How much matters the payment?

[This is a special post for Rene. a translation of the article published a few weeks ago]

The success is based on the passion. I like to think so. After I've changed many jobs, I started to wonder if the next job I will go will be for more money or more passion. Meanwhile, the salary has grown nicely, but I was going home really tensioned and nervous. I tried at that moment a little introspection and at one point I came to the question

You can work one day without being paid?

You have another reason to work than to receive a payment?I guess you do not work for revenge or because you are getting bored at home and you want to meet some cool guys.

Personally, I prefer to work on topics that I’m passionate about. Of course,there are always other things to do than ones that excites you most, but at least once a week I’m working on something that brings me joy.

The last trends in human resource management includes "engagement officers"(a kind of officers responsible with the mood and motivation of employers), methods and procedures of retention,benefits and compensation plans. All based on two directions: Talent that you are born with. And passion,that you need to arouse every day. Or, at least once or twice a month.

And if the things you’re passionate about you can not do them without payment, then it's even harder to be motivated, to get over the frustrations inherent of any job, to get up after a failure or to enjoy after a success. All matters less,everything costs more.

Take a look at the photo below and think win what area do you think you are

Everything is relative,and for me it's important to do for others what I would do for myself. The way that passion is stimulated in a team depends of the manager, as well as the team. People are different and they have a different way of being motivated. Still, at the basis of everything is the fascinating, essential topic of communication.

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Principles of communicating vessels in labor market

You know, there are many things that you can learn from physics and other sciences when speaking about social interactions, humans and markets.

Courtesy to http://www.spiraxsarco.com

Two years ago, I had a very interesting discussion with a good friend of mine that told me that the theory of systems works very fine when dealing with teams. According to Ziegler–Nichols method, a system can be characterized (that is to determine its parameters), by applying a step input. It is a long story about what this means, but to make it easier comprehensible, L. said that you can see how a team behaves when a significant event happens: the boss is replaced, there is a high fluctuation ongoing, a new project has to be tackled soon.   Basically, under stress, all behaviors are exacerbated and small thing you would not care usually become a big deal.

Courtesy to http://www.overclock.net/

Than, I noticed that other laws of physics can be applied in the management of human resources. The best one that depicts a free market is the principle of communicating vessels. According to Wikipedia, the principle has been used starting with ancient Rome for indoor pluming, as follows: Water will reach the same level in all parts of the system, which acts as communicating vessels, regardless of what the lowest point is of the pipes – although in practical terms the lowest point of the system depends on the ability of the plumbing to withstand the pressure of the liquid.

What does it actually mean in a free labour market : the offer (need of jobs) and the demand (number of existing workers) are working in the same way like the air and water. Let's take some examples:
A small company is winning a very competitive contact with a company located in a different market. The competitive advantage is the cost of work on the local market, which seems to be at most one third of the cost from the remote market. As a consequence, the pressure from this company to the local market will increase and will generate some movement from one company to another. If the pressure is kept on short term, than only a few workers, the people on the move, will be affected by the situation, while the companies are not affected to much. This is a natural situation and actually it is sometimes healthy for the market. Take, for instance, the examples with rivers and lakes. If the water in lakes is not refreshed from time to time, it's smelling bad and is not oxygenated well enough to foster enough the life. In the same time, the rivers have more interesting forms of life and the water should be cleaner. So, to say it loud and clear, there is no labor market without a little fluctuation, which can become healthy, when we speak about low numbers.
What happens when the pressure is high? Usually, there can be two approaches:
On one hand, the other companies on the market start to develop counter-measures on the pressure from the market, to decrease the attraction to the new positions. These counter measures can include, but are not restricted to, salary increase, new benefits, new HR policies to make jobs more flexible and attractive. Actually, there is no sure recipe, it strongly depends from where the company affected by fluctuation starts and who is the competitor.
On the other hand, the competitor is so strong, that cannot be implemented any reasonable measure. Or so weak, that to implement new rules simply makes no sense. It is just a matter of time to let the market cool down. In the first situation, it helps a lot to have a great contingency plan. In the second situation, it is great to  have patience and a great business intelligence. Intelligence like agent 007. Being well connected in the market, you can easily learn what is the actual threat and react with calm.

There is a matter of time until the demand is somehow equalized by the offer. And I have bad news for IT industry. When a market cannot meet the demand on longterm by increasing the offer, the demand will move to another local market. It is obvious for any of you, that when you dont find the needed groceries nearby and with the expected cost, you move a little bit away from your area, even going to hypermarket.

