I asked before about how to manage self directed teams, most responses 
where that the manage should remove obstacles in the way of the team.
I think the opposite. A great manager should never remove obstacles, big or small, on the contrary, a great manager must create obstacles and challenging his employees to grow every day. A great manager helps his team grow, this can be done only by raising the bar.
So to answer my question: How to manage agile teams?
Spend most of your time with your best people, Show them that they can do better, show them that they can become experts, raise the bar and create a place where employees grow.
I love taking examples from sports. Team Sport is mostly made of self managed teams. Think about it, when the team is on the field – they are self managed and they take decisions without the manager. So how would you manage this ‘self directed’ team?
Here is how I would. I would raise the bar, practice and make sure that the players are in shape. I would use integrity to help the players commit to working out, commit to kicking/throwing the ball 100-200 times so that they practice and work on their best shot. That is what separates the pro’s from the Joe’s
Athletes, particularly football players, often talk about “being put in position to win” by their coaching staffs. It’s sort of an athlete’s coded way of saying, “My coach has figured out what my strengths are, and they put me in a position to use my strengths to succeed.”
To me, this is the value of a good manager on any team, be it football or software. The manager has to first figure out what each employee is good at. What are the employee’s strengths? Then they have to put that employee in a position to utilize their strengths to be successful.
You talk about obstacles, but I think the more appropriate term might be “challenges”. Obstacles tend to be thought of as things you have to get around, or remove; stuff you have to avoid. Challenges are things you use your strengths to defeat; to tackle head-on.
A great manager will know the strengths of each employee and he’ll “manage” them by tasking them with challenges that play to each employees’ strength.
It’s kind of like a super-hero team. Like the Fantastic Four or something. You don’t task The Invisible Woman with a challenge that requires incredible strength; you hand that one off to the Thing.
A self-directed team might have enough knowledge of each others’ strengths to do this sort of tasking, but a great manager will be more astute at this.
@Chris
You are correct, challenge is a better term, but isn’t every obstacle a super-challenge? I think so.
Your comment is exactly what a great manager should do, find the correct positions and challenge the team, practice and get better. Although I have been surprised many times and have seen people who’s weak sides have turned to be great sides.
I think that in software development and in business in general, we put too much emphasis on positioning and not enough on the practice-practice-practice, challenge and growth of the team.
Positioning is only the first stage.
I have yet to see a self directed football team without a coach, I am sure that managing the self-directed team in the proposed way, with hard work, will lead to amazing results.
“we put too much emphasis on positioning and not enough on the practice-practice-practice”
I think you’re probably correct in that assessment.
One thing I’ve noticed is that it makes a big difference whether there is a constant coaching presence.
Some employees can be taught a certain technique or pattern and they’ll immediately “get it” and utilize it in applicable scenarios. But those employees seem few and far between. The more common employees seem to be the type who, upon being presented with the next opportunity to apply their newly learned technique, revert back to the old standbys (like cut-and-paste). These employees, it seems to me, benefit a lot more from the presence of a constant coach and mentor. I think these folks benefit (and can thus grow) with tools like pair programming, code reviews, unit testing, etc. Left to their own devices they’ll just do whatever they know best and move on.
So I would say that while practice-practice-practice is critical to growth and success, it can’t happen without the appropriate guidance (and I think that further backs up your point on why self-directed teams need a manager).
The point I am still trying to figure out, is what and how to practice. In sports, the manager is not as professional as the player, yet he knows what the player needs to do become better, he knows where the player needs to practice.
What and how do you practice software development?
