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It is hard to find successful managers according to science

In an article in the Swedish newspaper DN it is proclaimed that it is difficult to find successful managers, even if we spend a lot of money on leadership training. The research looked into middle management and could not find any scientific proof of increased success. This is not surprising since there are very few correlations between managers and leaders after all.
The article is critical towards the trend of managers taking classes to become better leaders. As leadership is not something you can learn I kind of agree with that, but at the same time anyone can improve the chances of becoming a leader if they know how to. By educating yourself on what a leader is and is not, then you can take steps to move towards leadership. This however is often wasted on managers as they are to far away from the employees to actually make much of difference.
There is also nothing wrong in not being a great leader. Managers that does not lead groups of people directly often do the "boring stuff". This includes budgets, resource planning, contract negotiations, stakeholder relations and a whole lot of sales discussions. This is not something that you need leadership skills for. You need authority and organization skills. This is an extremely important role to have.
I know several managers that are the absolute best in the world that I would never let lead a development team for example. They are exceptional managers, but no leaders. Then I know of a few managers that are not great managers, but great leaders. Lastly you have the saddest bunch of them all and that is the group that are amazing leaders that are terrible at management. These are completely wasted in a management position.
I know that saying that leaders and managers are not the same is not 100% true because they share certain traits. Regardless if you are a manager or a leader you need the ability to communicate and to have a clear message (even if it is wrong).  Where a leader should inspire and lead by example a manager need to communicate a vision and a direction. Managers direct the workforce towards a goal and the leader makes sure the road to get there are enjoyable and productive.
So the fact that this study did not find any proof of successful leaders among middle management is kind of normal. Increased knowledge of leadership does not make management leaders. It makes them more understanding of leadership and hopefully it means that they will work better with the leaders. That in turn would improve the working conditions for the workforce if all goes well. If a middle manager would become a great leader then by definition it get isolated as that person often have others between themselves and the workforce. Those leaders can be bad leaders so even if the middle manager inspire them to greatness, it will not reach the workforce.
We should also recognize that most managers are completely buried in work and often are forced to content switching that cause stress. That alone prevent room to actually lead as they are jumping from one area to the next with little to no pause for reflection or processing. It is very difficult to develop any form of leadership skills in such environments. This is also a cause for poor decision making that we will discuss in another article.
To become a better leader require a profound change of self. This is not something that can be done by anyone else as you do not develop compassion and respect in a classroom. That comes from within as part of growth of self. This can be triggered by education of course, but the actual transformation happen within. If you are a greedy, self centered, performance driven individual with low empathy then no matter what you do you will never be a great leader. It is as simple as that.
Does this mean that the many leadership training's that exist out there are worthless? I do not think so. Understanding what good leadership is will make more people strive towards that. The fact that we see so many articles, training classes and blog posts about leadership is forcing organizations to evolve. We no longer accept bad leadership and especially in the IT world people will leave companies with bad leadership for companies with good leadership.
This put pressure on many organizations, but it is important to understand the difference between a manager and a leader.  Today I think we mix them together and many managers feel that they are bad leaders. The thing is that this is ok, as long as they are great managers and they make sure all work forces have a great leader. This leader does not have to have a title, just the trust and respect of the work force they lead. If you have that and everyone understand the dynamic in the work force then things will be great for all involved.
In theory at least 🙂
 
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

7 years working with Ornamo Antar

Seven years ago I met this young developer named Ornamo. Pretty fresh out of school there was something about him that made me think that this guy will go places. Today I see that I was right and still his journey has just started.
The thing that struck me back when we first met was his passion for code. It was not just something he did for work, it was something he really loved doing. He did code on his free time and every moment he looked at ways to improve. He was hungry and eager to become the best version of himself.
Our first years we mostly worked side by side. I had the seniority, but Ornamo had the skills. Even with my 15+ years experience in front end development, Ornamo was way ahead of me from the first time we met. Later on as I was pushed a bit into project management Ornamo was always the one I looked to for the role of architect and leadership.
I nudged him a bit here and there and pushed him to take on more responsibility and he just excelled every time. This just confirmed my feelings that Ornamo is destined for greater things. Not only is his skill set amazing, he works extremely well with everyone around him as well.
As most front end developers he understand the design process and the UX principles. In fact I think he could easily move into that field professionally if his love for code was not so strong. He is a natural leader without trying. People simply follow him because they want to rather than some artificial role give to him. This is something that I think will eventually lead Ornamo to the same path as I have been given when sooner or later he will become a more formal leader as a project manager or product owner.
I know few people that are as kind and generous as Ornamo is. He is loyal and respectful and will always give you his absolute best. He is diplomatic and is naturally attuned to the dynamics in any work group. Although he prefer to be in a position where he can learn from the other members of the team, he have no problem taking on the mentor hat and share everything he knows. There is no prestige or ego driving Ornamo, only constant improvement and making the best possible solutions.
So now, seven years since we first met, I no longer see a young developer in Ornamo. I see a man who not only have become a skilled professional that is well respected by his peers and his clients alike. A married man who I expect soon will not only be a loving husband, but also an amazing father. A successful man that in a very short time have impressed me beyond words.
I am deeply honored have the privilege to work side by side with a man that have a future ahead of him that is well beyond anything I could ever achieve. I have watched Ornamo grow with every challenge presented before him and I am certain that he will continue to grow for many, many years to come. Already today he is one of the most skilled and experienced front end developer I know.
Ornamo Antar is a true unicorn with a bright future that will be amazing to follow.
 
