DEV Community: Blackmill Consulting

Growing your team culture

Sarah Tobin — Mon, 01 May 2023 03:30:27 +0000

2. Align on values

Values need to be alive in your culture, not empty words on a web page. Take the time to establish your engineering team values. Once established, it will guide current and future team members on what is expected of them, help connect the meaning and purpose of work, and guide hiring decisions. You should also use your values in performance reviews and ongoing company communication.

Download the full PDF at https://blackmill.co/downloads

Growing your team culture

Sarah Tobin — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 04:03:51 +0000

Team culture is a collection of values, norms, and beliefs. It is the behaviours that are being rewarded, punished, and ignored. Team culture is the explicit and implicit social behaviours. It is the thousand little decisions that every person in the company makes every day. Healthy team culture is difficult and it is getting harder with the new ways of working. It requires active attention to planning and a great deal of work.

Here are some practical ideas from the Blackmill Toolbox for you to to try with your team to grow your culture today.

1. Define your engineering culture
Healthy cultures take time to evolve. It starts with acknowledging where you are now and where you want to be. Start by documenting your current reality. For example, write down how you currently collaborate and what your processes look like. What makes for a good pull request in your team? How, and when, do you deploy? What principles do you follow? Do you have coding standards? This will make the implicit behaviours in your culture explicit.

Download the full PDF at https://blackmill.co/downloads

FREE Office Hours

Sarah Tobin — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 02:52:32 +0000

Starting this February, Blackmill will be opening three slots per month of our popular Free Office Hours! Whether you have trouble with a re-org, team scaling, or just want some leadership advice, we can help. Bring your problem, questions, and a cuppa, and let's thrash it out together. The three slots are now up for grabs here https://meet.blackmill.co.
Don't blink or you'll miss it!

Earn trust and lead inclusively

Sarah Tobin — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 03:04:13 +0000

A good leader is someone who has a clear vision. Someone who is courageous enough to be vulnerable. Someone who has empathy, integrity, honesty, humility, and helps people reach their goals. A great leader is someone who does all the above and also leads inclusively with equity and diversity in mind. An inclusive leader manages a diverse group of people, and does so by respecting their uniqueness in an empathetic, bias-free way. They ensure that all team members feel that they are treated respectfully and fairly, are valued, and sense that they belong. These leaders actively seek and consider different views and perspectives to better inform their decisions. When a leader fosters a culture of inclusion and diversity, astonishing transformational outcomes are achieved. Research from Deloitte Insights shows that inclusive leadership directly enhances performance. Teams with inclusive leaders reported a 17% increase in team performance, 20% increase in high quality decision making, and a 29% increase in team collaboration. But the most important benefit of inclusive leadership is to earn trust. Trust is vital to successful relationship and leaders should grant it, but not assume they are trusted. They have to earn it, by providing safety, being honest and authentic role models, promoting two-way feedback, reducing unconscious bias, and advocating for those who cannot for themselves.

Continue reading the blog at https://blackmill.co/blog/earn-trust-lead-inclusively

How do we heal polarisation?

Sarah Tobin — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 02:35:46 +0000

A disagreement in opinions can be a healthy debate. A debate becomes unhealthy when we stop thinking the other idea is wrong, but instead we think something is wrong with the person who holds it. This is when we delegitimise the other person because of their beliefs. This is the point when what we think of their beliefs becomes what we think of them.

In recent years, many conversations have migrated to the digital sphere, and with it the language used has changed as well. Words alone no longer cause polarisation. Instead the medium itself causes it.

In the digital sphere, what is the revenue model of Google, or Facebook, or Twitter? They are all free services, which means we are the product. Or more precisely, our attention span is the product. And these companies bargain with our attention.

Continue reading this artcle at https://blackmill.co/blog/how-do-we-heal-polarisation

Community of Practice for Engineering Leaders

Sarah Tobin — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 02:41:54 +0000

We are launching our first Community of Practice program on February 28th, 2023! This program is designed to bring together a community of engineering leaders where you can share your challenges and experiences by focusing on real everyday problems. Weekly facilitated sessions across six weeks of engaging dialogue with relevant peers that you can learn from and turn to for future challenges and opportunities. For more info or to secure your spot, head over to https://lnkd.in/grz4srcX

ON IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Sarah Tobin — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 04:28:29 +0000

Almost everyone I know in the dev community experiences or has experienced imposter syndrome at some point, including me. Most of them found school work easy and excelled without significant effort. Once in the workplace with others who had also had those experiences at school, it can be easy to worry that we are not as capable as all our peers. We start thinking we are not smart enough, not good enough. We are in a bigger pond, and therefore let ourselves feel smaller.

