White Paper: Managers and the Land of the Lost v00 Paper

©2016 Steven A. Martin

Originally published as part of the PMI® Global Congress 2016—North America proceedings.

Managers and the Land of the Lost An interactive exercise to gain role clarity for Managers

Abstract |

There’s quite a bit of guidance and literature for Teams

and Executives to know what to do in order to adopt and

execute work in an Agile environment. But what about

the Managers or Project/Program Managers? There tends

to be quite a few contradictory opinions on actions

Managers should be performing. This can be confusing,

introducing churn for projects and organizations,

especially in hybrid project execution environments.

This paper describes an exercise to help establish greater

clarity on what Managers or Project/Program Managers

should be doing (or continue to do), and those activities

that you should not be doing (or stop performing).

This requires the Manager performing the exercise to

honestly introspect and reflect on themselves and their

environment. The intent is for Managers to determine

their own best steps and action plans, instead of blindly

following a preset list of enumerated/dictated “do this”

or “do that” mandates.

Key words | Agile, Managers, Roles and

Responsibilities

Introduction

Unlike teams or executives, managers are often left

to fend for themselves to figure out their role in the

operation of modern organizations. This tends to

especially be true when software and service

companies live in a hybrid space as they adopt and

practice Agile philosophies alongside their

historical approaches.

With confusing phrases such as self-organization

and servant leadership clashing with traditional

management beliefs, it’s no wonder Managers can

feel like they’ve entered into the "Land of the Lost."

So what is a Manager to do?

What (or who) is a Manager?

Before continuing, I’d like to offer some context for

what I mean by the term “Manager”. A Manager is

typically someone that has direct reports and is

responsible for one or more teams or departments

that produces work product for their customers or

stakeholders. Managers are typically the bridge

between any strategy or vision set by Executives

(such as C-levels, Executive VPs, Managing

Partners, etc.) and their teams, helping to ensure

teams tactically execute well.

With the issues usually presented to and handled by

Project Managers and Program Managers, for the

purposes of this paper, I’d like to consider them as

“Managers” as well. So when I say “Manager”, it is

meant to refer to any of these 3 people.

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Do we even need Managers?

Another assertion is that, in my opinion, we do need

a reasonable number of Managers and some level of

management “process” in an organization. This can

be contrary to the belief of several especially in the

Agile community, as there seems to be a renewed

vigor for self-management, self-organization and

servant leadership from my experiences as an Agile

consultant.

Google wrestled with the question if Managers were

even needed as well. Tapping into their strengths in

data and analysis over multiple years regarding

management, Google concluded that Managers

indeed mattered. They found that employees with

high scoring bosses consistently reported greater

satisfaction in multiple areas, including innovation,

work-life balance and career development (Garvin,

2013).

5 Step Role Clarity exercise

Assuming agreement with the premise we do need

Managers, then what is it they should be doing?

Understanding one’s roles and responsibilities is not

a new problem. This tends to be one of the main

areas of contention I have found that leads to

potential project/program delays, low morale, and

non-optimal performance of organizations.

There are many different schools of thought for

what it takes to be a great Manager. In my opinion,

it is unlikely that a single viewpoint or a mandated

approach from above would work for all people or

all situations. What may work for one organization

(or even one department or one person within an

organization), may not work for another.

Furthermore, as companies mature and market

forces change business models, the needs for

management tend to shift as well.

Hence, the following 5 step exercise was created to

help those participants come to terms with their role

as a Manager for their specific situation in their

organization.

This exercise has been facilitated at multiple

companies over many teams, typically as part of

either a change management effort, such as

transitioning to Agile approaches over an

organization, or when there are significant issues a

company must overcome.

While this exercise can be run one on one, I have

found there is greater value in performing the

exercise in smallish groups (up to 15 or so) with

persons who have similar titles / job responsibilities,

so that they can more freely share, compare and

contrast their own thoughts and experiences.

The supplies needed to run this exercise include:

Small index cards (3x5 inch)

Small sticky notes (2x2 inch), ideally in 2

different colors

Thin tip black felt markers (one per person)

Note: it is best to use the felt tip markers for this

exercise. It will be easier for your participants to see

the results of their brainstorming session using felt

tip markers versus using regular ball point pens.

Step 1: What is a good manager?

The first step in the exercise is for you to think

about all the Managers that you have worked with,

either directly or indirectly. Also, consider those

Leaders or peers that have simply inspired you. For

those that have had an impact on you, using the

small index cards and the felt tip marker, write a

short phrase or sentiment about that characteristic

that resonated with you most on the cards. Write

only one characteristic per card. (You will likely

use several index cards.)

Some typical examples of characteristics include:

Supportive mentor (or good coach)

Compassionate/thoughtful

Able to dive into the weeds to help solve

problems but without micromanaging

Respect

Interested in my success

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Once you have all the characteristics written down

(again, one characteristic per card), next prioritize

the characteristics by shuffling the position of the

cards. Put the highest/most influential characteristic

to the left and the least to the right. You’ll end up

with something that looks like Exhibit 1, with each

rectangle representing an index card with a single

characteristic.

Exhibit 1: Example output from Step 1.

This step should take between 5 and 10 minutes to

perform. If doing this exercise in a small group, you

may want to have participants share the

characteristics they brainstormed.

Step 2: What am I doing now?

The next step in the process is to list out all the

activities that you are performing now in your role.