Actually, the little drawing from the beginning of the article is much more complex and actually there is no local market anymore. Of course, the vessels communicate through thicker pipelines and it takes a while to feel the pressure from one vessel to another. Yet, the vessels are surely connected, especially when speaking about highly sophisticated jobs like medical doctors, IT, telecom, scientists. In these cases, we speak about a global market, whereas the carpenters, plumbers or sales men are more localized.

In the end, everything is influenced by everything and all the vessels communicate with all the vessels.
Keep calm and enjoy your job...

courtesy of http://www.lisasonora.com

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Do you work harder for your ideas?

Peter Bregman, about leading through conversation.


@Dragos: ring a bell? :)

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[Team Velocity 5] Entry. Exit. Signs.

Copyright: Symbolgraphics.com

Any decent highway has proper traffic signs for entry and exit points. This is not new wisdom, but it is somehow astonishing how big is the difference between the theory and practice when modeling teams as highways.

I strongly believe in two of the new management ideas: enable people to act and self organizing teams. I enjoy when I see teams who share this and it would be more likely to join on of them. For each of the individuals to join a team, there is the need of orientation. People who share same values, principles, who are alike would join together. At least, this is what Cialdini promises when explaining about the six principle of influence. They would be more likely interested to join such teams or organizations when the traffic signs convey the traffic to your team and the traffic outside the team is controlled in order to not generate disruptions. The egress from such constructions should obviously be smooth in order to keep the rest of the traffic at same speed.

Let’s take one by one.

Getting traffic to your highway.

Every highway is connected to the regular roads in a systematic manner. This is my hope. Assimilate the ingress with recruiting and attracting people in your organization. Think how your highway connects the current position of the team member and his destination. Destination is unique, with tons of possible roads. I don’t want to change your destination, my only goal is to make you my partner for the part of our journeys that match together.

Speak about what you value most, what are your most valuable experiences that you can share during the journey. Put there some ideas about what makes unique a journey on your highway. Be consistent in your public expressions. Your team member will follow you and they will replicate the wisdom around. Their journeys are sometimes running on normal roads (like personal projects, family things). These roads can convey other traffic, other journeys into your highway. It's a matter of values and interests. Consistent and genuine. You are not fooled by big words. Others, neither.

Restart past collaborations

The journeys are not the same for all. But the journeys can share parts of the routes. For a while, being part of your team is not relevant for one's route. Than, it might become relevant again. There might be improvement to your highway as well, there might be changes in the destination. Anyway, you share values and the connection is somewhat made. You can imagine a faster lane, a better road, nicer vehicles on the road or best buddies

You are not static

Once I heard a saying: "Don't be irreplaceable. Thus, you won’t be ever promoted." Every manager wants to be promoted at a certain moment in time. To make a lateral change to extend his experience. It is rarely the case to have the same position over 10 or 15 years. The highway might be other, but the administrator is the same. It's personal branding that brings in traffic and conveys routes to a certain highway. Some people like you better than others. Sympathy on one hand, coming from the others. Empathy, from you to the others. Close the circle.

It's not easy to restart collaborations. The leave and returning are governed by pride, by dreams, by perception, by sentiments. It's never black or white and no one is really right. In some extend, it's a little bit like in marriage. At least, these days when management is changing slightly its paradigms.

Reasons for separation

Try to understand why people are leaving your team. There are hundreds of possibilities and you need to understand where has been the turning point. The easiest approach is to consider that nothing could have been done. It might be the case, but you still can learn how to predict these situations and prepare emergency scenarios before looking how the team member is leaving.

Don’t be hard-hearted. People are not replaceable tools or resources. Approaching professional relationships like a relation with your car prevent you to learn. Communication is bi-directional. Don’t be like a radio, broadcasting but not receiving the feedback.

Learn and improve

Every event like this is a great chance to learn and to improve. Understand; assume mistakes in case you did some. Managers are not IronMan, with an invincible steel plate. It’s more what the free gift of feedback can bring to the development of the team. Sometimes it’s the lack of attention one got. Sometimes it’s the missing opportunity to grasp. Next time could be the type of activity some is enrolled. It’s never too late to learn something new.

Don't blame the "company". There are some humans behind. This way is just passing the guilt and refusing to accept real facts. Like the state, company does not exist by itself. People are running it and they are doing specific actions that might trigger discontentment. Passing the blame to system wont make system running better. This situation does not occur in small companies. There, people know each other and don’t use these big words.

