So I’ll have to disagree. The only control a PM ever had was in his ability to facilitate a shared vision and create energy and urgency, There was nothing external about that. My skills, synthesis, communicating, estimating, mitigating, contingency, are all about influence – with really only one external – clarity of goal. Where is that in your bouncing video game ball? The wisdom of crowds? Um no. Self govern? Get real. Self-govern does not play nicely with collaborate. Self govern assumes limitless resources. Self-govern is the libertarian’s creed.

Look, I’ve always believed good PM was an art, not a science. It is not subject to standardization. It is fluid, dynamic. It is built on the premise that each actor brings value to the table, including the skill sets the PM brings. It was never about gantts, or issue logs. But um yea, someone has to keep their eye on the ball, and yes guide it, and push it back when it’s off course and clarify trade offs, and reveal, and yes, make the case and most importantly be confident. I can speak in plain English, and eschew the acronyms, WTF, and not feel intimidated. I am not trying to complicate. I am trying to buld enough common understanding that everyone can at least see the goal, understand the goal, articulate the goal.

No disrespect is intended here. Clearly, I’m the simpleton in such august company. But to me, this is modeling exactly the wrong leadership behaviors. People do this when they are afraid, when they are insecure. It’s a tactic. The more complicated I make this, the more it qualifies me, the more I’m seen as essential. That is, until you’re so esoteric, you bring no value at all. You become… Replaceable. As our esteemed, late, great Holy See said (paraphrase), ” Fear not, and grow a pair” This is a plain old fashioned power grab. This is the business, the developer, the integrator saying, hey, ” I’m the smart guy here. You can’t manage me. I manage myself. I could do what you do.” Oh yeah? Prove it. Start ups indeed.

Set the goal, let the participants bring the solution

Thanks for stopping by and for your feedback on the article.

I was very fortunate that senior management at my company really wanted to the Kanban system. The main driver was the distributed nature of the team and extremely short development timelines required by our customers. The company is small, so there really isn’t any middle management.

So we needed something that anyone around the world could use right away, and could understand right away, and start work, as quickly as possible.

Also – when I came into the company they were in a period of rapid expansion and Kanban was the first methodology they employed, and worked with the existing SVN and ticketing system (Assembla), so there were no real technological or legacy hurdles to overcome.

The combination of executive support, a technological infrastructure that supported the method, and pressing business deadlines meant that there were few hurdles and implementation was rapid.

I hope I’ve answered your question.

Thanks again for your comment!
Michiko

best regards

Kayo Dittmar