Imposter syndrome makes belief in our capabilities feel intellectually fraudulent. Accomplished, competent, and intelligent people feel like they are fooling others. They believe they are not smart or competent as their accomplishments might suggest. People who experience imposter syndrome do not acknowledge their own accomplishments to the extent others do and instead minimise them. In simpler words, I do not feel as accomplished or good at my work as people think I am.

Self-doubt keeps us from seeing ourselves as we truly are. It can prompt us to downplay our achievements and underestimate our skills. This is all in our heads. It is our inner perceptions. Our subjective reality is how we perceive the outside world. But this is self-deception. We see ourselves distorted as through a fun house mirror. However, we can control our perceptions and reframe our thinking.

How does one do that? I can only answer for myself. I do that in five ways:

Thinking I am already smart can rob me of ever improving: when the glass is full, there is no more room to add to it. I solve this by believing that, while I know some things, there is so much more to learn and know. I concentrate on the way forward rather than achieving a specific state.

Secondly, I consider what I do not know yet as an opportunity. It is not a reminder of how stupid I am, but a place where I can expand my knowledge, sometimes with the help of others.

Thirdly, I need a way to measure my improvements. Without measuring, I will never know how much progress I have achieved. One practical way to do so is by keeping a work diary, and keeping track of things learnt and personal achievements — especially when the accomplishments are not public (which also helps at performance review times or in promotion conversations). Furthermore, stopping every now and again to reflect on that progress can help with the feeling of self-confidence that comes from actual measured facts rather than empty compliments from strangers.

Talking of external compliments, it does not help when people around me say how smart I am, especially when the outside does not match my inner thoughts. It can actually make me feel more anxious and become afraid of making mistakes because people try to keep the status quo and protect the image people have of them. This ties into Carol Dweck's research about fixed vs growth mindsets. Failing in front of people who think highly of us and thus looking stupid is scary. Learning cannot happen without making mistakes along the way and practising over and over again. One does not master playing a symphony on the first go, or without making mistakes. The same goes for children when they learn a new motor skill. It takes time, and practice, and many many fails on the way to mastery. So the fourth thing I do is try to surround myself with a supportive environment that considers failures opportunities to learn, and where it is ok to make mistakes, as long as we learn from our mistakes for the future. Psychological safety is required so the team can feel safe to experiment and thus possibly fail. Being more confident and feeling more secure leads to being able to learn better, being open to new experiences, and improved performance.

Lastly, I do not want to be the smartest person in the room because the responsibility is too heavy, and it has no benefit for me if my objective is to keep learning and keep improving.

So to summarise: try to be smarter not the smartest, reframe your thoughts to consider failures as opportunities, surround yourself with supportive people, measure, measure, measure, and then stop to review every now and again. Let yourself be proud of your achievements.

By Elle Meredith
https://blackmill.co

WHAT'S IN A TOXIC CULTURE?

Sarah Tobin — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 04:14:00 +0000

Company culture refers to the attitudes and behaviours of a company and its employees. It is evident in the way an organisation’s people interact with each other, the values they hold, and the decisions they make. Every workplace has the potential to become unhealthy, including remote offices. The development of a bad work culture doesn't happen overnight. Everyone who works for a given organisation contributes to their company culture. Individuals at any level in the organisation can create a toxic work environment through too much gossip, rumours, office politics, and micro-management. It can take only one person to spread dysfunction throughout your company regardless of its size. So what's in a toxic work culture? Here are some things to look out for:

HIGH TURNOVER
One of the biggest warning signs of a toxic work culture is high employee turnover rate within an organisation. Toxic cultures have been shown to drive people away. When employees are leaving left, right, and centre, word of mouth travels quickly, and the company's negative reputation hinders recruiting future talents. A recent survey suggests that toxic company culture is the number one reason why employees are quitting their jobs. To understand the reasons behind high employee turnover, some companies ask people during exit interviews on their reasons for leaving, or conduct employee engagement surveys to gauge why people stick around.