Support the progress

Be ready to shift team members to another team. Highways, at least in bigger companies, should be interconnected. Make sure that your connection to other highways is optimum and gets also some traffic back. Make sure that the entrance is always to a good lane, to a nice highway. Build competences that are meaningful in the big picture, not only in your small ecosystem. As I said in the beginning, people spread the word and this can convey traffic to your highway. When you prepare the changes, you have two huge advantages: you control the moment when a change is done and people perceive you as partner in their journeys. Great things, both!

Communication of change

It’s natural that people leave teams. Be careful how you explain this. Don’t hide it. Don’t blame the guy who is leaving. Explain, as transparent as possible, the reasons and the context. Insist on context. If you are not an asshole, the context is important in such a change.  What is relevant for one might not be for another. When hiding the situation, people have the tendency to start making assumptions. Even when situation is not in your favor, you can turn into a positive fact by admitting a mistake and show the improvement plan.

 Trust

Trust the one who are actually leaving the team. Their route is now changing. They can even contribute from outside with opinions, lobby or just to spread the word about what great things you accomplished together.  Showing trust, you just gained more respect from people working with you. They can expect this behavior more as they are with you. People are not static; you will meet them sometimes in the future. This is another idea to bear in mind.

Every day prepare the future and work hard that the present is the future you prepared yesterday.

Read also

Team velocity [1] - the idea
Team velocity [2] - the relation between the mission of the team and its velocity
Team velocity [3] - The entry points on the highway
Team velocity [4] - The exit points from the highway

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[Team velocity 4] Exit points

Copyright:http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org

A key factor in designing the team according to Highway Theory.

A well designed highway has the quality that you have a smooth exit, well signaled with kilometers ahead, for an easy transition. A well designed team has the quality that there is a smooth development of the team, as well as the smooth leave of a member. There is no wonder that some team member choose to leave for  various reasons. There are sophisticated reasons behind, that are hard to grasp, as well as easy to understand ones like "My wife wants to move to another city" or "I need to change the city, my kids go to college and I want to be close to them". It's hard to cope to objective reasons, even harder to cope with subjective ones. 

Doesn't matter now. The change will happen and it's always about how smooth the transition will be. As a manager, you will be measured according to this. As a team member, you will suffer the consequences, good or worse. The art of designing a smooth exit stays at manager, the art of implementation stays in the team.

For the knowledge workers, a critical aspect is to have a comprehensive knowledge transfer. Corporations are selling their know-how and pay the employees even to distribute their know-how within the organization. This is not a coincidence. The people are the keepers of the know-how, but it cannot be only one to have the knowledge. You need small communities, little circular relationships where people learn one from another. Thus, the knowledge transfer can be done continuously, having in mind the win-win principle. Putting two great guys and one novice in the community, you can stimulate the experienced ones to work together, as well as to foster the development of the beginner.
The other principle to have in mind is that knowledge is overlapping. The knowledge is nowadays like a niche. I am the expert in X or Y. This is not fun for the team member. Sorry to disappoint you again, the professional life cycle is about 40 years. The expertise is useful for about 15 to 20 years. Afterwards, the technology will change, maybe the niche will disappear, therefore it's highly appreciated when the team offers the opportunity to slightly extend your expertise. On one hand, the manager has the famous back-up solutions. On the other one, the employee intrinsic value on the market is increased. Everyone has something to win.
The overlapping of skills is not done by accident or just based on the interest of the team members. This shall be based on skill inventory for the team and the team's replacement strategy. In both cases, it's a little bit about strategy. To have the team skill inventory you need to understand almost perfectly the needs of the business and !!! the future of the business. You need some years to build the needed skills for the knowledge workers. You need some days to loose a key person. It is highly dependent on you the impact such a change (resignation, promotion) is having on your business. We will speak more about skills inventory, how this can be transformed in a powerful tool. But I will not speak about the future of your business. This is your job to understand and to deploy a meaningful replacement strategy. Overlapping knowledge, distributing tasks in such a way that you can share the work of the guy who leaves the team could be the secret of a smooth exit point.

The most powerful team is that where people feel free to remain. This should be no coincidence. When the team members can choose at any moment to leave or stay (and THEY STAY), this should be the best motivation strategy you ever imagined. Any exit point they will encounter will be skipped.

Stay tuned for the next ideas about exit points:
Communication of changes,, trusting in the people leaving the team, preparation of the future collaboration.


