Leading the Agile Way: Duty. Honor. Delivery.

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Leading the Agile WayDuty. Honor. Delivery.

• An Experience Report

Mark Salamango Chief Pervasive Architect
John Cunningham President
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Leading the Agile Way

• Setting the Context
• US Army Organization
• A Technical Vision and a Strategic Gap
• Telling the Story
• The Origins of a Flexible Architecture
• Cyrano, Super Bowl, and NASCAR
• Raising the Questions
• Are You Ever Truly Powerless?
• Can You Transform One Form of Power to Another?
• Suggesting Some Answers
• Delivery Yields Power
• Power Conversion

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Army Hierarchy Operations
Sergeant Major of the Army / Command Sergeant
Major / Sergeant Major
General of the Army (Wartime Only)
Field Army 200,000 Soldiers
GS-15
Master / First Sergeant
General
GS-14
Corps 25,000-100,000 Soldiers
GS-13
Lieutenant General
GS-12
Chief Warrant Officer 5
Sergeant First Class
Major General
Division 10,000-18,000 Soldiers
GS-11
Brigadier General
GS-10
Chief Warrant Officer 4
Staff Sergeant
Brigade 3000-5000 Soldiers
GS-09
Colonel
GS-08
Lieutenant Colonel
Sergeant
GS-07
Battalion 500-900 Soldiers
Chief Warrant Officer 3
ES-06
GS-06
Corporal / Specialist
ES-05
GS-05
Major
ES-04
Chief Warrant Officer 2
Company 100-200 Soldiers
GS-04
Private 1st Class
Captain
ES-03
GS-03
ES-02
GS-02
First / Second Lieutenant
Warrant Officer 1
Platoon 16-40 Soldiers
Private
ES-01
GS-01
Non-Commissioned Officers
Enlisted Personnel
Commissioned Officers
Government Employees
Senior Executive Service
Command Responsibility
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Army Hierarchy Research
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Technical Vision Strategic Gap

• The Technical Vision
• Component based foundation for an embedded
  vehicle platform where you can connect a variety
  of devices and (un)load new business models and
  related user interfaces
• Vehicle Diagnostics
• Convoy Management and Communications
• Logistics Management and Tracking
• Weapons of Mass Destruction Sensing and Security
• The Strategic Gap
• Research programs are mainly top down driven
  initiatives where large programs get the
  attention and the resources
  
• Program leaders have heard too many silver
  bullet pitches, cynical
  
• Frontline combat forces want workable solutions
  fast, even if it means duct tape and sporks!

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The Story

• Vision of a vehicle platform
• Agile, extensible, changeable short cycle times
  to field new functions
  
• Closer to commercial off the shelf (COTS) systems
  available
  
• Open architecture and open sourced for best of
  breed technology
  
• The National Automotive Center meets IBMs
  Embedded Java Enablement Team and together
  
• Sample A Telematics and vehicle diagnostics
• Sample B Adding navigations functions
• Sample C Adding some RFID capabilities and VOIP
• With deadlines looming, NAC engages Band XI
• Sample D Adding CBRNE sensors
• Sample E Providing convoy management enhancements

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Cyrano, Super Bowl, and NASCAR

• Five weeks to the Super Bowl - Birth of
  Cyrano
  
• Monitor admission of 100,000 people and stadium
  perimeter
  
• Second deployment for NASCAR race in June
• Increased robustness and configurability
• Monitor admission of 160,000 and stadium
  perimeter
  
• Increased attention and interest within Army
  community
  
• Parade of senior officers appear for briefings
• Lots of follow up contacts
• Interest from other state National Guard Civil
  Support Teams
  
• Third deployment scheduled for NASCAR race in
  August
  
• Monitor admission of 160,000-200,000 people and
  stadium perimeter
  

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Core Commitments
They give you a temper of the will, a quality of
the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a
freshness of the deep springs of life, a
temperamental predominance of courage over
timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love
of ease. They create in your heart the sense of
wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the
joy and inspiration of life. - Gen. Douglas MacA
rthur (1962)

