LEADING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TEAMS – 5 THINGS GREAT LEADERS DO, AND 5 THINGS THEY SAY – Marin Bezić Concero d.o.o.

ABOUT ME Founded Concero d.o.o. Helping clients optimize software development processes and teams 4 years with MSFT in Europe Business and marketing management 8 years with MSFT in Redmond Shipped 3 releases of the first Microsoft BI product Lead a team of 25 developers in the SQL Server product unit

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tera byte

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 2011

Amir Netz Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft Bill Baker SQL BI General Manager, ex. Microsoft

T HIS TALK IS ABOUT IMPORTANT THINGS G REAT L EADERS HAVE TO DO ( AND SAY )

IMAGES ONLY - WHAT I HAVE DONE IN REDMOND Talking points: cubes, bi for the masses, bi platform, T3 (first cube on terabyte of data), now you may have heard of PowerPivot (35k users in Microsoft), Project Crescent History of innovation, successes It takes great people, and leadership, and team that clicks As I help now clients in our region, I looked back at key things that my managers and leaders did, and I tried to select a few that I believe were critical for our success. That is what this talk is about. Important things that leaders have to do and say as they drive their organizations to success.

CONTEXT

SMART PASSIONATE DIFFERENT “GEEKS”

Creative work

Exciting

Competitive

High expectations

Sometimes all you do is…

Making software is challenging

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE LEADER/MANAGER? Trust – “let go” Track Coach Challenge Simplify Remove roadblocks Remove bottlenecks Protect Manage Set goals Achieve goals Make profit Make purpose Eliminate waste Hire the best Help them get better

Great leaders maintain balance

BALANCE OF WHAT? Short termLong termStabilityImprovementsResearchDevelopmentEmpowermentDirectionDifferentiationEqual treatmentRationalEmotionalGood feedbackBad feedback and others … PressureFunAnalyzingDoing

WHAT IS THE RIGHT BALANCE? It depends Depends on your Project lifecycle Product maturity Culture …

5 THINGS GREAT MANAGERS DO TO MAINTAIN BALANCE

1. FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS Fundamentals are the core values, principles and processes Transparent status No spec no code Realistic schedule Quality from the start Short termLong term

2. CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE Optimize your processes and flow Eliminate bottlenecks Eliminate waste Repeat StabilityImprovements

3. SCOUT Prepare for future Look beyond the horizon (of your team members) ResearchDevelopment

Trust and Track Proactive about solving problems, addressing escalations Coach and Challenge 4. BE ENGAGED EmpowermentDirection

5. DIFFERENTIATE PEOPLE Differentiate and reward based on performance Keep the hiring bar high DifferentiationEqual treatment

5 THINGS GREAT MANAGERS SAY TO MAINTAIN BALANCE

This is how I feel RationalEmotional

This sucks Good feedbackBad feedback

You know what’s funny PressureFun

What do you think? EmpowermentDirection

I am making a decision executive AnalyzingDoing

CONCLUSION Making software is challenging Lot of forces are at work to “unbalance” the team Great leaders and managers seek to maintain the right balance

CALL TO ACTION: 1. Look for imbalance Short termLong term StabilityImprovements ResearchDevelopment EmpowermentDirection DifferentiationEqual treatment RationalEmotional Good feedbackBad feedback PressureFun AnalyzingDoing

CALL TO ACTION: 2. Restore the balance

THANK YOU!

QUESTIONS? After the session please fulfill the questionnaire. Questionnaires will be sent to you by and will be available in the profile section of the NT Conference website Thank you!