Read also

Team velocity [1] - the idea
Team velocity [2] - the relation between the mission of the team and its velocity
Team velocity [3] - The entry points on the highway
Team velocity [5] - The signs

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Adapt or die

Professional life changed dramatically compared to 50 years ago. It changed even compared to 15 years ago. As I like to say, change is the only constant of our life.
One says that having a great competency in a niche it ensures you a good income and a quiet life. I am a fan of this idea. The only thing I could add is that a niche is not lasting more than a period, being that 10, 15 or 25 years. Sorry to disappoint you! You have a a professional life of about 40 to 45 years, with some good chances to continue at small scale after retirement.

Therefore, it is very likely to make some changes over the years. The changes might not be sophisticated or outside of your original education, but there will be changes.
Let's take marketing for an example. Marketing is a sound profession, with millions of practitioners all over the world. It started as we know it today in '70s and it evolved in the 45 years in various formats. According to wikipedia, it started with Relationship marketing / Relationship management and evolved continously, with at least 4 different approaches up to Social Media Marketing and all nice tricks all bloggers should know. As long social media has not been mainstream, one could live happily with the old mix of techniques. Nowadays, if you are targeting a good job you must take this news into consideration. According to a latest study by Michael Stelzner, Founder of Social Media Examiner, about 83% dintre marketers consider social media as highly important for their business.  Looking back in 2002, while I have been student at Computer Science, the biggest step forward in social media has been instant messaging via Yahoo and sharing a mood. Now this is already obsolete and Facebook is already a classical. Enough about it, I think I made my point with marketing ;-).

Let's take another example. It is called education. According to a study of US Department of Education, the number of enrolled students increased from round about 3 millions in the 50's to more than 15 millions in the early 90's. That is three times more. Even more, the ratio female vs. male changed dramatically, to supra-unitary one in the late 90's. The structure of jobs is very much different now, with lots of the jobs in manufacturing from US and western  countries shifted to BRIC or CIVETS countries. Education industry has to supply now a supplementary set of skills, some even not completely identified. In EU, there are defined programs for Lifelong Learning. According to EU official site, Launched in 2000, Grundtvig aims to provide adults with more ways to improve their knowledge and skills, facilitate their personal development and boost their employment prospects. It also helps to tackle problems associated with Europe’s ageing population.  States recognized that education provided at the age of 20 is not enough to secure a decent employment perspective.

Changes are more often and they are driven by a higher competition for resources and food. We are now 7 billions and the expectation is that this number will grow to 8.9 billion in 2050, increasing therefore by 47 per cent (study of UN). The main drivers of increase will be less developed areas. My assumption is that this will happen as the will be more available, therefore the natural increase of population will remain not penalized by diseases and starvation. Even more,
 
With a perspective of only 2 percent population increase in developed countries, a population active now significantly higher than the next generation and a long lasting crisis, the people of today will face an enormous challenge: how to cope with the change of perspective they grown with. Our parents had a rather predictable life, they retired around 58 with a nice pension and they could think about other things. In 10 to 20 years, it will become usual to retire around 65, nevertheless with a perspective of living at least 75 in average in Europe.

Adaption to new technologies, approaches and working style is the key to a successful professional life and a great work-life balance.
Plan to study each year something new.
Read news, understand the industry trends or get a career coach to guide you.
Invest some of your earnings in the personal development.
Look for a job that secures the access to new technologies or personal development programs.

Photo by Novelo

Add any other ingredient. Be prepared for changes!

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Interviu cu invingatorii

Saptamana viitoare un interviu cu Gabriel Feliu, Sorin Cracana si Gicu Panaghiu. Au castigat la Praga concursul Freescale.

In doua luni, se duc in Texas. BRAVO!!!

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Idei din sport pentru managementul echipelor

Articolul de fata a fost inspirat de intalnirea, dupa mai mult de 15 ani cu antrenorul de handbal care mi-a marcat copilaria. Intalnirea a fost prilejuita de un eveniment de business, o sesiune de training unde domnul Petru Ghervan a vorbit despre experienta sa in managentul echipelor (a condus diverse echipe la toate grupele de varsta in ultimii 20 de ani), leadership, sport si importanta lui. Organizata sub forma unei serii de intrebari si raspunsuri, discutia de mai bine de o ora si jumatate a avut in sala ceva mai mult de 20 de manageri si a fost foarte interesanta.

Am aflat, de exemplu, ca mai mult de 75% din rata de succes in sport este conditionata de talentul innascut. Prin urmare, este cruciala etapa de selectie si felul in care sunt purtate primele antrenamente. Ca o paralela, in managementul echipelor, este esential modul in care sunt selectati membrii echipelor la interviu, printr-o selectie corecta a skill-urilor celor angati maximizandu-se potentialul de performanta al echipei. Aceasta idee este importanta mai ales in echipele cu mai multe pozitii de junior, unde nu se poate urmari in principiu un CV de succes, realizari in proiecte, ci mai degraba potential si potrivirea abilitatilor personale cu pozitia curenta.

