The Theme of the Week

This week's theme, at least at work, is all about defining the role of the Feature Lead. You'd think we'd have nailed this one long ago, considering we've been doing Iterations with Feature Teams for over 3 months now, but I guess I've let this slide (in my other role, as mild mannered Agile Manager) until now. I saw the evolution and refinement of the role as part of the Grand Experiment that is: Going Agile, but perhaps that wasn't the best approach.

Based on various events this week and last, it seems like we'll have to work a little harder at getting everyone on the same page. Some misconceptions that appear to have been held by at least some people include:

1) Becoming a Feature Lead is a promotion. Definitely not the case, and easily proven by the fact that no one (that I know of) got a raise when they started Feature Leading. I've tried to counter this one by pointing out it's an opportunity: a chance to show that you can take on a leadership role and guide a team through a challenging cultural change. But I suspect that's not what people are wanting to hear.

2) Feature Lead is a position on the org chart. Sigh. Nope, it's not a position, it's a role, and an important one right now, to be sure. But it's held by people with various actual positions or titles: Software Developer, QA Specialist, Systems Integrator, Technical Writer, and even Agile Manager (that's me).

3) Feature Leads run the Feature Teams. This one has proven to be perhaps the most insidious of them all. We wanted people who could help lead the newly-formed groups through the labyrinth of Agile principles and practices, do some team-building, encourage the team members to take on more and more accountability, and provide a touchpoint for anyone on the outside who needed contact with the team (such as project managers, other Feature Teams, product owners, etc.) You'd think anyone looking at those responsibilities would realize most are transitory, at least if you do your job well, but more importantly, nowhere there does it say that you, as Feature Lead, are running the team! My mantra, on my team, has been, "I don't make decisions; you do!" but apparently that's not been the experience elsewhere.

And I suppose, had we been thinking this through more, all of this would've been obvious. I think I may've even noted this potential pitfall to my boss, months ago, but probably lumped in among a dozen other worries I had (I'm never at a loss for things to fret over). At any rate, here we are with a group of well-intentioned, hard-working souls that apparently have many different notions of just what their current role is really supposed to be, three months into it!

Should be an interesting rest-of-the-week for me!