Learn more about Ornamo Antar on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ornamoantar/
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

15 tips to master requirements to avoid scope creep and costly delays

Requirements are abused almost daily and it is a fact that most projects that fail miserably do so because the requirement process failed. Lets go over what requirements are and how to make sure you control the requirements and in doing so also control your project.
That is pretty much the summary of what a requirement is, but it's a bit more complicated than that as a requirement is made up of three different parts:
Business need - What people usually think a requirement is. Its a description of a need that should be fulfilled and it can come from the business or the end user perspective. The technical elaboration - The part that is most lacking and the cause for so many failed/costly projects. This takes the business need and extend it with the technical elaborations that make it possible to design or code the solution. The verification aspect - This part is where each part of the requirement is defined in a way that it can be verified with true or false statements. It ensures that the requirement have the right level of clarity. Once you break down the requirement in these three areas you will naturally see the need to involve the correct users in the requirement process. The business need comes from the product owner, who also own the requirement. The technical elaboration comes from the developers and the verification aspects comes from test.
Once the concept that a requirement is a trinity and not a simple request or wish, then you will have come a bit closer to how to get great requirements that are easy to work with and to understand, without having to spend endless hours to formalize them. You can focus on making sure each of the three parts get improved and making sure that there is a natural handover between the requirement phase and development where the development team approves the requirement instead of just inherit it.
In order for this to work there are some things you should make sure you either stop or start doing. Here is my list of some of these things:
Make sure you add business value to your requirements. Requirements cost money and I don't mean when they are being developed. The cost for elaborate on a requirement also cost money so do not waste money on requirements that does not provide a clear value for the product. Make sure you do not forget the "Why" in the user story! The Why often explain why the requirement exist and its what you compare against when deciding if a requirement is valuable enough to warrant the cost to realize it. Make sure you break down user stories to avoid huge requirements. It is easy to end up to high in a requirement, but you need to break it down so it's easy to understand and so it fit within one development period if you are in an agile work process. A requirement is NOT equal to development! There is no 1-1 relation between a requirement and development, just as there is no 1-1 relation between development and test. So unless you will start to write your requirements as a function specification do not expect development to be 1-1 with the user story. Don't refer to other requirements or share user story for multiple development. Each user story is atomic and should be able to survive on it's own completely independent of other user stories. Link to solution designs and things like that, but never to another requirement in order to explain the acceptance criteria. Don't describe solutions. It is up to the developer to decide on the proper technical solution and the requirement should refrain from describing solutions as the technical solution can change based on other development. Never add variables in a requirement by using words like and, or, with, approx. , etc. and so on. Make the requirement clear and free from interpretations. Never use indefinable terms like future proof, faster, user friendly, versatile or robust. Also refrain from using the term responsive as it's also open to interpretation. Don't ramble. Each acceptance criteria should be short and verifiable. If you feel the need to explain the acceptance criteria, then it's probably not properly defined yet. Make sure each acceptance criteria is verifiable. Think of them as check boxes that can be either true or false. If interpretation is needed then the acceptance criteria is not good enough. Make sure that most of the questions from the development team is answered. Instead of repeating the answers over and over, write them down. In order to get this make sure you involve the developers so they can ask the questions right away. Make sure the requirement take the work process in consideration. If you ask for a new component where you want to set a font color for example, then define how you would want to do that. There is a big different between getting a drop list of predefined colors, an input field for hex codes or a color wheel and it will affect your work process. Always let the developers approve the requirement. This ensures that they take over the responsibility and they verify that they understand what you want them to build. Once the development team have taken ownership never alter the requirement by adding or removing functionality. Only clarifications should be done at this stage or there will be mayhem and scope creep. Find the right level! There is no need to go bananas and spend weeks on a requirement unless the organisation need it to get the requirement properly defined. The better each of the three parts of the requirement become at defining the requirement, the faster it will go without loosing quality. You need to find that level where the requirement is optimal for your team. These are just some small notes on what you can do to improve the quality of requirements. I have worked with clients that knew nothing of requirements and did the Agile/Ad Hoc version where they never got a project out in time or on budget. Once properly trained they not only mastered the art of requirements, but they also managed to keep deadlines and budgets.
I aim to write a bit more about this topic later on, but perhaps there is a specific topic you would want me to address right away?
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

Great companies have great attitude!