Cam acestea despre intrarea in echipa, sa trecem la ce este important pentru functionarea echipei. In sport, dar nu numai. Lucrurile importante sunt delimitate si de asa numitele conditii limitatoare (in engleza, boundary conditions): buget, istorie, socios, factori de decizie.  Echipele normale nu se pot forma dupa modelul Real Madrid, unde nu exista probleme de buget, nu au un singur decident atotputenic (cum e acum cazul celor de la Manchester City) si asa mai departe. De obicei, performanta si raportul performanta - cost este dat de stabilitatea echipei de management, conceptul de training si felul in care sunt promovati cei care intra in echipa. Din nou o comparatie cu echipele, mai ales cele tehnice. De obicei, nu pot fi concentrati in aceeasi echipa doar cei mai buni, resursele aflate la dispozitie nu sunt nelimitate (nu pot fi oferite cele mai mari salarii, nu avem tot timpul din lume pentru a efectua recrutarea) si cu siguranta nu exista doar un singur factor de decizie pentru a fi convins de justetea deciziilor. Depinde de managerul echipei sa identifice, sa decida cum va integra un nou membru al echipei, cum va acoperi golurile de cunostinte, cum va desena traseul profesional spre urmatoarea pozitie, pentru a avea intotdeauna lucrurile sub control. Alftel, poate ajunge usor la situatia in care s-a aflat Steaua Bucuresti in perioada 2007-2011 : mai mult de 100 de jucatori in patru ani si doar un singur trofeu castigat in decurs de 6 ani. Cu toate acestea, bugetul cheltuit nu a fost de neglijat.

Integrarea corecta si usoara este sustinuta de o cultura incluziva, unde greselile sunt permise atunci cand sunt comise cu cele mai bune intentii. Hiper-competitivitatea distruge spiritul de echipa si nu exista o predictie clara daca poate creste performanta.

Am mai discutat si despre stiluri de joc. Barcelona joaca tiki-taka, alte echipe au un stil mai atletic. Echipa de handbal de la Suceava abordeaza un tip de joc rapid, bazat pe mult efort si atitudine in joc. Acest stil nu se potriveste sau nu este iubit de toti jucatorii, iar unii dintre cei care au jucat in aceasta echipa au preferat o alta echipa, cu un stil de joc diferit.  Mai mult, aceasta echipa nu a fost una de staruri. Doar portarul era mai cunoscut, jucand in echipa nationala. Efortul fizic si atitudinea in joc sunt lucrurile de baza in joc si le asigura constant succesul. In aceasta combinatie, antrenorul este starul echipei, dupa cum am mai scris intr-un post anterior.
Si continuand paralela, e posibil ca anumiti membri ai echipei sa fie excelenti atunci cand sunt evaluati ca nefacand parte din nici o echipa. Dar in echipa voastra sa nu se potriveasca. Managerul este responsabil sa realizeze daca se intampla asta si sa reactioneze. Oamenii isi dezvolta noi capabilitati, invata lucruri noi si chiar adopta moduri noi de a face lucrurile. Asta se intampla numai cand ii cunosti foarte bine si poti facilita asta. O intelegere foarte buna a nevoilor si dorintelor celor din echipa dau sanssa managerului de a reactiona bine in situatii complicate, de a oferi motivatiile corecte si a avea o echipa loiala.

Jocul primeste - da inapoi  este influentat in sport si de managementul contractelor. Cum sunt prelungite contractele, cat de mare este marirea salariului si asa mai departe. Cand sa lasi un jucator liber de contract sau cand sa il acorzi transferul. De ce un individ excelent nu mai este parte dintr-o echipa performanta.
E la fel si cu celelalte echipe. Toti membrii echipei ar trebui sa se dezvolte, Acest lucru aduce beneficii imediate in performanta echipei, insa poate avea un efect de bumerang atunci cand o crestere sustinuta motiveaza o promovare in afara echipei. Luati asta in considerare si pregatiti o strategie de promovare si inlocuire. Sustineti performanta si oferiti-i colegului informatiile necesare pentru a fi promovat. Lucrati in a-l pregati pentru mutare, daca simtiti ca are nevoie. Construiti o relatie pentru a primi si oferi informatii, in acelasi timp cu atingerea obiectivelor.

Echipele sunt asemanatoare, fie ca sunt echipe de sportivi sau de business.

