1. © 2010 Building the Next Generation of Technical Leaders patrick.kua@thoughtworks.com http://www.thekua.com/atwork Twitter: @patkua

2. © 2010 Housekeeping

3. © 2010 Our Journey

4. © 2010 Introductions What is Technical Leadership? Our problem What we can do about it

5. © 2010 Who am I?

6. © 2010 Who are you?

7. © 2010 Introductions What is Technical Leadership? Our problem What we can do about it

8. © 2010 Ubiquitous Language!

9. © 2010 Define… A leader who spends at least 30% of their time coding with the team (our definition for today) Technical Leader Coding with the team Leadership activities

10. © 2010

11. Why do we have Technical Leaders?

12. © 2010 GOAL

13. © 2010 “The unspoken truth about managing geeks” Source: By Jeff Ello via Computer World - http://bit.ly/15Rm4z http://bit.ly/15Rm4z

14. © 2010 Software systems PeopleTools TechnologyProcess Leadership

15. © 2010 Introductions What is Technical Leadership? Our problem What we can do about it

16. © 2010 Why do IT projects fail?

17. © 2010 Fail ure

18. © 2010 Software systems PeopleTools TechnologyProcess Leadership

19. © 2010 “A bad system will beat a good person every time” W. Edwards Deming PeopleTools Technology Process Leadership

20. © 2010 Examples of damaging behaviour…

21. © 2010 Early morning refactor (late evening)

22. © 2010 Code

23. © 2010 ? ? ? ? Code

24. © 2010 “Benevolent” Dictator

25. © 2010 DIY (always)

26. © 2010 “The hard problems are mine”

27. © 2010 Our current system does not create effective Technical Leaders Problem Statement

28. © 2010 Software systems PeopleTools TechnologyProcess Leadership

29. © 2010 Should we be worried?

30. © 2010 Net Negative Producing Programmer

31. © 2010 Define… (noun) [a person] who insert enough spoilage to exceed the value of their production “The Net Negative Producing Programmer” by G. Gordon Schulmeyer Net Negative Producing Programmer

32. © 2010 *If you can measure productivity Net producing programmer Productivity* Better WorseSame Net neutral producing programmer Net negative producing programmer

33. © 2010

34. Net Negative Producing Programmer Technical Leader

35. © 2010

37. But how did they get there?

38. © 2010 It’s all perfectly logical…

39. © 2010

40. “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence” “The Peter Principle” (1969) by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

41. © 2010 Development Leadership Implementing new functionality Changing existing behaviour Writing tests Clean code Challenging assumptions Offering alternative solutions Ensuring everyone works towards a vision Growing talent Creating a healthy team environment Responsible for delivery Empowering everyone to make decisions Resolving conflict Story telling

42. © 2010 Introductions What is Technical Leadership? Our problem What we can do about it

43. © 2010 Step 1:Recognise the different skillset

44. © 2010 Development Leadership Implementing new functionality Changing existing behaviour Writing tests Clean code Challenging assumptions Offering alternative solutions Ensuring everyone works towards a vision Growing talent Creating a healthy team environment Responsible for delivery Empowering everyone to make decisions Resolving conflict Story telling

45. © 2010 Developing Technical Leadership Coaching Managing Facilitating Mentoring Teaching

46. © 2010 Step 1:Recognise the different skillset Step 2:Develop competence

47. © 2010 Dreyfus model of skills acquisition

48. © 2010 Dreyfus Affair

49. © 2010 Richard Dreyfus

50. © 2010 Julie Louis- Dreyfus

51. © 2010 Stuart Dreyfus

52. © 2010 Paper: A Five-Stage Model of the Mental Activities Involved in Directed Skill Acquisition

53. © 2010 Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

54. © 2010 Novice in control Don’t put a

55. © 2010 Developmen t Leadership Remember this?

56. © 2010 Pair Programming ing

57. © 2010 1:1s

58. © 2010 Shadowing

59. © 2010 Safe environments

60. © 2010 Step 1:Recognise the different skillset Step 2:Develop competence Step 4:Profit! (really)

61. © 2010 Learning as a team

62. © 2010 Celebrate success

63. © 2010 Opportunities to contribute

64. © 2010 Everyone is safe to fail (lead by humility)

65. © 2010 Conflicts resolved openly

66. © 2010 Introductions What is Technical Leadership? Our problem What we can do about it

67. © 2010 Software systems PeopleTools TechnologyProcess Leadership

68. © 2010

69. Closing notes…

70. © 2010 “…it is critical to acknowledge the impact of individuals and teams on end results” Source: QCon London recursive reference

71. © 2010

72. Questions? patrick.kua@thoughtworks.com Twitter: @patkua