Using the small sticky notes and the felt tip

markers, write only one activity, responsibility, or

action that you currently perform per sticky note.

The reason the small sticky notes and felt tip

markers are recommended is that it forces the

participant to summarize tasks using only a few

words. Otherwise, descriptions of tasks can tend to

get rather lengthy.

Some examples of current activities may include:

Plan budgets

Track and manage to budgets

Keep track of what all my staff are doing

Define metrics for my staff

Collect metrics/data from my staff

Provide weekly status reports

Make commitments for my staff to

Management

Make sure staff get their work done

Perform annual reviews

Attend Sprint Reviews

Recruit/interview/hire (fire) staff

It is recommended to place the sticky notes on a

large 11x17 sheet of paper. If time permits, you

may want to group like activities near each other on

your sheet of paper. You will end up with

something that looks like Exhibit 2, where each

small blue rectangle represents one task written on

one sticky note.



perform.

Step 3: What do I want/need to be doing?

The third step in the process is to list out all the

activities that you want to perform but can’t. Some

“blockers” may include you don’t have the time,

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don’t have the knowledge/training, don’t have

permission from your Management, etc.

Using the small sticky notes (ideally a different

color from the sticky notes used in step 2) and a felt

tip marker, write one activity per sticky note.

Some examples of desired activities may be:

Help problem solve / remove blockers for

my staff

Streamline budgeting/approval processes

Visit actual/real client sites

Increase my knowledge on topic X

You will end up with something that appears like

Exhibit 3, where the pink rectangles represent tasks

you would like to perform, one task per sticky note.



perform.

There may be some hesitation from participants

during this portion of the exercise, typically

stemming from “I can’t do this – I don’t have time,

I don’t have resources, My Manager won’t go for

this” and so forth.

This is why it is imperative to have persons of

similar hierarchical level together in the room

performing the exercise, and to not have persons at

different levels present. Having subordinates and

superiors mixed together in the same room at the

same time especially during this part of the exercise

tends to severely limit/impact the execution of this

step in particular. This is due to the likelihood that

freedom or openness to express new, radical or

differing opinions might be hindered if their staff or

superior is present.

Step 4: What should I keep and stop doing?

The next step in the process is to categorize and

prioritize all those things that you should and should

not be doing with respect to your current

environment.

On your sheet of 11x17 paper, create and label 2

sections, one for “Keep/Start Doing” and another

for “Stop Doing/Delegate”.

Using the index cards listing influential

characteristics created in Step 1, put them at the top

of your 11x17 paper.

Using the small sticky notes representing tasks

created in Steps 2 and 3, move each sticky note into

the appropriate section of “Keep/Start Doing” or

“Stop Doing/Delegate”.

Frankly, you will find that there are aspects to your

job as a Manager that you will simply need to keep

doing, such as hire/fire staff, perform annual

performance reviews, setting departmental budgets,

etc.

However, there will be a set of tasks in a “gray

area” where you will be able to negotiate some level

of change. I encourage you to consider incremental

changes versus executing big delegations or “stop

doing” tasks all at once. You may decide to take

one of the tasks written in step 2 or step 3, and

create new tasks for what you need to keep doing

and put in the stop doing the increment of what can

be altered in the future.

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Eventually, you will end up with something that

looks like Exhibit 4.

This portion of the exercise can usually take

between 5 and 20 minutes to complete. Some

complete this step quickly, and others may take a

little more time.


Step 5 – What’s your action plan?

The final step is for you to determine your action

plan. It is usually not possible (and not

recommended) to enact all the changes you want

right away. There needs to be a thoughtful process

and cadence for introducing change with your

subordinates, peers, and superiors.

I recommend taking no more than 2 items from the

Step 4 output, and work on those first. They could

be from either “Keep/Start Doing” and/or “Stop

Doing/Delegate” – it is your choice where you want

to begin your journey. When those first items are

done, then move to the next.

Some considerations for selection might be:

What can I get done easily/quickly, yet have

a good return?

For delegating, who on my team do I want

to groom for promotion and/or give

opportunity for greater responsibility?

For new (start doing) tasks, who/what do I

need for support to do this? Who can be an

ally?

Do I need to generate buy-in or permission

from my Manager?

Do I need to make this change all at once, or

can this particular task be split up and done

incrementally and iteratively?

Some final considerations

When it comes to charting your own course as a

Manager, I find that those that set their own path

(versus being told specifically what to do) using an

approach similar to this exercise, that there tends to

be greater buy-in and ownership of the plan. This

leads to a higher degree of likeliness for their own

behaviors as a Manager to change.

This exercise doesn’t take a lot of time, but it can

have profound impacts. Furthermore, it does not

have to be limited to just Managers. This can also

be used by anyone in an organization; I have

facilitated this exercise with team members as well.

Again, just be sure if you run this exercise in a

small group, be sure that only those that are in

similar hierarchical levels are present in the room.

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About the Author

Over the past 25+ years, Steve has worked in a

wide range of industries such as healthcare IT,

finance, insurance, biotechnology, medical

device manufacturing, publishing and

communications. An active member in PMI

since 2005, Steve graduated from the PMI

Leadership Institute Master Class (LIMC) of

2012. He has also held the role of president of

the PMI Mass Bay Chapter.

References

Garvin, David A. (December 2013). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business

Review.

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