agile, management 3.0, holacracy...what next?
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My talk at #AgileIndia2014 on what are some of the key trends concerning workgroups and workplaces.TRANSCRIPT
Agile, Management 3.0, Holacracy…�…what next?
Tathagat Varma, VP Strategic Process Innovations,
Let’s break something today!
Agile Manifesto Agile
Management 3.0
Holacracy Lattice #NoManager What next?
…starting with some mental models…
Why were Pyramids built?
To preserve the dead!
Why were Hierarchies built?
Taylor ‘s Prescription, 1911
“I can say, without the slightest hesita3on,' Taylor told a congressional commi9ee, 'that the science of handling pig-‐iron is so great that the man who is ... physically able to handle pig-‐iron and is sufficiently phlegma3c and stupid to choose this for his occupa3on is rarely able to comprehend the science of handling pig-‐iron.”
“Managers and
Overheads”
Can’t they a bit less hierarchical?�
…a bit more simple, functional and even a bit
more beautiful?
World’s first (finest?)
modern org chart…�
�NY & Erie
Railroad, 1855��
PS: Who is at top / bottom?
Disney Org
Chart, 1943��
PS: Where is
the hierarchy?
h#p://thebuildnetwork.com/team-‐building/disney-‐organiza<on-‐chart/
…and then it got ugly
…real ugly!
Is hierarchy working after
all?
Let’s start from the beginning…�
��
…of this century!
Agile Manifesto, 2001
“Build projects around motivated
individuals. Give them the
environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job
done.”
“The best architectures,
requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing
teams.”
Never talked about ‘structure’!
So, who killed hierarchy then?
It was Scrum that killed the “Manager”!
…though not the “management”
Traditional Manager � – Authority �
= “Scrum Master”
So, who does the “management”?
The “Team” Pic -‐ h#p://blogs.seapine.com/2012/02/agile-‐teams-‐self-‐organize-‐for-‐project-‐success/
Has that really happened?
Maybe / Maybe Not!
Hint: just search if companies claiming to be Scrum shops still hire old-style managers?
Management 3.0, c 2011
Management 1.0 = Hierarchies
Management 2.0 = Fads
Management 3.0 = Complexity
“I believe that Agile software development has overlooked the importance of (line) management. If managers don’t know what to do and what to expect in an Agile organization, how are they supposed to feel involved in a transition to Agile software development? What is the message of Agile here? If it’s just “we don’t need managers,” it’s no wonder Agile transitions are obstructed all over the world.(Page 27).”
“Martie”
What does Management 3.0 mean?
• People are the most important part of an organization and managers must do all they can to keep people active, creative and motivated Energize People
• Teams can self-organize, and this requires empowerment, authorization and trust from the management Empower Teams
• Self-organization can lead to anything, and therefore it’s necessary to protect people and shared resources and to give people a clear purpose and defined goals Align Constraints
• Teams cannot achieve their goals if team members are not capable enough, and managers must therefore contribute to the development of competence Develop Competence
• Many teams operate within the context of a complex organization, and thus it is important to consider the structure that enhance communication Grow Structure
• People, teams and organizations need to improve continuously to defer failure for as long as possible Improve Everything
Holacracy®
• Holacracy is a real-world-tested social technology for purposeful organization. • It radically changes – how an organization is structured, – how decisions are made, – and how power is distributed.
• Is NOT Leaderless! • Focus is on work, not people!
How it changes with Holacracy?
In Conventional Organizations With Holacracy
Formal Structure
Extant Structure
“Requisite” Structure
h#p://holacracy.org/blog/whats-‐wrong-‐with-‐your-‐organiza<onal-‐structure
Holacracy
h#p://bulldozer00.com/2014/01/09/a-‐risky-‐venture-‐indeed/
h#p://ridiculouslyefficient.com/holacracy-‐do-‐you-‐want-‐a-‐purpose-‐driven-‐and-‐responsive-‐company-‐infographic/
The Corporate LaJce – Cathleen Benko and Molly Anderson
#NoManager / Boss-free
• Flat / Horizontal Organization, Delayering • No or very few levels of middle management • Promotes employee involvement – through decentralization and empowerment
• Rotating Team Leaders – 37Signals, Valve • Open Allocation – Valve, GitHub Inc, Treehouse, • No Manager – The Morning Star Company, Gore
• Team-based, Flat Lattice since 1958! • Revenue: $3B, Staff: 10,000 • No traditional org charts, no chain of
command, nor predetermined channels of communication
• “You will be responsible for managing your own workload and will be accountable to others on your team. More importantly, only you can make a commitment to do something (for example, a task, a project, or a new role)--but once you make a commitment, you will be expected to meet it. A "core commitment" is your primary area of concentration. You may take on additional commitments depending on your interests, the company's needs, and your availability.”
