The Hawthorne Effect

 Kathleen Dollard, one of my favorite authors on software development, once made the remark that a lack of experience is holding our profession back. Over the years I’ve spent in software development, I’ve found substantial reason to agree. Here’s what I see as some of the obstacles to gaining a sound reservoir of experience in a software development organization. • The loss of experienced developers and architects from software development: Experienced developers and architects may go out the back door and take their experience with them. • Micromanagement by technically atrophied management: A number of times experienced developers go into management in software development organizations. Usually, their technical skills quickly atrophy, and they do not keep up with current software development processes. They may continue to give directions, but their directions make less and less sense because of the growing divergence between their own base of experience and current and appropr...

Some time ago I went through the book Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee and Resonant Leadership by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee. In the fall of 1995 I went through the Managerial Assessment and Development course at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, and there is some material from that course mirrored in Primal Leadership. In Primal Leadership , the authors distinguish between resonant leadership and dissonant leadership, and explain the following leadership styles: • Visionary (Resonant): Guiding people by and toward shared dreams. • Coaching (Resonant): Connects a person to the organization by linking their strengths, weaknesses and personal goals to the long term goals of the organization. • Affiliative (Resonant): Connects people through emotional ties and shared concern for each other. • Democratic (Resonant): Connecting people to the organization by l...

 Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Penguin Books, New York 1991. Summary: Principled negotiation is the central theme, where different parties work toward a common agreement based upon common principles, as opposed to positional negotiation, where different parties try to reconcile their different positions. Principled negotiation is deemed superior to positional negotiation in producing wise agreements, in efficiency at arriving over conclusions, and in preserving and improving ongoing relationships. Principled negotiation is based upon four major points: · People: separate the people from the problem. · Interests: focus on interests, not positions. · Options: generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. · Criteria: insist that the result be based on some objective standard. It is also not simply ‘deal making,’ where both sides can become ‘partners in crime’, rather than working out decisions and...

This was published previously in this blog back in 2010. I'm re-publishing it for any benefit which others can find from it I'm happily and honorably retired now.