One of the core issues organizations are facing is controlling the rising employee cost and couple this with pressure to downsize and manage the show with fewer people, thus increasing the efficiency and employee productivity. Organization are looking out for people who can manage multiple different dimensions of the business and perform different critical roles in the execution of projects or managing the business.

There is now a deeper understanding that any given employee would be ale to understand and manage along with appreciating the need to manage different facets of the business – Time management, Technology, Finance, Marketing, Internal Stakeholder management, market dynamics along with people management, apart from all of the above there is a increased focus on performing the roles and also parallelly building relevant and all required competencies.

Competencies are performance enablers, they are a set of abilities and personality traits or characteristics required for higher degree of performance. Performance is the achievement of set of goals or objectives by an individual.

Competencies include both, competence as well as commitment to a particular job.

Today all organizations are speaking and talking about building competencies, some of them have truly worked in this direction and for other (majority of them), it is just a lip service. Most of these organizations are struggling to define, design and implement the concept of competency management.

Competencies are to be divided into 2 parts:

Threshold Competency:  These are essential characteristics that each individual employee needs to be minimally effective, but this would not distinguish between superior and average performers.

Differentiating Competency: These are factors and elements that distinguish superior from average performers.

Strategy formulation and opportunity surveillance are wasteful activities unless the company has internal abilities to execute its decision and at least possesses the chance to develop the required capabilities.

Moving forward, we shall be speaking about Competency Mapping and the process of defining it, we shall explore the concept and provide you with glimpses on the different aspects of competency mapping.

Competency mapping is the process which involves 3 steps:

1. Developing competency models – to facilitate competency profiling foreach job / role.
2. Identification of competencies – required to perform successfully a given job / role or a set of tasks at a given point in time.
3. Assessing competency to measure the extent to which a given individual or a group of individual or a group of individuals possess these competencies required for a given role or a set of roles.

Aspects of Competency Mapping

1. What affects the competency mapping?
2. What necessities competency mapping?
3. What are the tools for competency mapping?
4. What are the application of competency mapping?

What affects the competency mapping?

• Management Philosophy
• Customer Requirements
• Business Needs
• Business Process

What necessities competency mapping?

• Right Sizing
• Quality Manpower
• High performance organizational core competence

What are the application of competency mapping?

• Recruitment
• Placement
• Development
• Performance Management
• Career Planning
• Succession Planning
• Rewards and Recognition
• Job Re-design

What are the tools for competency mapping?

• Task forces
• Benchmarking against superior performance
• By HR specialist
• Psychologist
• Questionnaire
• Interviews
• Group Work
• Critical Incident Technique
• Repertory Grid

Tools for Competencies Assessments

• Self Assessment
• 360^o Feedback
• Psychometric Tests
• Interviews
• Leaderless Group Discussions
• Role Play
• Case Study
• Scenario discussions
• Portfolio presentation

Steps for Organization to adopt to implement Competency Mapping:

1. Develop mission, vision and values for the organization.
2. Set Goal for the organization
3. Design strategy to achieve goals.
4. Specify competencies required for people for specific jobs for superior performance at different levels in the organization.
5. Design and apply assessment tools to identify competency gaps with respect to each role or job.
6. Design and deliver training or other developmental methods to close the competency gaps

All the above should finally lead to re-deployment / Job re-design or career planning / succession planning.

A golden approach is to have this implement as a part of our Agile transformation and adoption. Different skills and competency would be required for a Project Manager to transform to Scrum Master role or for a Business Analyst to convert itself with skills and knowledge to be an effective Product Owner.

Similar thought process should be adapted at Sponsor or Stakeholder levels, when moving from traditional approach to Agile ways of working …  

But alas the organizations and companies today are not paying adequate attention to the right ways of working … the concept today is to get the output to the delivery stage – somehow (by hook or by crook – apologies for being so blunt – but cannot run away from reality)

PSM III – Journey to remember and recollecting my experience

Many industry folks and fellow Agilist have approached to me to understand the process and my preparation for PSM III exam via Scrum.org once I passed the exam

I feel humbled and honored at this request and feel my existence that I would be of use of someone in this world of ours.

