The manager I want to be

Many times, I’ve used this column to discuss the impact of leadership in product development and argued that leadership is key for Agile implementation. I gave many examples of how managers unconsciously lowered productivity and predictability by applying traditional predictive leadership practices. After four years working as a consultant and advising leaders on how to manage technology organizations, I’ve recently again assumed responsibility for a large company with around 500 people and substantial revenue. So, this is a good moment for me to lay out what kind of manager I want to be.

I don’t want to be a manager who denies intrinsic uncertainty in the many things we do. Such a manager delegates uncertainty to low levels in the organization, to people who have no tools to manage that uncertainty and thus can only lower quality or introduce buffers. Nor do I want to be a manager who just assumes that as these people are professionals, uncertainty shouldn’t exist for them.