Tech Lead Journal

“There’s no leading without following. We are only a leader because somebody is following us." Jutta Eckstein is a coach, consultant, and trainer who has helped many teams and organizations worldwide making an Agile transition. In this episode, we discussed ideas from her book “Company-wide Agility With Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, and Sociocracy”, also widely known as the BOSSA nova. Jutta started by sharing today’s company challenge in terms of collision of values between shareholder, customer, and the employee, and she provided a suggestion how to align the values better. She then broke down BOSSA nova and explained each concept and principles of Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, Sociocracy, and Agile. Jutta also shared the four values of BOSSA nova and how they also relate extrinsically to sustainability. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:24] Writing BOSSA Nova - [00:08:34] People-Customer-Shareholder Value - [00:12:04] BOSSA Nova - [00:14:54] Beyond Budgeting - [00:24:16] Open Space - [00:32:56] Sociocracy - [00:37:58] Agile Values - [00:44:04] Transparency - [00:49:50] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:22] _____ Jutta Eckstein’s Bio Jutta Eckstein works as an independent coach, consultant, and trainer. She has helped many teams and organizations worldwide to make an Agile transition, especially with medium-sized to large distributed mission-critical projects. Jutta has recently pair-written with John Buck a book entitled Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy (dubbed BOSSA nova). Besides that, she has published her experience in her books Agile Software Development in the Large, Agile Software Development with Distributed Teams, Retrospectives for Organizational Change, and together with Johanna Rothman Diving for Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in your Project Portfolio. Follow Jutta: Website – https://jeckstein.com/ Twitter – @JuttaEckstein LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/juttaeckstein Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your podcast app. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/106.

“If you want to become a better and more effective leader, then one of your core skills should be coaching skills." Bob Galen is the President & Principal Agile Coach at RGCG and a prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster. In this episode, Bob and I discussed coaching and leadership from his latest book “Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching”. Bob started by explaining the concepts of agile leadership and agile coaching. He shared about the different coaching stances and why he suggests that coaching is an essential core leadership skill. Bob then went into details to describe the skills to become a good coach, such as asking powerful questions and becoming powerful listeners. Towards the end, Bob shared some tips for coaching up and coaching the middle managers, i.e. coaching the coaches. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:39] Agile Leader - [00:09:17] Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching - [00:12:35] Definition of Coaching - [00:15:31] Coaching as a Leadership Skill - [00:19:44] Skills to Become a Good Coach - [00:24:00] Powerful Questions - [00:27:59] Powerful Listening - [00:33:37] When to Give Solutions - [00:38:54] Coaching Up - [00:43:30] Coaching Middle Managers - [00:48:06] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:47] _____ Bob Galen’s Bio Bob Galen is an Agile Methodologist, Practitioner & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role, he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards Scrum and other Agile methods and practices. He is currently President & Principal Consultant at RGCG, LLC. Bob regularly speaks at international conferences and professional groups on topics related to software development, project management, software testing and team leadership. He is a Certified Scrum Coach (CSC), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile & Scrum Alliances. He’s published 3 agile related books: Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching, Scrum Product Ownership, and Agile Reflections. He’s also a prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster. Follow Bob: LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgalen Twitter – @bobgalen Personal Website – www.rgalen.com Website – www.agile-moose.com Meta-Cast Podcast – www.meta-cast.com Our Sponsors The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers and professionals in quality assurance, but also system analysts who want to communicate better with their developers. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your podcast app. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/105.

“The most important part about building an experiment-driven culture is to make it safe to fail and to fail in good ways." Lisi Hocke is an active figure in the global testing community. In this episode, Lisi shared her lessons learned growing an experiment-driven quality culture in her recent years. Lisi shared why it is important to have an experimentation mindset before we adopt something new or any good practices and to have a safe environment to execute those experiments. Lisi shared her advice on how to run an experiment, from building transparency, creating hypothesis, getting buy-in, and understanding our biases, in particular the sunk cost fallacy. In the latter half, Lisi shared her personal transformation journey learning in public and shared her tips on growing technical confidence. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:59] Sharing About Building Quality Culture - [00:13:39] Experiment-Driven Culture - [00:21:14] Building Transparency - [00:25:41] Hypothesis - [00:28:08] Building Better Hypothesis - [00:29:58] Getting Buy-In - [00:33:38] Sunk Cost Fallacy - [00:37:44] Learning in Public - [00:41:42] Growing Technical Confidence - [00:47:37] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:12] _____ Lisi Hocke’s Bio Lisi found tech as her place to be in 2009 and grew as a specialized generalist ever since. She’s passionate about the whole-team approach to holistic testing and quality and enjoys experimenting and learning continuously. Building great products which deliver value together with great people motivates her and lets her thrive. Having received a lot from communities, she’s paying it forward by sharing her stories and learning in public. In her free time, she plays indoor volleyball or delves into computer games and stories of all kinds. Follow Lisi: Twitter – @lisihocke LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisihocke/ Website – https://www.lisihocke.com/ Our Sponsors The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers and professionals in quality assurance, but also system analysts who want to communicate better with their developers. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/104.

