Autonomous Teams

I was reading?an article?that quoted from Tim O’Reilly that the golden age of the programmer is over. Not because there is no scope for programming anymore, far from it. O’Reilly thinks that ‘every working scientist today is a programmer.’ Programming has gone way beyond the developer and reached out far and wide to areas like marketing, customer service, HR, teaching, journalism, etc. Software development itself has intrigued the curious to look beyond the simple Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). For me, it has always been and will always be about the people. The heart of any software is the team sitting behind it.?

I also recently attended?Agile on the Beach?and Kevlin Henney, in his keynote, highlighted ‘individuals and interactions over processes and tools’ from the agile manifesto as something we are often guilty of forgetting. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I have hardly seen an example when it is not the case. Companies often fall into the trap of focusing on tools over streamlining interactions. This results in chaos where individuals are not given the ecosystem to be creative and excel at what they do. That is something we cannot ignore. In my opinion, the role of modern software leadership is not to be a technology know-it-all (something that couldn’t really exist anyway). It is to be an enabler, a guide, a coach, a servant to the smart creatives who live and breathe the software. To me, modern software leadership is about creating autonomous teams. As defined in Ivey Business Journal, autonomous teams are work groups granted the organizational latitude to establish their own internal goals and work practices. This is no easy feat. It fundamentally changes the traditional decision-making hierarchies and puts power in the hands of the team.??

In terms of team dynamics, management literature for at least a decade has been fascinated by the concept of autonomous teams and how they are so incredibly effective. Keeping the same theme and focusing on the people behind the software, I wanted to share some ideas about my experience with creating autonomous teams and what helped in the journey.?

1.?????Creating alignment with the business

To create an autonomous team, the business must understand and be open to an adaptive culture and ready to optimize levels of autonomy within the teams. The teams should also have an awareness of organisational vision, aspirations, commitments, and constraints. A lot of that is achieved through awareness from both sides where information is shared openly and honestly. In my experience, it is also improved by providing the business direct communication access to the teams. Direct, meaningful, and timely communication is the key to achieve success in this area.

2.?????Assuming the role of a coach/mentor for your teams

Software leadership must also recognise that their role is not about making judgement calls, making top-down decisions, or telling people how to do their job. It is to assume the role of a coach to the teams who are making the decisions. For several career managers, this can be an extremely difficult thing to achieve. I would encourage anyone struggling with this to read about ‘servant leadership’ and accept the role of an enabler. This develops a sense of ownership of the outcomes amongst the team.?

In organisations where the teams have high levels of autonomy, the team members do not have to consult organisational leaders for team decisions and therefore avoid any conflict caused by personal agendas. This type of environment highly engages the team and increases innovation as team members see their ideas come to life.

3.?????Allocation of required resources

To make autonomous teams successful the organisation needs to allocate the required resources to it. This increases the spirit of accountability and ownership amongst the team members. The software leadership needs to make an upfront and unwavering commitment to allocating resources to the teams.

4.?????Frequent Face to face feedback

Higher management also needs to play the role of change awareness for the autonomous teams. There must be a one-to-one feedback loop in place between the management and the teams. This means that the software leaders will have the pulse of the team in a timely way. At the same time, the team will always be aligned to the business goals and priorities.?

The journey is long and full of challenges. Even if higher management has a firm commitment to autonomous teams, there will be other challenges along the way. Internal team dynamics and culture, interfacing with teams outside your control, individuals within teams causing conflict, are some of the examples. However, if you truly are an enabler and a believer in autonomy and trust in the power of teams then stand your ground. Give the teams what they need. It has shown many times over, especially in the last decade, how autonomous teams can turn things around for you. Give your team a chance. Let go, and good luck!?