A honest confession:

I did this exam twice, both times, I cleared …. Now the basic questions – why twice … First time I scored 88.1% (above the passing criteria, but not enough for my path and journey to PST), I had appear once again – Got it cleared with 93%

The journey and its learning’s

To start with, PSM III was on my cards since Sept 2018 and I kept on delaying it for no specific reason … May be I was a bit lazy or huge work at my own organization, that prevented me to think for PSM III, but no excuses offered. One fine day, a ray of inspiration in form of my colleague Mr. Raju K – came in and inspired me to take this long pending item on my own Product Backlog – Reorder it to the highest level and deliver it to the user (which was me again)

The basic question was what is the format of the exam, How many questions, what is expected? How the answers have to be framed came into existence, looking lost … I had to find my answers and way out, again the Angel Mr. Raju K comes to rescue. His constant guidance, approach helped me.

One thing to be sure is only knowledge of Scrum would not help to clear this exam. You need to understand and know the history of the Scrum Guide, What was there in version as released in 2011 and later versions, as questions from those versions come in the exam. Why somethings which were existing in earlier versions of Scrum Guide removed or replaced or a different word is used?

E.g. Why are release planning and release burn-down charts not used in scrum? One has to dig deep in history to prepare for this. Reading the blogs @ scrum.org is really going to help, a lot of interesting data is available out there … make good use of the same.

Knowing Scrum beyond the 11 elements (3 Roles, 5 Events, 3 artifacts) of scrum is required. Basic knowledge of scrum is good for PSM I exam, you would need higher degree and in-depth understanding of scrum and its complimentary practices.

Like: Role of Scrum Master in managing the conflicts

Like: The relationship between Technical Debt and Velocity

Like: What is difference or similarity in Committing to a Sprint Goal vs. Commitment as a Scrum Value?

If you see 1^st 2 questions are not there in Scrum Guide, but they impact the delivery to the customer / end user and so on …

So reading, discussion (with fellow Agilist) is important. Recommend to read the following:Book:    Scrum Mastery – Geoff Watts

• Book:    The professional Scrum Master – Stephanie Ockerman
• Book:    5 Dysfunctions of the team
• Blog:      Read Stephaine’s blogs at agilesocks.com – they are good
• Blog:      Read Different Stances of Scrum Master
• Blog:      Blogs at Scrum.org
• Document:         Scrum guide, know every word of it
• Document:         Evidence Based Management (Download material from scrum.org)

Other Things to prepare for:

• Do all the questions of Scrum.org – Open Assessment – of all type of exams
• Do them multiple times, till you do not get 100% in continuous 3 attempts
• Be well prepared on usage of Definition of Done – You have to be strong on this one
• Be well prepared on Words like Transparency, Inspection and Adaption – Be better prepared with solid information
• Great and in-depth knowledge on Scrum Values – their usage across all elements of scrum
• Review similar questions on the NET – a few good website available – search them – Do not have to spoon fed – So some research – you will feel elated when you pass due to your own efforts (never undermine it)
• Create notes for the essay type of questions – again crisp and good
• Get your preparation validated with some person – I did it internally with my own colleagues – this helped
• Create a group where like minded people can come and discuss the points and then make notes out of it.

About the exam:

• 2 Hrs (120 mins) – You would not realize how quickly the time passes off
• About 33 Questions
  • About 26 questions are essay type
  • Balance 7 are multiple choice (Could be with a Radio button or Check box)
• All questions of MCQ and Essay are jumbled up, a few initial questions would be Essay type followed by MCQ type followed by Essay type again.
• Try and complete MCQ questions first, it should take less than 1 min per question – this gives adequate time for the essay format questions
• As normal of all Scrum.org 85% is passing requirement
• Time is of essence, knowledge is secondary (not saying not important) – if you do not complete all questions, passing the exam would become difficult
• Reading of the question is important, as one question could have more than 1 question (question within a question)
• Answering only 1 or main question – one would the lose the marks, one would have to answer all the sub-questions also.
• Answer should be short and sweet – Answer to the point, use the scrum language – E.g Do not use Daily Standup – It should be Daily Scrum
• Lengthy answers are not required, having big answers also creates opportunity to be wrong
• Answers should in bullet points
• Do not worry about spelling mistakes – Scrum.org would not be checking you on this … that does not mean that from a grammar view point – sentence not making business sense
• Using abbreviations is fine E.g. Product Owner = PO or Scrum Master = SM (use this idea, it saves you to time …. Atleast a few seconds each time you write these words)
• Per question take no more than 3 to 4 mins – this would include reading the question, assembling the answer and then writing the answer

Hope the above experience of mine would be useful to all of you, In case you still need further guidance, Pls feel free to touch base with …

Always at your service ….