Monthly Archives: July 2020

Book Notes: The Ideal Team Player

The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book presents 3 characteristics for the “Ideal Team Player”. These characteristics are:

  • Humble – a lack of ego or concerns about status. Share credit emphasise team and define success as collectively.
  • Hungry – always looking for more to do, responsibilities and things to learn – a manageable and sustainable commitment to doing a good job and going above and beyond when required. Not in a selfish way.
  • Smart – common sense about people. Having good judgement and intuition around the subtleties of group interactions.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less”

C. S. Lewis

Interview Questions

Humble

  • Tell me about the most important accomplishment of your career? Look for I’s and we’s
  • What was the biggest embarrassment in your career or biggest failure? Humble people are not afraid to tell their unflattering stories
  • How did you handle the failure? Look for what was learnt
  • What is your greatest weakness? Are candidates uncomfortable acknowledging something
  • How do you handle apologies, either giving or receiving them? Humble people are not afraid to say sorry or accept others with grace
  • Tell me about someone who is better than you in a area which matters to you? Look for a genuine appreciation of others

Hungry

  • What is the hardest you have ever worked on something in your life? Look for joy
  • What do you like to do when you are not working? A long list of hobbies is a warning
  • Did you work hard when you were a teanager? Look for difficulty, sacrifice and hardship. A work ethic tends (not always) to start in early life
  • What kind of hours do you usually work? If people focus on the hours, schedule or balance then he may not be hungry.

Smart

  • How would you describe your personality? Smart people generally know themselves and talk about their behaviours
  • What do you do in your personal life which others may find annoying? Smart people know what they do and try to moderate them
  • What kind of people annoy you the most and how do you deal with them? Looking for self aware and self control.
  • Would your former colleagues describe you as an empathetic person? Does the person value empathy

Manager Assessment

Humble

  • Does he genuinely compliment or praise teammates without hesitation?
  • Does she easily admit when she makes a mistake?
  • Is he willing to take on lower-level work for the good of the team?
  • Does she gladly share credit for team accomplishments?
  • Does he readily acknowledge his weaknesses?
  • Does she offer and receive apologies graciously?

Hungry

  • Does he do more than what is required in his own job?
  • Does she have passion for the mission of the team?
  • Does he feel a sense of personal responsibility for the overall success of the team?
  • Is she willing to contribute to and think about work outside of office hours?
  • Is he willing and eager to take on tedious and challenging tasks whenever necessary?
  • Does she look for opportunities to contribute outside of her area of responsibility?

Smart

  • Does he seem to know what teammates are feeling during meetings and interactions?
  • Does she show empathy to others on the team?
  • Does he demonstrate an interest in the lives of teammates?
  • Is she an attentive listener?
  • Is he aware of how his words and actions impact others on the team?
  • Is she good at adjusting her behavior and style to fit the nature of a conversation or relationship?

Self Assessment

On a scale of 3 = Usually, 2 = Sometimes, 1 = Rarely, rate what “My teammates would say“:

Humble

  1. I compliment or praise them without hesitation
  2. I easily admit to my mistakes.
  3. I am willing to take on lower-level work for the good of the team
  4. I gladly share credit for team accomplishments.
  5. I readily acknowledge my weaknesses.
  6. I offer and accept apologies graciously.

Hungry

  1. I do more than what is required in my own job.
  2. I have passion for the “mission” of the team.
  3. I feel a sense of personal responsibility for the overall success of the team.
  4. I am willing to contribute to and think about work outside of office hours.
  5. I am willing to take on tedious or challenging tasks whenever necessary.
  6. I look for opportunities to contribute outside of my area of responsibility.

Smart

  1. I generally understand what others are feeling during meetings and conversations.
  2. I show empathy to others on the team.
  3. I demonstrate an interest in the lives of my teammates.
  4. I am an attentive listener.
  5. I am aware of how my words and actions impact others on the team.
  6. I adjust my behavior and style to fit the nature of a conversation or relationship.

Book notes: Making Work Visible

Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & flow by Dominica Degrandis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is a good read and I would recommend it – these are the most dangerous causes of extra work:

  • Too Much Work-in-Progress (WIP)
  • Unknown dependencies
  • Unplanned work
  • Conflicting priorities
  • Neglected/partially completed work

The book then goes on to show how visualisation can aid identifying the causes of delay and focussing on improving flow. Flow metrics:

  • Lead time
  • Cycle time
  • WIP
  • Aging report

Book Notes: Accelerate

Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations by Nicole Forsgren , Jez Humble and Gene Kim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

  • Version control for all production artifacts
  • Automate deployment process
  • Continuous integration
  • Trunk-based development
  • Test automation
  • Test data management
  • Shift left on security
  • Continuous delivery
  • A loosely coupled architecture
  • Empowered teams for tool choice
  • Gather and implement customer feedback
  • Visualise of the flow of work value stream
  • Working in small batches
  • Foster and enable team experimentation
  • A lightweight change approval process
  • Monitoring across application and infrastructure to inform bussiness decisions
  • Check system health proactively
  • Improve process and management with work-in-progress (WIP) limits
  • Visualise work to monitor quality and communicate through the team
  • Support a generative culture
  • Encourage and support learning
  • Support and facilitate collaboration among teams
  • Provide resources and tools that make work meaningful
  • Support or embody transformative leadership
Pathological
(Power-Oriented)
Bureaucratic
(Rule-Oriented)
Generative
(Performance-Oriented)
Low cooperationModest cooperationHigh cooperation
Messenger “shot”Messenger neglectedMessenger trained
Responsibilities shirkedNarrow responsabilitiesRisks are shared
Bridging discouragedBridging toleratedBridging encouraged
Failure leads to scapegoatingFailure leads to justiceFailure leads to inquiry
Novelty crushedNovelty leads to problemsNovelty implemented

Servant leaders focus on their followers’ development and performance, whereas transformational leaders focus on getting followers to identify with the organisation and engage in support of organisational objectives.