• Duty
• Obligation that is consonant with the commitment
  to Deliver
  
• Collaborative, peer-to-peer value of good
  citizenship
  
• Requires doing the right things at the right
  times, even if difficult
  
• Honor
• Being true to our word, performing our duties,
  and delivering on objectives
  
• Speaking frankly when in trouble, needing
  assistance, or addressing gaps
  
• Reduces the need to manage and control a
  project, freeing effort for work
  
• Delivery
• Essential element to building credibility
• Provides base for reaching out to others
• Builds confidence in the team and the mission,
  reinforces the vision

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Reflections on Agile Leadership
The common thread uniting all training
activities is an emphasis on the growth of
integrity, courage, initiative, decisiveness,
mental agility, and personal accountability.
- Gen. Charles Krulak, USMC (1999)

• Challenges facing agile adoption
• True agile practices cannot be 'commanded' or
  'directed
  
• Working against decades of deeply ingrained
  institutional practices
  
• Stepping stones to winning the battle
• Seek out those who are predisposed to an agile
  approach
  
• Create and demonstrate a value proposition that
  is undeniable
  
• Direct your message at an audience that is
  amenable
  
• Ensuring victory and adoption
• Foster growth of an agile community
• Root values in good citizenship a sense of
  duty, of doing the things that need to be done,
  for no reason other than they are the right
  things to do

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Are You Ever Truly Powerless?
REF French, J. P. R. Jr., and Raven, B. (1960).
The Bases of Social Power. In D. Cartwright and
A. Zander (eds.), Group Dynamics (pp. 607-623).
New York Harper and Row.
Reward Power
Rewards others for compliance.
Coercive Power
Punishes others for failing to comply.
Legitimate Power
Invocation of rank, title to compel others to act
or gain compliance.
Expert Power
Holding special knowledge or expertise on which
others depend.
Referent Power
Ability to inspire people to follow your example,
often called charisma.
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Can You Transform Power?

• Can Soft Power be transformed into Direct Power
  and vice versa?
  
• Expert to Legitimate, Reward, or Coercive?
• Referent to Legitimate, Reward, or Coercive?
• Legitimate, Reward, or Coercive to Referent or
  Expert?
  
• Is any one form of power sustainable?
• Must it be converted to have value?
• Does it wane over time? Per use?
• Should we be careful what we wish for?
• What do we really want? Is it really power? If
  so, to what ends? If not, is it necessary as a
  means to those ends?
  
• What implications are there for relying on one
  form of power or another?

Soft Power
Direct Power
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Build Community, Share Power, Deliver
The remaining vestiges of the "zero defects
mentality" must be exchanged for an environment
in which all are afforded the "freedom to fail"
and with it, the opportunity to succeed.
Micro-management must become a thing of the past
and supervision -- that double-edged sword --
must be complemented by proactive mentoring.
- Gen. Charles Krulak, USMC (1999)

• This project was different for me. I was pushed
  way beyond my comfort level and had to do some
  things that I didnt think I had the skills to
  finish. But everyone was helpful and supportive,
  so it was possible. It was pretty uncomfortable
  being pushed outside my comfort zone, but I
  learned a lot. Not just about the technology,
  but about myself and my teammates, too.
• I want to thank you for letting me be a part of
  the project and the team. I can honestly say I
  thoroughly enjoyed coming in to work every single
  day for the past several weeks. Late nights,
  early mornings, stressful situations, yet it was
  all well worth it! It was an awesome experience
  and I'm extremely appreciative having been part
  of it all. It felt more like working with
  friends than co-workers.

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In Summary

• There really isnt such a thing as being
  powerless
  
• This doesnt mean you wont face frustration
• Cultivating soft power is a political process
• Agile leaders always lead using soft power
• Direct power is actually a weaker form of power
• Direct power is a crutch that makes leaders lazy
• Delivery builds a base that supports referent
  expert power
  
• Leaders must be role models that build leadership
  skills
  
• Do not delegate technical understanding of your
  systems