Alte articole pe aceeasi tema:

In romana

programator si fotbalist

Din nou despre sport si echipe

In engleza:

Software Developer and Football Player

Sports in business management

 

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Scouting for talents

You are looking to build a great team and you face a limited budget.
Ups, you don't have fancy budget or fancy recruiting agency to use.

I have bad news. It's not possible. In fact, it's not possible next week.

Still, if you are a strategic planner, you will have your team with some investment in advance.

• Scout for talents early enough. If you need them or not, decide later. If they know how talented they are, they are hard to get. If you are the guy who discovered them, then it is a mentor - mentee relationship.
• Look constantly to refresh you pool of talents. It is like taking care about the tree yard nearby your house. If you don't take care, you dont get apples next year and maybe never again.
• Having these guys onboard, support their progress. Don't wait for something in exchange. Be fair. Don't play favorites and offer them challenges according to their potential.
• Be a mentor  for them, as well as a sponsor. One successful story triggers the next one and you will benefit from the legends. Look for next position for each of them by your self, if you see them in the need to be promoted outside of your organization, You won't remain with them in the team, but you will have a great network of guys who appreciate you.
• Keep a close contact with the ones who left the team. They may recommend you other great guys and open some doors for you.

In sum, be a good guy, help others and transform non-financial items in a competitive advantage.

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Sports in business management

As I wrote some days ago, I had the pleasure to meet my former coach during a business event.
He was invited to speak about sports, about the management of the handball teams he managed during last 20 years, leadership and so on. This has been organized like a Q&A session, having about 25 managers in the room.

I learned that in sports round about 75% of the success is conditioned about the inborn skills. Therefore, it is very important how it is made selection and the first training sessions. As a parallel, in team management, having the right guys on-board since the beginning, we maximize the chances of a successful team. This is particularly true for junior positions, where there is no successful track of achievements to be presented during an interview

Having this entry point secured, we discussed about what is important for a team (in sports, but not only). This is given by some boundary conditions (budget, history, "socios", other stake holders). We are not always in the position of Real Madrid, where budget is not an issue, we are not in the position of Manchester City (having one all mighty owner) and so on. Usually, the performance and ration performance vs cost is given by stability in management, concepts of training and promotion in the first team. I am making again a comparison with technical teams. You cannot get the ultimately best persons in the team, resources you can spend are limited and you don't have a single stakeholder to convince. Therefore, it is up to you, the team manager, to identify how to integrate a new team member, how to cover the gaps in terms of knowledge, to imagine a path to next level, in order to keep things under control. Otherwise, you might reach the situation of  Steaua Bucharest, who had more than 100 players in 4 years and only one trophy won in 6 years.

Usually, this is supported by an inclusive team culture, where mistakes are allowed if they were done based on good will. Hiper competition is ruining the team spirit and there is no prediction to indicate the level of performance for next level.


The other thing we spoke about, somehow related to culture is the style of playing. Barcelona is playing tiki-taka, other teams play more athletic styles. This team my coach spoke about is using a speedy type of playing, based on a lot of effort and very bold attitude. This concept does not fit to everyone, so there were players who wanted a transfer to a team which they felt more convenient. In addition, only the goal keeper has been a little star. The rest of the play is based on team effort and they are successful together. Actually, as wrote in another post, the coach has been the star.

To continue the parallel, you might get excellent employees in your team that simply don't fit. This is up to you to realize and react. People develop other skills, learn new topics and might even adhere to new ways of doing things. But this happens only when you know all very good. A good understanding of their needs and wishes gives you the chance to quickly react in turmoils, motivate them with right incentives and have a loyal team.

This giving and receiving game is also influenced, in sports, by the contract management. How soon the contract is extended, how is the salary increased or not. When a certain player is simply let to move to another team. Why excellent individuals are not allowed to be part of the team.

It's the same with the rest of the teams. All the team members are supposed to grow. This is an immediate benefit, but comes with the boomerang effect that a sustained growth will make him be promoted outside of your team. Think about this and prepare a replacement strategy. Give him the information that you are working to allow him move up, if the case. Build an open relationship, so you are able to get information and give targets in the same time.

About fluctuation, performance and team management, in the next Sunday article : Highway to performance.
PS:  I am giving lots of examples from the sports which use the ball, as these is easier to understand.

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Sports and team management

Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet my handball coach from the childhood. He is meanwhile very successful and built a great team in my hometown.
He spoke in one of our internal seminars about different moments in time when leadership and management were necessary to make things work.
I will come up with a new post about the things he said and some things I thought about after the discussion.

