Guiding with Intent and Empowering with Autonomy

Leadership is a delicate dance between steering the ship and empowering the crew to chart their course. An effective leader understands the importance of informed choices and the clarity of purpose. But what's the recipe for achieving this balance?

Directing "What" and "Why," Not "How"

Picture leadership as a rudder steering a ship. Rather than micromanaging the sailors' actions, the rudder guides the ship's overall direction. Similarly, leaders focus on setting the "what" and "why" of a task while allowing teams the freedom to determine the "how."

Exploit chaos by commanding what and why.

This approach finds resonance in Stephen Bungay's book, "The Art of Action," which outlines a simple yet potent framework:

1. Account of the Situation

2. Statement of Overall Intent

3. Extrapolation of Specific Tasks Derived from Intent

4. Guidance on Boundaries: Constraints, Anti-goals, etc.

Inspiration from Basecamp's Approach

Basecamp, a pioneering company, introduced an ingenious approach called "Shape Up" for feature development. Developers receive a problem statement and a time budget within which the feature must be completed. However, the twist is that the time budget doesn't expect them to complete the entire feature. Instead, they are encouraged to make strategic trade-offs within the allocated time frame. This approach exemplifies providing autonomy by shaping "what" and "why" while leaving the "how" to the capable hands of the team.

The Power of Clarity in Intent

A compelling story illustrates the significance of clarity in intent. A developer received a directive from their team lead to focus solely on their assigned task and avoid delving into others' work. This led to dissatisfaction and demotivation. However, after open dialogue, the team lead clarified that their intention was to prioritize a critical feature over other tasks. By communicating the "why," the developer's outlook shifted, highlighting the importance of intent over micromanagement.

Every order which can be misunderstood will be. The intention should convey absolute clarity of purpose by focusing on the essentials and leaving out everything else.

Hierarchy of Precision

Implementing this philosophy involves a hierarchy of specificity. As a leader, you communicate the "what" and "how" to product owners. They, in turn, shape the roadmap, epics, and user stories. When passed to developers, these evolve into technical solutions, risk assessments, trade-offs, and even task assignments.

Back Briefing: A Bridge of Alignment

Achieving alignment hinges on a technique called back briefing. While leadership imparts the "what" and "why," teams reciprocate by sharing their action plans. This might manifest as tech solutions, user stories, or project roadmaps. The level of detail depends on the hierarchical context.

Mission Control, Not Status Check

This methodology shifts leadership from status checks to "mission control." Instead of rigid plans at the top, each tier adds granularity to the higher intent.

However, while there's a wealth of literature on top-down alignment, achieving cross-team and cross-organizational alignment poses a challenge.

Creating Cross-Team Alignment

One approach involves convening all product owners to discuss shared priorities and roadmaps. By establishing the top priorities for each team, a common foundation is built. While each team operates independently, they collaborate on a unified mission, striking the balance between autonomy and alignment.

Embracing Imperfect Information

Execution often falters when teams wait for perfect information before acting. Instead, leaders advocate for embracing uncertainty. Adjusting plans based on the available knowledge and identifying essentials enable progress despite ambiguity.

Seek to gather whatever relevant information they can in the time available. However some residual uncertainty will always remain. Rather than seeking to fill the gap completely by gather more data, I suggest adjusting the scope of plans to the available knowledge and using it to identify the essentials.

The Imperative: Intent and Adaptation

In the ever-changing landscape, the do-and-adapt strategy prevails. Leaders set the intent and allow for flexibility. The essence is clarity in intent while giving teams the agency to innovate and navigate.

In conclusion, leadership thrives when it marries intent with autonomy. Guiding the "what" and "why" while empowering the "how" cultivates a culture of ownership and innovation. Just as a conductor's baton leads an orchestra to create harmonious melodies, leaders orchestrate a symphony of purpose-driven accomplishments.