“Become leaders based on ability to gain the respect of peers and to attract followers.” “Relationships are everything at Gore” “Everyone at Gore has a Sponsor”
“We’ve been boss-free since
1996”
• 400+ employees, $2B-4B revenue? • anarcho-syndicalism. Effectively, free association of
employees with one another • Valve's basic approach to "managing without managers"
is: – hire only incredibly self-motivated people – give them full autonomy to decide what project to
work on – teach them to spot valuable projects, and to
understand what value they can add to those projects – allow team structure to happen organically - teams
self-select, leaders are chosen by their peers – encourage people to acknowledge and learn from
mistakes quickly to move forward – make everyone responsible together for the success or
failure of projects • and finally (and most critically):
– determine the value and compensation of each employee by peer review h#p://www.bbc.com/news/technology-‐24205497
Where Google boasts 20% free <me for its employees, Valve boasts 100% free
<me.
Founded: 1999, Calls its execu<ves ‘Monkeys’
Staff: 1500+, Revenues: $ 2.1B (2011)
2013 Nov: Embraced Holacracy
1-‐year project that will see 400 ‘circles’ in ‘holarchy’
h#p://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/a-‐company-‐without-‐job-‐<tles-‐will-‐s<ll-‐have-‐hierarchies/
Microsoft is changing… “So how do you create that self-organizing capability to drive innovation and be focused? …To me, that is perhaps the big culture change — recognizing innovation and fostering its growth. It’s not going to come because of an org chart or the organizational boundaries. Most people have a very strong sense of organizational ownership, but I think what people have to own is an innovation agenda, and everything is shared in terms of the implementation.”
Satya Nadella CEO, Microsof
Why are they all changing?
Hierarchies force standardiza<on and compliance – and kill employee mo/va/on which is big deal for any industry, any company today!
Hierarchies create predictability – which is good in short-‐term, but resist change and kill innova/on which is bad in long-‐term
Hierarchies are too slow for today’s fast-‐paced VUCA world, and the leaders must rely on 360 Degrees of Wisdom to steer their ship
Hierarchies are too costly, especially when many young workers don’t like “adult supervision”, esp from people with an<quated skills
Hierarchies create func<onal silos that impedes collabora/on and generates organiza/onal inefficiencies
Other forces…
• Remote workers • Career progression • External networks
Working remotely is good for business!
h#p://us.whirlpoolcareers.com/CAREER-‐DEVELOPMENT/mapping-‐out-‐your-‐career.aspx
Horizontal Career Path
h#p://us.whirlpoolcareers.com/CAREER-‐DEVELOPMENT/mapping-‐out-‐your-‐career.aspx
Cross-functional Career Path
h#p://www.deloi#e.com/view/en_US/us/Insights/Browse-‐by-‐Content-‐Type/deloi#e-‐review/e207a920f718d210VgnVCM2000001b56f00aRCRD.htm
Ladder vs. Lattice
The Corporate LaJce – Cathleen Benko and Molly Anderson
This is my network! How about yours?
• Employees want to be left alone • But managers should be there when
employees need them!
Adult Supervision on-demand
• Networks for innovation, agility and speed
• Hierarchy for efficiency, predictability and scale
Horses for courses
• Shared leadership and decision-making across the board
• No permanency or carry-over of roles
Distributed and Rotating
leadership
References • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_grid_model • http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/romanarmy.html • http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-microsofts-culture-2014-2 • http://ryancarson.com/post/61562761297/no-managers-why-we-removed-bosses-at-treehouse • http://99u.com/articles/22853/do-we-really-need-managers • http://qz.com/161210/zappos-is-going-holacratic-no-job-titles-no-managers-no-hierarchy/ • http://blogs.seapine.com/2012/02/agile-teams-self-organize-for-project-success/ • http://www.management30.com/ • http://www.slideshare.net/jurgenappelo/management-30-in-50-minutes • http://holacracy.org/constitution • https://medium.com/on-management/d9a3b82a5885 • http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf • http://www.gore.com/resources/corporate/en_xx/aboutus/culture/index.html • https://www.quora.com/Asana/Since-Asana-doesnt-use-titles-how-is-the-organizational-structure-around-roles-and-responsibility • http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/nov/02/gore-tex-textiles-terri-kelly • http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/a-company-without-job-titles-will-still-have-hierarchies/ • http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2014/01/07/is-flat-better-zappos-ditches-hierarchy-to-improve-company-performance/ • http://www.businessinsider.com/a-company-with-no-hierarchy-that-makes-more-money-per-employee-than-google-amazon-or-microsoft-2012-4 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_organization • http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110401/jason-fried-why-i-run-a-flat-company.html • http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/05/two-structures-one-organizatio/ • http://www.inc.com/samuel-wagreich/the-4-billion-company-with-no-bosses.html • http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/12/agility-is-not-enough-beyond-the-manifesto/ • http://beyondagile.com/ • http://www.fastcolabs.com/3020181/open-company/inside-githubs-super-lean-management-strategy-and-how-it-drives-innovation • http://www.fastcolabs.com/3020181/open-company/inside-githubs-super-lean-management-strategy-and-how-it-drives-innovation • http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/hierarchy-is-overrated/ • http://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers/ar/1 • http://hbr.org/1990/01/in-praise-of-hierarchy/ar/1 • http://hbr.org/2003/03/why-hierarchies-thrive/ar/1