Stay tuned for Sunday article!

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UML in embedded (II)

Here we go again.
I had a short talk today on how to document design.
I make now a short resume of the ideas.
All designs needs to document (from a perspective of a single software component) two main areas:
- static description
- behavioral description

For the first one, you need to imagine what is the layout of your SW Component (functions, variable, global or not). Let's call this class diagram. Additional, you have to catch in one picture which are the provided interfaces and which are the required interfaces. Let's call this component diagram.
If you imagine an engine, until now you depicted the size, shape and how the engine can be mounted in the car.
Then, please think about the behaviour of the SW component.
Imagine some scenarios based on use cases. This can be depicted using sequence diagrams.
Go further and describe special algorithms via activity diagrams.    Don't use for each and every flow, it makes it only hard to read.
If you model your system based on states, don't forget state machine diagrams. Here, there is plenty of literature to read about modeling system based on state machine diagrams.

Here you go, takes this steps and try to document your work. Jack Ganssle makes a nice review on a new book, about documenting software. It goes in the idea of writing beside code. Al Stavely’s new book, “Writing in Software Development,”

I will come up next month with some ideas about how to mix Doxygen and tools like UMLet to make nice documented SW components.

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Why bother?

Managing a team of software engineers is easy. Or not?
Being a software engineer usually offers good enough compensation, even the opportunity to get a senior position in a company.

Then, why bother to be the manager of such a team? This is my first question to whom ever mentions that she/he wants to be the boss.
Do you want to be there for the money?
Do you want to be there for the fame?
Do you want to be there for the power?
Do you want to be there for others?
I don't know exactly why someone should look to be a manager. There is no standard answer. But, I strongly believe that you should question yourself when only one motivation arises for this job.

If your answer to first question is yes, then you should look elsewhere for a job. This is usually the first sign that you will consider to reach the bonus by the mean of the team members. Think about looking down, as well as looking up (that is to higher management).
If you look for fame, than look around to see something also in the dark. Shining is good, but there are gems hidden in the corners.
If you look for the power... Well, this is the tricky one. Are you sure that you don't have something in addition to make the winning pair? I would be careful to work with you otherwise.
If you are there for the others, then be sure you don't forget the business.

If you are there for the job, than
                                                                              Good luck!

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Estimations (not agile)

Why are needed?
Simply because you also need a deadline from your builder when the house is finished. And for sure, you ask for a delivery date when you go to your tailor. Plus, you ask for a price. No deal is closed without a price indication and a delivery date.

Simple tricks to make it better:
1. Read down what you have to do
2. Understand it
3. Split it in pieces.
4. Write down the pieces and think how much would you spend for each.
4.a. You have do in it and can look back in the history. Put the figures there.
4.b. This is the first time you have to do this. Split it in more pieces and go back to step 4.
4.c You cannot escape from step 4.b. Use your intuition. How complicated does it seems?
                        Same other task : put the same effort as for that, plus the learning effort
                        Twice as complicated: twice the effort plus the learning effort.
                        Five time as complicated than what you did so far: ask for another task.
5. Think a little about risks: what can happen to prevent you for completing the task. Put some effort there (not for all risk you identify, only for half of the big ones).
If the risks are to high, ask for another task or tell this to manager.
6. Sum it up and see if you can reach the deadline.
If this is not possible, then see what is the delta missing: can you speed up and delivery in time or is basically impossible and should tell this to the guy who requested this.

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Democracy in software engineering?

Article first published as Software is Democratic on Technorati.

Maybe you have read "Funky Business". Two Swedish professors, Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordström. are writing about how information open more opportunities for less developed countries.
Internet access is cheap, the need for application is great and the offer is high. The quality can vary, but this happens in all the cases, no matter the origin of the author. Now, the most significant competitive advantage is the intelligence of the software engineer.
The engineering is democratizing in what regards software. With a decent speaking of English, a decent internet connection and anyone can challenge the old markets. MIT is publishing courses on their website Many other universities do the same. Internet is full of tutorials and courses. So the information is easy to grasp and use at will
One can argue that you need licenses for the tools. This is partly true. On one hand, there are plenty of frameworks for free. You need a few bucks to be able to publish apps on Apple Store. Or the well known platforms of download, where you can offer your products.
As well, the pressure from emerging markets can be seen in highly specialized markets. Telecom, automotive electronics are now produced all over the world. The development locations are spread in the same way. A few months ago, Bosch opened a new development center in Vietnam. How do you find this? I find it as a natural step to globalization.
The funny thing is that salaries in developed countries are not going down, even with this equality of chances. This is, IMHO, due to large increase in demand of applications. Suddenly, you can sell thousands of applications on web stores. Nevertheless, compared to 10 years ago, I do have at least 5 devices which embed software. The new TV set I would like to buy has even WiFi included. My fridge has a complicated algorithm of freezing. The oven can be set in all kind of programs. I don't have an iPhone. Still, my phone has internet connection, camera and calendar included. I expect that average gadgets do have more lines of code than AppleII computer.