“A way to boost productivity is to create high-quality software from the outset, so that teams can spend less time on rework, both during development and after the release." Karl Wiegers is the author of “Software Development Pearls” and the Principal Consultant at Process Impact. In this episode, Karl shared some lessons he has learned over the past five decades of his career. We first discussed software requirement, its role for communication, and the importance of defining the right requirements. Karl then touched on the reasons we can’t optimize all desirable quality attributes and instead advised how we should define the quality attribute requirements. Next, Karl shared some project management pearls, related to work planning and dealing with estimates. Towards the end, Karl explained the relation between quality and productivity, using pain as a driver for improvement, and his ultimate pearl of wisdom. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:46] Requirements for Communication - [00:08:07] Importance of the Right Requirements - [00:13:49] Importance of Definitions - [00:16:23] Optimizing Quality Attributes - [00:18:48] Specifying Quality Attribute Requirements - [00:21:59] Work Plans & Friction - [00:24:48] Giving Estimates - [00:31:03] Pressure to Making Commitment - [00:35:19] High Quality & Productivity - [00:39:38] Pain as Improvement Driver - [00:45:16] Ultimate Pearl - [00:50:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:09] _____ Karl Wiegers’s Bio Karl Wiegers is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software development consulting and training company. He has a PhD in organic chemistry. Karl is the author of 13 books, including Software Development Pearls, Software Requirements, The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things, Successful Business Analysis Consulting, and a forensic mystery novel titled The Reconstruction. You can reach him at ProcessImpact.com or KarlWiegers.com, where you can hear more than 50 songs he has recorded just for fun, including 18 originals that he wrote. Follow Karl: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlwiegers Website – https://karlwiegers.com Process Impact – https://www.processimpact.com Medium – https://karlwiegers.medium.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/103.

“Instead of being given a roadmap of features, an empowered team is given a problem to solve and they get to figure out the best way to solve that problem." Marty Cagan is the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group and the author of “Inspired” and “Empowered”. In this episode, we discussed how companies ought to build great products by learning from the best product companies. Marty explained the importance of building the right product and shared the two inconvenient truths about building products. Marty then elaborated on the traits a good product team has and how to create an empowered product team by ensuring ownership and alignment and by having clear product vision, strategy, and focus. Towards the end, Marty shared the importance of coaching and nurturing people, how to hire better, and how to structure product team topologies. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:48] Writing Inspired & Empowered - [00:11:38] Building the Right Product - [00:16:23] Two Inconvenient Truths - [00:17:45] Traits of Good Product Teams - [00:22:06] Engineering Involvement - [00:24:53] Empowered - [00:26:44] Ownership & Alignment - [00:28:41] Product Vision & Strategy - [00:33:00] Focus - [00:35:39] Coaching & Nurturing People - [00:39:40] Hiring - [00:41:56] How to Structure Teams - [00:43:49] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:55] _____ Marty Cagan’s Bio Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, Marty Cagan served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world, including HP Labs, Netscape Communications, and eBay. Marty is also the author of the books INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love and EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products. Follow Marty: Website – https://www.svpg.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan Twitter – @cagan Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/102.

