The Methodology Doesn’t Matter

Welcome to Lead Learn Repeat, a weekly newsletter to help leaders make smart decisions and excel in leadership, business, and technology. All in 5 minutes or less.

As we near the end of April, the grass here in Halifax is starting to turn green. Spring is in full bloom. It’s a time of growth. This week, let’s explore why there's nothing wrong with breaking away from the norm and choosing an unconventional path.

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll cover:

• 📝 Article of the Week: Why you shouldn’t care how your teams do their work.

• 💡 Tip of the Week: How to make your 1:1s great again.

• 💬 Leadership Quote: A quote about unconventional thinking in leadership.

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📝 The Methodology Doesn’t Matter

If I listed all the various methodologies and frameworks available, they would run down the page.

Everyone has a favourite they will passionately argue for - whether it be Scrum, Shape-Up, Kanban, Scaled Agile, etc.

Unfortunately, many leaders fall into the trap of focusing too much on how well they are following a particular methodology.

They are missing the point.

Guidelines and principles matter, but they aren’t the most important thing.

As software leaders, it shouldn’t be our goal to have our teams rigidly follow a methodology.

Why?

Customers don’t care how the software was developed.

Customers care about the user experience, reliability and stability of your software.

Our goal should be to ship high-quality software as efficiently as possible to our customers.

My teams follow a combination of a few different methodologies. We use parts of Scaled Agile (SAFe) for planning and either Scrum or Kanban on the execution side. We use the pieces we like and drop the rest.

Some of my teams have daily scrums, while others find that too much. Some teams like to have multiple short “pre-finement” meetings before the full team does story refinement. Others like to use fun themes for their retros.

Teams will achieve better results if you empower them to work in a way that allows them to do their best work.

If my teams are happy and shipping high-quality code in a predictable, repeatable fashion, that works for me, even if we aren’t following Scrum or Kanban to a T.

I’m focused on the outcomes.

💡 Tip of the Week

Let’s stick with the theme and continue to break away from the norm.

Our target? 1:1 meetings.

1:1s, can get pretty formulaic and, honestly, boring. They look something like this:

• Opening chit-chat

• Agenda overview

• Employee updates

• Manager updates

• Discuss goals

• Feedback, coaching, and action items

It can feel like you are running through a checklist just to get to done.

That really isn’t helping anyone.

Here’s a quick idea to break out of the rut and make your 1:1s great again:

This subtle shift starts things off on a positive note, and people are more likely to open up.

Which is the whole point.

Try it and let me know how it goes.

💬 Quote of the Week

This week’s quote is from someone known for breaking the rules, Pablo Picasso.

Leaders can apply Picasso's philosophy by first mastering the fundamental principles and processes before pushing the boundaries and tweaking approaches.

With a solid foundation, you can confidently challenge the accepted practices and explore innovative solutions that drive progress and success.

By embracing this mindset, leaders foster a culture of creativity and continuous improvement, empowering their teams to think outside the box to excel.

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