NO DEI POLICY
Companies now recognise that if they don't implement an effective policy on diversity, equality, and inclusion to recruit, hire, and retain employees, toxic cultures will likely thrive. Racism, discrimination, and lack of fair access to career opportunities prevent under-represented or marginalised groups, including women, people of colour, people from the LGBTQ community, and people with disabilities from feeling safe and valued within the company that they work for. When a workplace has explicit policies on DEI, more people feel comfortable coming forward when they see discrimination happening, whether they are on a hiring committee or watching a colleague make insensitive remarks. Today, DEI policy is seen as a competency and an asset. It must involve employees at every level of an organisation to truly be effective. Diverse and inclusive workplaces earn deeper trust and more commitment from their employees. Good DEI practices make everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do for the business, feel equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace.

NO TRUST AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
One of the most straightforward signs of a toxic work culture is when employees are afraid to speak their mind, make mistakes, or be authentic. When there is no trust or psychological safety, employees often feel that they don’t have a voice and are afraid to raise concerns. This leads to inefficiency, as problems are less likely to come to light. When people are punished for making honest mistakes, they start to hide their mistakes, which can create bigger problems in the future. When team members are scared to speak their minds or make mistakes, innovation suffers, and the business becomes less competitive. In addition, if employees feel like they cannot speak up or try new things at work without the fear of repercussions, eventually they will get sick of walking on eggshells and take their voice and ideas elsewhere.

ABSENT OF COMPANY CORE VALUES
Company core values are principles, views, belief, and philosophies that an organisation hold as a foundation to help guide how the business operates. They are useful for guiding the behaviours and experiences of employees, defining how people should work with each other, as well as how they should behave toward clients, partners, and the wider community. Think of it like a compass, guiding your company towards the north star. Without it, offending behaviour is accepted and unwanted subcultures will form. In other words, the expectations around what behaviour is acceptable have not been defined. This can worsen when leadership fails to follow company core values as team members often look to their managers for direction. Organisations that succeed are the ones who empower their people to make the right decision based on the company’s core values, whether or not the leadership team is around.

A toxic work culture can have profound long term negative impacts on individuals as well as the business. Your culture is a living thing. It needs work to grow and flourish. For individuals to act right, the organisation need to listen to and value its people, implement a sound DEI policy, provide trust and psychological safety, and clearly communicate its core values and beliefs. If you don't intentionally work to create a culture that empowers your people, a default one takes reign and it is usually a toxic one.

By Sarah Tobin
https://blackmill.co

Common issues we see tech leaderships face

Sarah Tobin — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 02:00:28 +0000

During coaching and consulting work with our clients, we often uncover issues that follow patterns we've seen in the past. After decades of working in tech communities while studying and practising leadership, we still don't have all the answers, but we have learned to recognise many of the common problems. Here are some insights on how you can tackle each one of them.

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

Whether managing conflicting personalities, motivating your team, or growing their careers, people management is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of your role as a tech leader.

Supporting your team to perform at an optimal level and to deliver outcomes within appropriate timelines is the ultimate goal but how you achieve that from your team and the quality of the output may vary. It is common to emphasise the results while ignoring team health, morale, and possible burnout. It is equally ineffective to maintain strict rules around performance, thinking they will lead to satisfactory results. Instead, they lead to micromanagement, and a distinct demotivation of all concerned. Tech leads often work with equal weight team members, therefore trust for good working relationships is vital. The ability to build trust depends on your ability to acknowledge acceptable behaviour, and call out inappropriate behaviour while having a deep understanding of each of your team members and their expertise.

To motivate others and keep team engagement high, which in turn produces results and increases performance, tech leads must take an integrative approach, and adopt a number of management styles to deal with the situation at hand. We are not born knowing how to lead people. Leadership skills can be learned and improved, which means that all leaders can get better at managing teams. You must develop your ability to communicate, motivate, and to coach your team to think about challenges in new ways.

LACK OF COMMUNICATION

When team members fail to communicate effectively, confusion, frustration, and conflict may embroil the company. This results in missed deadlines, clashes, poor performance, lack of teamwork, low employee morale, and reduced profits. Good communication involves sending a clear message, ensuring that the recipient understands, and responding to any requests for clarification. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve communication and reduce conflict.

One way to combat miscommunication that leads to conflict is to establish clear communication policies for your team or company. Some examples below are:

Meetings management - Have a clear meeting agenda that is communicated beforehand, and a defined purpose and outcome for the meeting. Create a space in the meeting where every voice is heard, not just dominant ones. Respect people’s time by adhering to the time assigned for the meeting and not going over time, and by thoughtful review whether this meeting should actually exist. Create a format for how meeting minutes should be recorded, reviewed and distributed. The format you use should include the names of attendees, discussion items, action items, notation of responsible parties, deadlines and follow-up actions.