“As a servant leader, your number one job is to serve the people around you. You succeed together with your people, and that’s why serving them first would give you the best opportunity to succeed together." Henry Suryawirawan is the host of your beloved podcast. In this episode, hosted by Jerome Poudevigne, we uncovered lessons from Henry’s career journey and from running the Tech Lead Journal podcast. Henry shared his career turning points that included multiple transitions between individual contributor (IC) and management, being part of retrenchment, working in a failed startup, and his decision to leave Google and join a scaleup. Henry then shared how he prepared and grew himself into his current leadership position by being a problem solver, exercising the servant leadership mindset, building culture intentionally, and a few tips on doing remote work effectively. In the second half of the conversation, Henry shared why and how he first started the Tech Lead Journal podcast, as well as sharing moments and lessons he learned from releasing 100 episodes in the last 2 years. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:10] Career Planning & Progression - [00:09:40] Leaving Google - [00:13:34] Taking a Plunge to Leadership - [00:16:14] Servant Leadership & Difficult Conversation - [00:18:07] Preparing & Growing Leadership - [00:21:07] Building Culture - [00:26:29] Tips for Remote Working - [00:31:08] Career Failures - [00:37:08] Starting a Podcast - [00:38:51] Finding Guests - [00:42:17] Learnings From the Podcast - [00:44:02] Nervous Moments - [00:46:39] Relationships With the Guests - [00:47:35] Personal Learning - [00:49:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:15] Credits - [00:59:13] _____ Henry Suryawirawan’s Bio Henry Suryawirawan is an experienced engineering leader and an avid personal growth learner. He is the host of Tech Lead Journal, a podcast about technical leadership and excellence. Follow Henry: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-suryawirawan Twitter – @henry_ken Tech Lead Journal – https://techleadjournal.dev Website – https://henrysuryawirawan.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/101.

🎙️ CELEBRATE the 100th EPISODE by submitting your story/message at techleadjournal.dev/celebrate-100 🎉 “Engineering discipline is the most effective, efficient way of doing high-quality work. If our software development practices do not allow us to build better software faster, we should really change them because they are not engineering." Dave Farley is the co-author of the Jolt award-winning book “Continuous Delivery” and runs the popular “Continuous Delivery” YouTube channel on software engineering topics. In this episode, we discussed Dave’s latest book, “Modern Software Engineering”. Dave started by explaining his view on modern software engineering and why it emphasizes on practices for building better software faster. Dave described the foundations of the software engineering discipline and explained the core competencies we need to succeed by becoming experts at both learning and managing complexity. Dave also explained the importance of understanding technology fundamentals, improving software readability, and handling software complexity by managing concurrency and coupling. Towards the end, Dave shared some other tools in the modern software engineering toolkit that include Continuous Delivery. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:08:01] Modern Software Engineering - [00:12:19] Better Software Faster - [00:14:58] Software Engineering - [00:17:22] Expert at Learning - [00:20:37] Why Agile Not Enough - [00:26:34] Expert at Managing Complexity - [00:31:49] Importance of Fundamentals & Readability - [00:36:01] Concurrency & Coupling - [00:43:57] Other Modern Software Engineering Tools - [00:51:29] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:42] _____ Dave Farley’s Bio Dave Farley, founder and consultant for Continuous Delivery Ltd., has been a programmer, software engineer, and systems architect since the early days of modern computing. With Jez Humble, Farley coauthored the best-seller Continuous Delivery. As Head of Software Development for the LMAX, he built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges. One of the earliest adopters of agile techniques employing iterative development, continuous integration, and high levels of automated testing, he also coauthored the Reactive Manifesto. Follow Dave: Twitter – @DaveFarley77 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-farley-a67927 Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/ContinuousDelivery Website – https://countinuous-delivery.co.uk Courses – https://courses.cd.training Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/100.

🎙️ CELEBRATE the 100th EPISODE by submitting your story/message at techleadjournal.dev/celebrate-100 🎉 “Acceptance test is any test that a system must pass in order to be accepted. If you can’t ship a system without passing a test, then it is an acceptance test." Kenneth Pugh is an acclaimed author and thought leader in acceptance-test driven development (ATDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD). His works include the 2006 Jolt award winner “Prefactoring” followed by “Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development”. In this episode, Ken explained in-depth the concept of acceptance tests and ATDD. He first described what an acceptance test is, why it is beneficial to deliver better software, and why we should invest our effort to automate it. Ken also touched on a few other important concepts, such as the testing triad, test pyramid, user acceptance test, and table-driven specifications. Towards the end, Ken shared some advice on how we can start implementing ATDD. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:16] Acceptance Test - [00:09:30] Acceptance Test Benefits - [00:13:39] When to Write Acceptance Test - [00:16:18] The Triad - [00:20:55] Is Doing ATDD Expensive? - [00:26:31] Acceptance Test & Test Pyramid - [00:28:56] UAT & Reporting - [00:33:22] Automating Acceptance Test - [00:36:21] Table-Driven vs Text Format - [00:39:09] ATDD - [00:42:46] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:49] _____ Kenneth Pugh’s Bio Ken Pugh helps companies develop software effectively by applying lean-agile principles and practices. He concentrates on delivering business value quickly by removing waste and delays in value streams; building in quality with Acceptance Test-Driven Development / Behaviour Driven Development; creating a collaborative environment; and evaluating return-on-investment. He has written several software development books including the 2006 Jolt Award winner Prefactoring: Extreme Abstraction, Extreme Separation, Extreme Readability and his latest: Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development: Better Software Through Collaboration. He is the co-creator of the SAFe® Agile Software Engineering course. Follow Ken: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenpugh/ Twitter – @kpugh Website – https://kenpugh.com/ ATDD/BDD – https://atdd-bdd.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/99.