Poštovanje Miki, čestitke na obavljenom, nisam baš djelatno upućen u rekorde, ali mislim da imate dvije greške, za koje ja znam. Vjerovatno će Vam se još neko javiti sa svojim podacima, pa ovo posmatrajte kao dobronamjernu primjedbu, sa željom da se zaista napravi lista vremena koja će biti reprezentativna i maksimalno korektna.Na listi za 2011 godinu stoji slijedeće4 x 100 Slobodno/Free 4:44.30 25m Bosna i Hercegovina Muški Banja Luka (BIH) 12.03.2011VRKEŠ Kosta, VRANJEŠ Marko, MIZDRAK Matija, ČEPRKALO MihajloOvaj rekord je popravljen na novogodišnjem mitingu H2O, pred kraj 2011, što koliko ja vidim, nije navedeno u listi za 2011. Rang G.R Ime kluba (kraće) Vreme Bodova Status VR1. Bosna SA MK najava obaranja rekorda MK Bosna, SA 4:41.91 308Anđelo ŠIMIĆ 99 33.33 1:11.98 Nihad HRBAT 99 34.95 1:13.44Amer VOLJEVICA 00 34.45 1:13.92 Amir HALILOVIĆ 99 29.97 1:02.57Također i na listi za 2011 stoji4 x 50 Mešovito/I.Medley 2:25.96 25m Bosna i Hercegovina Muški Banja Luka (BIH) 13.03.2011VRKEŠ Kosta, VRANJEŠ Marko, ČEPRKALO Mihajlo, MIZDRAK Matijaa ovaj rekord je postavila Bosnina štafeta na ORKI 2010, što i stoji u listi rekorda za 2010, pa bi onda vjerovatno trebalo izbrisati ovaj rezultat 22.Aprila iz liste za 20114 x 50 Mešovito/I.Medley 2:23.85 25m Bosna i Hercegovina Muški Zenica (BIH) 19.12.2010ŠIMIĆ Anđelo, TESKEREDŽIĆ Edvin, VOLJEVICA Amer, BERBEROVIĆ EmirOvo su dvije greške koje sam uočio, ne znam za ostale rezultate, ali mislim da je ova moja verzija korektnija od Vaše, pa možete provjeriti i ispraviti ukoliko i Vi to potvrdite.Inače, ova istorija je veoma dobra osnova, većina rezultata je tačna, vjerovatno će Vam se još mnogi javiti sa mogućim greškama i preporukama za ispravke pa bi i lista trebala biti još korektnija u vrlo kratkom roku. Mislim i da je uputno da, ko god uoči grešku, odmah ponudi i moguće ispravke, sa konkretnim detaljima, mitingom, vremenom, datumom i sl.Želim Vam mnogo uspjeha u daljem radu i nadam se da ćete ovo uspješno privesti kraju.sportski pozdrav
Ех, нашао сам шта је разлог за ова два рекорда, мада сам и све поново проверио, средио, али ништа не сме бити проблем, ако не мора. Пошто ми је то некако било на памети, прелиставао сам мејлове и нашао део преписке са Граховцом, и што је најгоре, резиме преписке је тачан са Граховцове стране, јер смо корак по корак прегледали све приложено. Иначе, и на самом такмичењу је утврђено, да испливавање штафете није у реду, јер је електроника била полуисправна и квар се отклонио тек после штафета, када смо направили паузу.Кратак копи/пејст закључка преписке:Na žalost, dva rekorda, koja bi bila njreavdnija, štafetni rekordi Bosne, ne mogu biti priznati, jer se nikako ne slažu sa vremenima plivača, za šta je kriva elektronika koja je izbacivala sve i svašta na ekranu, nije uhvatila ulazak u cilj, a vreme sa štoperice ni približno ne odgovara najboljim vremenima poslednjih plivača štafeta.U muškoj štafeti bi bilo da Halilović ima 1.02.57 na 100m a njegovo najbolje vreme je 1.12.08 po proveri Gorana GrahovcaU ženskoj štafeti, tri poslednja okreta pokazuju da bi morala biti oko 39.00 u proseku, što obe poslednje plivačice ne mogu isplivati, te se time vreme ne slaže sa vremenom sa štoperice koje je upisano jer je nemoguće.Žao nam je zbog ovog hendikepa, i smatramo da Bosna ima sva prava prigovora radu i ispravnosti elektronike na samom bazenu, kao i na rad operatera elektronike koji nije izvršio sve potrebne pripremne i proverne radnje na istoj pre početka samog takmičenja.U prilogu pregled rekorda u poslednjih 7 dana.Ažurirane rekordne liste su postavljene i na sajt sa rekordima: *** Крај преписке Поздрав од Микија
Accoyer? C’est bien pour cela que je l’ai cité…..Ou alors veut-il que les députés plus jeunes ne jouissent pas de tous ses privilèges!De même, Juppé, après son échec aux législatives, prétend qu’il ne veut être que maire de Bordeaux. Pourquoi s’était-il présenté?Les sondages qu’il fait faire par ses services le montrant encore battu, il réaffirme son attachement à sa ville!Il a été Premier ministre, maire, président du parti majoritaire…il l’a oublié?