As soon as you step into the office of a company you can sense what kind of company it is. It's in the decoration, in the way people dress, the body language and in the eyes of everyone working there. That is because great companies have great attitude that go beyond just doing great work. It's a passion and a love for what they do that no amount of skill or hard work can match.
I am sure you have felt it many times stepping into an office regardless of what business you are visiting: The stale and boring office where work is the only thing that matters where silent people stare at their computer screens with faces of stone that indicate a high performance company with little to no love for their employees. The bright and a little messy office where people talk and laugh, walking around with that enthusiastic light in the corner of the eye indicating a passionate company who cares about their employees.
It's a vibration in the air, a smell of freshness and a soft light that seem to be around everyone that works there. It is as if everyone is just full of life and creativity. It is in companies that can maintain that passion that you will find the best value because everyone will go out of their way to make sure their clients not only get what they think they want, but also that they get what they need.
It is also in these companies where change is always welcome and even encouraged. New ideas are born spontaneous without fear of rejection, no matter how silly or strange and everyone are open about their opinions on how things can be improved. This is where the employees come early and leave late and it's in companies like this where not all work is being charged because the people will work on it even when they are no longer at work. Not because they have to, but because they want to.
I have had the great fortune of working for several companies having this great attitude. I also work with clients that have this same great attitude and the thing that they all have in common is that its easy to make changes and people are passionate and willing to make things better. These are the companies that grow and become successful, not because of the products or services they sell, but because people will go above and beyond to make success happen.
I have also worked for companies that are the opposite. Stale and almost impossible to make changes happen, even if it's obvious to everyone that change is a necessity. Companies that treat people like numbers in a spreadsheet that use protocol and rules as ways to make others feel bad because they themselves are unhappy at work. The employees in these companies will never go the extra mile because they have learned that no one cares if they do and their passion have all but died inside them.
So the next time you consider doing business with another company think about what you want from that business arrangement. Do you want someone that will just give you want you ask of them even if it may not be the best solution, or do you want someone that will be passionate about giving you the best possible solution, even if it's not exactly what you ask for?
Do you want a silent grey production machine or someone that will work with you to get the best possible solution for your business?
Greatness is just around the corner, you just need to have the courage to go for it.
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

3 fun ways to improve team spirit

As a leader, no matter if you are a business manager, project manager or team lead your job is to improve the team spirit of those that you lead. This can be done in many ways, but I have 3 quite fun ideas that I use in my projects to lift the spirit of my team.
When working in a project you go through many phases with your team and as you grow in to your role as a leader you will start to see the signs when your team is in need of a little energy boost or just need a soft break to smile more. This is when you can do small things that takes only a few minutes, but have great impact on the team.
The three things described here are designed to get the team to smile because smiles release tension and release a lot of positive things in your body. They are designed to not disrupt the work to much, while at the same time engage the whole team in one way or the other. They are also quite fun for you to do as well, which makes it a win-win for everyone.
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Number one - The Post-it.
The post-it is a super easy way to provide a short appreciation for the team. Simply write a post-it for every team member with a few words of appreciation and then walk over to each and every one and paste it on their screen. I usually do this in complete silence to let the post-it do all the talking and place a hand on the shoulder or do a fist bump to make the words connect on a more personal level.
A short message like "You are awesome!" or "You Rock!" are all it takes as long as you show that you really mean it as well. In most projects these post-its stay on the screen or get moved to the wall next to the person you gave it to, making it a constant reminder that you appreciate their hard work.
Number two - Let there be cake!
Nothing says I appreciate your hard work like cake. I try to always buy cake for my team when a new sprint is about to start. It's a great way to show that you appreciate the teams work from last period, regardless of what happened and combined with some well chosen words you can solidify the feeling that you as a leader really appreciate and trust your team.
It also lift the spirit right there and then and I usually have a sprint startup where we go through the work for the coming sprint. With a bit of cake the team become more active (not just because of the sugar) and discussions improve a lot as people feel secure to lift problems and come up with solutions.
Cake can be substituted with pretty much anything that the team like and I almost always pay for it myself to show that this comes from me personally. Sometimes the cake can come from the client or from the company if it is necessary to improve connection with them instead of within the team.
Number three - The water game
This is probably the silliest and most challenging thing of the tree things in this list as it require preparation or fast and creative thinking. What you do is that you get water and something to drink out of for each of the team members. I started this as I wanted the team to drink more water, but to make it a bit more fun and to make the water feel a bit more special I started to make up a story for each member.
So instead of just getting water they got frozen tears from a Tibetan Yeti that had been transported by blind monks to the far east where they got melted in a golden bowl at the top of the pyramids during an eclipse before it was bottled up in sacred flasks and shipped to the team.
The result of this game if you get it right is that people will not just stop working for a few minutes to listen to your stories, but they will drink the water with a smile and ask for more. Its a fun and challenging way to keep your team hydrated and make people smile and laugh for a few minutes.
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If you can get your team to smile and laugh for just a few minutes every day with you that will lift the spirit of your team and you as a leader will get closer to the people you lead. It is one of many ways to get people to follow you instead of just doing what you say because it show them that you care about them.
These tree suggestions only work if you do it with genuine care for the people you lead, but as a leader that should not be a problem. Once the team feel that you care about them, any fun thing you do will be appreciated, but if you have not made that connection yet then focus on that first.
I hope you will find these suggestions useful and fun and if you have suggestions yourself, please share so we can become better leaders with happier and more productive teams that love to come to work with us!
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman