I had a terrific time with Chris and Austin on the Mob Mentality Show: Modern Management with Johanna Rothman.

Is “mobbing” is the right word for management collaboration? Maybe. I'm not sure. However, the reasons we mob—to get all the people we need to learn and think together—those reasons work as well in management decisions. We can apply lean and agile thinking to management actions—especially decisions. We're more likely to make better and faster decisions when we collaborate.

We discussed many ideas about agile management in the podcast:

1. You can count “done” things (as opposed to estimating from the requirements up), both to understand a team's capacity and for the project portfolio.
2. Work on management decision-making time before working on the team. (If the managers decide faster, teams don't start off “behind.”
3. What management collaboration looks like. (And a little about how many compensation systems do not reward collaboration.
4. Why you might lead with empathy and trust. (And use the word, “trust” instead of empowerment.)
5. You don't have to worry about motivating people. Stop demotivating them instead.
6. Where you might start:
   1. See where you are with your decision-making, to see if the team needs you all the time.
   2. Look for the harmonic whole, not individuals.
   3. Work as a management team

I had a blast with Chris and Austin.

Links:

Enjoy!