“Empiricism is at the heart of agility. The fundamental foundation of agility starts with some assertion about value. Every sprint or iteration is really an experiment about value." Kurt Bittner is the author and editor of many books on agile product development, including co-authoring the recent “Professional Agile Leader” book. In this episode, we started our conversation discussing the common misconception of Agile in the modern day and Kurt emphasized that empiricism should be at the heart of agility, especially for solving complex problems. Kurt then explained the importance of aligning company’s direction and goals using outcomes instead of using activities or outputs. In the latter half of the episode, we discussed the concept of a self-managing team, what characteristics and attributes it has, and the important role of catalytic leadership in such teams. Kurt also explained how to measure the self-management spectrum of a team by measuring decision latency and shared some advice on how to reduce decision-making dependencies in organizations. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:08] Empiricism in Agility - [00:09:35] Going in the Right Direction - [00:16:17] Agile for Complex Problems - [00:22:18] Self-Managing Team - [00:26:26] Leadership vs Management - [00:32:40] Decision Latency and Dependencies - [00:35:18] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:50] _____ Kurt Bittner’s Bio Kurt Bittner has been delivering working products in short, feedback-driven cycles for nearly 40 years, and has helped many organizations do the same. He is the author or editor of many books on agile product development, including Mastering Professional Scrum, The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide, The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum, The Professional Scrum Team, and Professional Agile Leadership, as well as The Guide to Evidence-Based Management, and The Nexus Guide. Follow Kurt: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-bittner-882b203/ Twitter – @ksbittner Blog – https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog?uid=330 The Professional Agile Leader Website – https://theprofessionalagileleader.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/98.

“A highly functional team defines the right environment and has what they need to be the best professionals they can be. And that always includes agency and psychological safety." Jim Benson is the co-author of “Personal Kanban” and is currently working on his upcoming book “The Collaboration Equation”. In this episode, we started by discussing Personal Kanban, how it differs from a to-do list, and its two main rules, i.e. visualizing our work and limiting our work-in-progress. Jim also shared practical tips on managing our personal backlog, doing prioritization, and limiting our work in progress. In the latter half of our conversation, we discussed Jim’s new book, “The Collaboration Equation”, starting with the discussion about the common collaboration challenges and why professionalism and psychological safety are prerequisites to building high-performing teams. Jim also explained the concept of collaborative leadership and gave practical tips on how we can measure effective collaboration. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:42] Current State of Productivity - [00:08:17] Obeya - [00:10:12] Rules of Personal Kanban - [00:12:44] Kanban vs Todo List - [00:14:46] Managing Backlog - [00:17:07] Limiting Work in Progress - [00:24:26] Collaboration Equation - [00:27:36] Professionalism - [00:31:06] Psychological Safety - [00:33:21] Collaborative Leadership - [00:36:39] Collaborative Process - [00:41:04] Measuring Collaboration - [00:46:09] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:09] _____ Jim Benson’s Bio Jim Benson is the CEO of Modus Cooperandi, and co-founder of Modus Institute. A pioneer in applying Lean and Kanban methodologies to knowledge work, Jim is the creator of Personal Kanban and Lean Coffee, and co-author of Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life, winner of the prestigious Shingo Research and Publication Award. His other books include Why Plans Fail, Why Limit WIP, and Beyond Agile. His upcoming book The Collaboration Equation will be out in Summer 2022. Follow Jim: Twitter – @ourfounder LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson Modus Cooperandi – https://moduscooperandi.com/ Modus Institute – https://modusinstitute.com/ Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/97.