RE: Re: Do C-Level managers, and business drivers really need to know about XP?

Hi Glen,

I think I'll take a stab at some of these questions:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alleman, Glen B. [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 8:32 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [xpAdoption] Re: Do C-Level managers, and 
> business drivers
> really need to know about XP?
> 
> 
> From Steve's comments,
> 
> So from your experiences of being "groomed" how would a 
> leader emerge in
> the absence of this grooming?
> 
> The concept of "emergent" leadership is interesting IIF there 
> is such a
> leader in the group. The other unanswered question is what is the time
> scale for this emergence? Is this timescale alterable by external
> processes? Grooming prior to need?
> 
> The conjecture that emergent leadership actually works needs some
> discussion. 
> 
> (1) Is there a difference here between emergent leaders and 
> leadership?
> Do self emergent leaders already have the leadership skills 
> to lead and
> therefore emerge in the absence of an imposed leader? 
> 
Self emergent leaders already have the skills to lead, but not necessarily the tools.  One of the most important tools for leadership is experience.  I believe that if there is the rare self-emergent leader in the group, she will emerge with or without an imposed leader.  There is not necessarily always such an individual in any given group, though.

> (2) What processes are in place for this leadership to behave in
> accordance with the higher needs of the organization? 

In an XP framework, I would say that the practices coupled with a really strong emphasis on the values creates a good start.  How one ensures that they are living up to this is really best evaluated case by case.
> 
> (3) At what scale does this emergent leadership work? Small group of
> self directed teams? There is lots of literature on the software
> development world on this approach? Large groups - say departments?
> Where is the cut off - if any - on group size for self 
> emergent leader?
I don't know that its necessarily a cut off kind of situation.  The emergent leadership can work on the smaller groups of teams, at which point we have a nice set of candidates for the department heads.  Once you get into the larger organizations, there are actual "B-School" issues that need to be addressed, and they are not instinctive.  For instance, it is sometimes disconcerting how many times I have to explain to folks around here what the difference between utilization and realization is, and why it matters.

> 
> (4) In the discussion here of leadership are we speaking in 
> terms found
> in business - say the HBR series on leadership - or in anecdotal terms
> from within a small group?
> 
Here is where my toolset is incomplete.  What is the HBR series on leadership?  From my standpoint, I am talking about leadership in groups of 5-50, sometimes broken into smaller teams, sometimes not.

> Glen B. Alleman
> Director, Program Management Office
> Information Technology
> CH2M HILL
> Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site
> 10808 Highway 93, Unit B, Bldg 060, MV72
> Golden, Colorado 80502
> Office: 303.966.5865  Nextel: 303.994.0874 
> 
Steve

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