Geek Leadershipin

Deep Legacy

Michael “GeePaw” HillGeePawHill@AnarchyCreek.com

@GeePawHill on Twitter

What is coaching?Coaching Is ActionA coach is always

taking actionin one form or

another.

The Jack Of All Tradesis the coaches card.

Helping Geeks Produce

Every action I take seeks to increase geek joy, business value, or both.

What's a Pillar?The pillars are what

keeps giving my coaching practice new

life.Pillars help me create

new actions.Pillars help me evaluate

actions, too.

The Five PillarsReleasing

SortingInviting

Modeling Situating

ReleasingHelping a team gain freedom to move:

…experimenting with ideas,…ending pro forma gestures,

…removing legacy rules,…making retrospectives real.

Releasing moves responsibility from you

to the team.

The Releasing Mantra

Ask for help every day.

People who help you make a decision also help you &

each other to follow it.

“I don’t know, what do you think?”

Take Care!Once released, you can’t call a

team back.You have to mean it.

There’s a reason this pillar isn’t

called “empowering”,

yo.

SortingSorting means choosing a most

important story and acting on it.

It’s one of the most important techniques a coach demonstrates.

But you have to sort more than just production stories!

SortingFor a coach, any of these can be a source

for most important story:…production

…technique…environment

…team

The list of possible stories is infinite, and coaches have to sort their work, too.

Sorting: Urgency PrincipleCoaches need a better grasp of the urgency

principle than their teams do!

Most resources on most important story, less resources on less important stories,

no resources on unimportant stories.

You Are Human. Focus Your Efforts!

InvitingInviting Is Two Things

Throwing a PartyFinding a Place for Everyone

Throwing Great PartiesFor geeks, a great party means:

…having food & drink…lots of chatter

…cool (or soft) toys…no interruptions

…secret geek cultural references

A successful agile transition is one continuous party.

A Place For EveryoneThrowing parties is a blast, but the un-

placed teammate is a serious issue.Everyone doesn’t have to be good at

everything. Find something – something genuinely useful – for an isolated person.

Do it fast.

Modeling

Be the change you wish to seeSupermodel Role Model

Obvious ModelingThink of how you could model:

…choosing the most important story,…testing before coding,

…story-slicing,…observing meeting discipline.

If your practice is healthy, modeling will be everywhere

Subtle ModelingThere is no real end to modeling:

…geek joy,…making mistakes,

…missing a deadline,…working with other teams.

Modeling is much stronger than teaching.

SituatingBringing a team to a better fit with:

...its company,...its market,...its biology,

...its psychology,...any context at all.

Many teams fail through misunderstandingthe contexts in which they live & work.

Situating: Obvious CasesA team builds the wrong product.A team holds engineering value

over business value.A team thinks e-mail is communication.

A team works constant overtime.

Situating: Subtle CasesThe Block-Of-Coding Fallacy

The Comment SmellThe Number Seven Plus or Minus Two

Body Language For PairingThe Nature of the Blind Spot

Anything you can use to help your team to a better stance or grip.

Generating ActionsAny problem you see can be used in

combination with the pillars to suggest new actions.

Try it. Suppose you have a team:…with low energy

…with lots of code smells…goldplating every requirement

Evaluating ActionsThe DoubleDawgDare:

Dare the team to show me their worst, then fix it.

Can you see how I use the dare for modeling?situating?

inviting?even sorting?

A four stars action? Trust it!

The Five Pillars ReduxReleasing: Get them to guide

themselves.

Sorting: Show, be, and choose urgent.

Inviting: Help them have a good time.Modeling: Be what you want them to

be. Situating: Tune their grip and stance.

Keep your coaching practice lively and entertaining, for you, and for everyone!

Some QuestionsThese are mine. You gotta find your

own.

Where’s manipulation and morality?

Should “tale-spinning” be a practice?

What are some cool tactics?

(I have answers to these, just not sure they’re right.)