In Episode 17 and Episode 18 of The Idealcast, I was blown away by Dr. Ron Westrum's notion of Technological Maestros, a definition and list of characteristics for a leader that resonates deeply with me. First, let's look at Dr. Westrum's definition of a technological maestro. This is a term that is used in history of technology a lot. First of all, you're dealing with somebody who has very high energy, that's critical. The second thing is they know what questions to ask. The third thing is … [Read more...]
Three Observations on Leading through Writing
AN EXCERPT FROM EPISODE 16 OF THE IDEALCAST WITH GUEST ADMIRAL JOHN RICHARDSON I had mentioned in part one of my interview with Admiral John Richardson, how much I admired the two documents that Admiral Richardson had shared with me. One had the title A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority. And the other was the Navy Leader Development Framework. I loved both documents because they were both so clearly written. And it was such a treat listening to Admiral Richardson and Dr. Steve Spear … [Read more...]
Building a Culture of Leaders from Day One in the US Navy
AN EXCERPT FROM EPISODE 16 OF THE IDEALCAST WITH GUEST ADMIRAL JOHN RICHARDSON Gene Kim: One of the things that really leapt out at me is your emphasis around leadership development. You had once told Steve Spear and me a story about the extent that you went to, to reinvigorate training, to toughen up the training. You had this incredible story about how that training came about. Getting away from the post 1940 human conveyor belt mentality and the amazing outcome that resulted from it. Could … [Read more...]
Culture and Leadership: The Seven Domains of Transformation
This is part of our Seven Domains of Transformation series, which has been adapted from the Project to Product Transformation white paper by Ross Clanton, Amy Walters, Jason Zubrick, Pat Birkeland, Mik Kersten, Alan Nance, and Anders Wallgren. You can download and read the white paper in its entirety here. Why Is Culture and Leadership Important? A product-centric operating model requires high levels of empowerment, collaboration, and experimentation. As Peter … [Read more...]
The IT Leader’s Place in the Business
This post was is an excerpt from the book A Seat at the Table: IT Leadership in the Age of Agility by Mark Schwartz. In the Agile world, senior IT leadership, and the CIO in particular, must look at their jobs in a new way if they want to secure a seat at the table. A few of the critical characteristics of the new IT leadership role include: Driver of Outcomes Manager of Uncertainty Steward of Assets Contributor Influencer and Salesperson Orchestrator of Chaos Enabler Impediment … [Read more...]
Bonus Interview with Jonathan Smart on Sooner Safer Happier
Gene: You use the Cynefin model to frame a picture of everything from known knowns to unknown unknowns. What about this model is essential to the necessary mindset shift and business success in the digital age? Jon: I find Cynefin, a sense-making model, to be a great frame of reference for optimizing the approach to the work, to the domain of the work. Cynefin articulates five domains. Within the Clear domain, there are known-knowns. There is best practice.The relationship between cause and … [Read more...]
Leading through Better Value Sooner Safer Happier
Gene Kim Interviews Jonathan Smart, author of Sooner Safer Happier (Part 1) Gene Kim: Why Better Value Sooner Safer Happier? What about those five words is so revolutionary. Jonathan Smart: The world of work has fundamentally changed. We are living through a tipping point in the latest of a succession of technology-led revolutions, which have a socio-economic impact. We’ve gone from the Age of Oil and Mass Production to the Age of Digital. Like going from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, we … [Read more...]
How to Embed More of the Business Outside IT with DevOps Principles
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We all know that for DevOps to truly be as successful as it can be, it's best to get the business on board. But how do you translate something from IT to the rest of the business? Top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit are here to help. “Organizations who develop software need to realize the truth that 'Business' and 'IT' are the same thing. You'd never build a car with a hard separation between marketing, design, and … [Read more...]
Creating Small Successes to Prove DevOps Works
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We've all heard that the key to DevOps is small successes that you build upon. But what do those small successes actually look like? How do you start? Top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit are here to weigh in. “Pick a team. Automate the build and deploy process with no human touches between commit and deploy. That one step removes significant variability and defect generation. Stabilize your quality signal, even if it … [Read more...]
How to Convince Reluctant Developers to Embrace DevOps
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We've all met that colleague. The one who just won't get behind DevOps. No matter their reasons, here's some great advice on what to say to those reluctant colleagues from top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit. “We say 'Deploy more. Sleep better.' This of course assumes the developer has quality ownership. If the developer can use Grenade Driven Development to hand off the pain of poor quality and is only responsible … [Read more...]