Regular updates - Much like establishing guidelines for documenting meeting outcomes, develop a system for team leads to provide regularly scheduled project updates, and broadcast it across the company. It doesn't have to be a time-consuming process; bullet point updates distributed company-wide can ensure everyone is on the same page with expectations.

Clear documentation - Your company handbook should cover topics such as how information is shared, how we ask questions and to whom, how we communicate with each other, how we work toward company goals, what behaviours are encouraged or discouraged (aligning values), what work rituals do we have, and what communication channels are acceptable for what.

POOR ESTIMATIONS

Estimating upcoming work is needed for some level of predictability, to be able to plan for what is in the pipeline, to ensure we have enough people to get the work done, and to prevent blocking other teams from progress. However, software estimation is like asking how long is a piece of string. We have yet to come across a team who has figured how to do this well; how to estimate their next project or big feature, how long it will take, or how much it will cost. Humans are not good at predicting the future, especially when there are many unknowns in play. Sometimes teams use a point scale assigned to tickets as a measure of the size of the work and team velocity, but in turn this specificity can have a negative impact on team effectiveness, feeling of self-worth, and even burnout when they fall short of the arbitrary numbers.

However, there are some things you can do to help with estimations, for example, starting with breaking down big problems into small, manageable pieces of work. You should track current work, how long it took to complete, and use that as a reference for estimating similar future work. Furthermore, you should build a buffer into your estimations to allow for all those unknown circumstances.

DELIVERY CONSTRAINTS VS QUALITY

Another common topic that tech leaders find challenging is the idea that quality of work is constrained by the project's budget, deadlines, and scope or features. The project manager can trade between constraints as changes in one constraint will cause the others to adjust accordingly. You may have heard this described as "good, fast or cheap" or "time, cost, quality" triangle. Generally, you can never get all three, well, at least not all at once. As they start, many product companies have a limited budget and they rush to get to market. Thus, they sometimes cut corners and do things quick and dirty. This leads to what some call technical debt, and has far reaching future implications for your product. What you are not paying for now, you will likely pay for later.

It is understandable that some compromises are made in order to find a market fit. Engineering teams need to find the sweet spot of not going too fast (and breaking all the things) or going too slow (and not finishing enough of the things). Trying to be a perfectionist with zero-bugs code and zero technical debt is not achievable on even the most funded teams. Many times the solution involves working with experienced conscientious people that understand the trade-offs in the decisions they make, and balance their work between quick and rough and pre-mature optimisation.

PROCESSES: THE STANDARD WAY OF DOING THINGS

In organisations with multiple independent teams, especially when they experience rapid growth, some work processes happen organically without forethought. What ends up happening is that every team has a different process for software development (for example pairing in one team while doing code reviews in another), or using a different tech stack or different tools (for example GitHub, and BitBucket, and SVN, and sometimes none of the above). Some teams like to try new shiny technologies in every new project without having the time to learn them well. This creates a development environment that is inconsistent, making it hard to onboard new team members as it takes them longer to understand the process and to become proficient.

The solution is to standardise the process. This can be done by using documentation to share knowledge on best practices and processes. First, you will need to find commonalities in how all the different teams work. Document them by creating a backbone that will be the standard for each team when starting a project. Not everyone will agree, but you need to start somewhere, and you will need to cultivate a culture that wants to improve. Get an understanding of what works, what doesn't, and why. Using the same tech stack, tools, and defined code design processes means that you won't have to reinvent the wheel every time from scratch. Instead you can use well-tested solutions that work at scale, and that will be quicker to start and get going.

THE LIST CAN GO ON

The above are just some examples of the most common issues that we see tech leaders face but not entirely all. For example, the downsides of having homogeneous teams, over-engineered hiring and interview processes that do not help diversify teams, toxic team cultures that do not support psychological safety are also amongst the common issues that we see tech leaders struggle with everyday. So if some of these all sound too familiar to you, well then you are not alone. The list can go on and tackling these problems require constant reiteration and practice. We hope that this blog post has helped you in some ways to reflect and improve your current strategies and come up with better solutions.

If you would like to learn more on how to tackle leadership issues, and meet like-minded tech leaders who are going through similar problems, apply and subscribe to our Blackmill Leadership Hub for weekly meetings to upskill and grow your team and your company.