So, there is room for everyone. The next thing will be to transfer all this programming mindset from single processors to multiprocessors. Let's see how this will change the world.

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Unit test

Do programmers test? If yes, do they think that testing is somehow dishonoring them?
Do great programmers have a great testing technique? YES.

I noticed that most of the programmers hate to test their work before integration in a bigger product.

I will come back to testing, attitude and tools.

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Dennis Ritchie passed away

Having this large media exposure of the Steve Jobs, the death of Dennis Ritchie seemed almost unnoticed

A few things about him you can find here, for the ones who did not read the famous K&R C book.

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Can you keep your talents?

The war for talent is not over. It's just started.
Talents are hard to get and even harder to keep.

I wrote about ciclicity and pipelines. Each team has a certain development cycles. And each team member has its own development cycle. If these cycles are overlapped, than everyone is happy and the team is strong. Each individual has a different development cycle.
My theory is that we have x types of development cycles
1. High potential - they have very short development cycles (2-3 years), they need to change jobs to fulfill their potential,
Put them where there are the most challenging tasks and keep always with a potential lateral move available, in order to give room for a promotion.
You cannot keep them more than one development cycle in your team, unless you have several senior positions.
2. Good potential - first one or two levels are usually quickly passed. When they are quite young, you cannot discriminate quite good between a high potential and a good potential.
Usually, they are the stars in your team. Don't lie to your self, I haven't seen many high potentials in one place. Put all the trust in them and support them in their development. Should be fine to keep them in two or three development cycles. For this ones, the progress in the career is essential, so they feel part of the success.

3. The Reliable- my best friend. The guys I usually like at interviews. I highly appreciate the first two categories, but even more these ones. I could compare them with middle class. Sweden has an excellent middle class, therefore their standard of life is high.
To form a great team, look for good reliable engineers. They invent as long as it is needed. They remain in the team for 3-4 development cycles. Here you find most of the experts, most of the nice team members.

4. Kick the guy - my enemy. You don't need them. For some strange reasons, you might even hired them. Or your predecessor. The main thing with this kind of people is that they don't realize what they are good at. And insist to be promoted, even they don't do much in their role.
You can keep them forever. And ever. And 3-4 years after you are tired to keep them.

So keep in mind a few simple questions when thinking about the talents in your team
Can you keep him more than one development cycle?
How many levels you can ensure in the team under your responsibility?
Do you search for a new position for him or you let him freely choose?

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Embedded is not dead. It is very much alive and growing.

Michael Barr is a columnist and embedded guru, hosting a newsletter and organizing Embedded Software Boot Camp.
He posted today a special issue of the newsletter, looking to the growth of embedded sector in U.S. My impression is that embedded is not dead at all not only in US, but also in Europe and Asia. Looking back to one of the older posts, I can tell you that nowadays these engineers are hard to get. 
My friends working in Europe constantly get phone calls from agency with plenty of vacancies. I know some companies that are able to fill their positions not earlier than 6 months. Speaking now only about embedded sector.
I am joining the idea of Michael Barr and I will create a section with possible job offers coming from companies who would like to hire in Romania these kind of profile. In case someone is interested, please send an email.


PS: Don't lough, maybe I am ridiculous with this initiative. This is only a little step to help the industry where I make a living (in Romanian, I could say "mananc o paine alba)".

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How to describe the equation of your team.

Depending on your business case, you can imagine a high fluctuation or a great retention. You never know what can happen tomorrow. I get used to this in the last years of crisis.
Maybe you remember my opinion that the teams are fluid. Having a great team at a certain moment in time, does not guarantee you that this is forever. Market is changing, people are getting older, have kids, breakup, meet a new technology, a new company is aggressively recruiting in your yard.
Suddenly, the carefully crafted edifice is down and you have no clou why the hack is not working anymore what you considered as perfect.
Your job, as manager of a bunch of software engineers, is to think what could happen and avoid the possible obstacles: change before the team notice the need to change, remove some smaller obstacles, bring in fresh air when the pace is getting slower.
The equation you wont write. But you should be able to tell it to your self and resolve it, when need it.
 

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