Leadership and what it entails

Leadership and what it entails

Ethics on leadership involves authority on self and others to help the organization uphold values that are important to the set up. Society’s need for common good and peaceful interaction and interrelationships are based on honesty, service to others and moral courage. After all, ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the intent, means, and consequences of moral behaviors.

Moral issues such as; equality, safety, properties, respect, human relationships; to name a few, are social consciences to be considered when it comes to our day-to-day interaction with all creatures here on earth. Even though our behaviors and personality has common relation with our culture from where we have established our early environment, as a person, being human, we have distinctive characteristics that are more unique that has more and higher significance with those of other creatures in the planet. Simply because; we possess the moral sense and we have a conscience to distinguish our actions and decisions based on our judgments between right and wrong.

When we are aware of the limits of our actions to deliberate our thoughts to actualization, we then are conscious of all the consequences of them. And, this is the turning point of ones ability to choose what decision to make based on the ethics that society have imposed. We are also all influenced from three formations in our growing years; that is, by association, through books we read, and in our own self concepts. As we grow with reason, we can know what we can act and cannot, based upon our consciousness of the cultural issues of morality which determine our peer’s trust and respect on us.

Ethics as we all know is just as important as values. Some act on their ethical judgments based on self-defined morals as influenced in their growing years’ environment, and from association with our peers, authority, and self-convictions as well as the values we hold. As a leader, it is important to determine our own moral principles and decide ethical conducts in the light of the meaning that it attaches with our own lives; from our own cultures, education, and purposes in life.


Ethics embrace values and morality as an important factor and full partner in the quest for an outstanding performance, not only in leadership but in a person’s daily actuation. Ethics in work and leadership is important more than anything. The work rules, the codes of conducts in the workplace is the determining factors what the organization strive and live for. Reputation and Success are synonymous without question. Everything that is happening inside the operation of the organization reflects the ethical ideals of the ownerships the members hold within their beliefs and values. And then what is transported to the outside world of their circle that determines reciprocity of public trust and loyalty.

We are not born with values, but we become what we are as influenced from our own cultures and societies where we grow and when become aware of them as children. We adopt what is being promoted to us; and from it, thus our own values are born. The more we understand our values deep within us, the clearer we can be with what we want to do with our lives, how we want to live our lives. We have a good picture of our self identity and we become more confident with our actions and actuation in our day to day existence. When we developed good character traits from the values we hold, we then possess qualities of great leadership.


Leadership requires competence; to be caring, having value-based convictions, and must be committed to certain ideals and goals that achieve the group’s vision and mission. As ethics in leaderships are required; leaders will have to have the instinct of higher ideals, possess values, and strive to be just, to serve all for the common good. Commitment to the basic values such as honesty, responsibility, charity, excellence, and persistence are necessary for building trust. And trust must be attained because it is the bedrock of the organizational survival and its growth over the long term.


People will forgive the leader who fails to manage by objectives or in its inefficiency in the use of time, and sometimes when a leader fails to achieve the smoothest human relations; but, they cannot forgive and it is difficult for anyone in society to forgive the leader who are immoral and unprincipled. This is the reason why leaderships must not only be a visionary, but also know the importance and exercise good judgments of actions and decisions based on the principles of right and wrong. And mostly, embrace the ethics of values and morality as full partners in the quest for its performance. To test their actions and decisions for the good of all that they serve and the society is by asking; is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better relationships, and will It be beneficial to all concerned. Then and only then, can higher ethical climate is obtained. And when it is, profits of the company operations will be better, as it reflects trust to the stakeholders and shareholders; cultivate loyalty to the staffs, employees, and customers.

Accountability Model or Making Commitments

 

Accountability Model or Making Commitments

I would like to address two areas that are often considered taboo. Accountability and commitment. The project progresses through the 5 levels of planning it also moves through progressively higher levels of accountability; Nice Idea, Best Effort and Commitment.

Making Commitments
The Accountability Model above is meant to illustrate how each level of planning helps the team one in on an actual commitment. Since the teams accept that requirements will change, the most detailed design estimates are held off until just before implementation. So, project stakeholders can expect The Release Plan to be more accurate than The Road Map and the Iteration Plan to be more accurate than the Release Plan.

With higher levels of accuracy come higher levels of accountability while lower levels of accuracy call for lower levels of accountability. Let's take a look at the levels of accountability:

• Nice Idea
  The Vision and the Project Road Map serve as guidelines for prioritizing during the more detailed planning that takes place closer to the Iteration. As new requirements and unforeseen changes expose themselves The Vision and The Road Map WILL change. Management should shy away from holding anyone accountable for changes that occur in the Nice Idea level. Rather, they should embrace the change as necessary or find ways to mitigate the change.
• Best EffortThe Release Plan is a best effort estimate based on yesterday's weather. Iterations are time boxed and most teams track velocity. This allows a project manager to produce an iteration schedule. The Release Plan, while more accurate than the Road Map, is less accurate at the front-end than at the back-end. For this reason, managers should consider using a confidence range chart or some other measurement of accuracy. Tracking a project's rate of change can also help mitigate risk. Managers should encourage change in the early iterations of a release but changes should stay within the scope of the current vision and roadmap. If you see either the vision or the roadmap changing you should consider wrapping up the release and starting a new release plan.
• Commitment
  Iterations are short and easily estimated. Teams with a well established velocity and a long history with the current project will be able to make the most reliable estimates. These teams should be able to fully commit to an Iteration of work.

Who's Accountable?
Accountability is a hard subject to address in this field. A person can "be" accountable, "be held" accountable or account for someone else. In general, developers are accountable to the user, the team and themselves. Holding a team accountable for the completion of a project is usually a huge morale killer and often does more harm than good. Holding someone (coach, scrum master, etc) accountable on behalf of the team will most likely fail as well.

So who is accountable? How is accountability expressed on an agile project? On agile projects, developers hold themselves accountable. They hold themselves accountable to the team, the users, their pair partner, themselves, etc. For Agile teams to be successful a culture of accountability must be nurtured but not forced.

Nurturing Accountability
Nurturing a culture of accountability is easier said than done, but it can be done. The usual tools of evaluations, reviews and threats have no place on a self organizing team. You can apply incentives, a sense of accomplishment, team ownership and a little peer pressure.

A good incentive suggested by Scrum is a burn down chart. On some teams the build server plays music or turns a light green when a build passes all tests. Involving the "Whole Team" in the planning and design is a surefire way of building team ownership. This leads to buy-in and allows developers feel a real sense of accomplishment. Also, large information radiators are a good way to keep the team focus.


Final Thoughts
so, what I am suggesting is that teams should want to commit to an estimate. Teams who have "bought-in" to a project are more likely to hold themselves accountable

5 Levels of Planning

I just read an interesting article that breaks down the Agile planning process into 5 levels:
(This is slightly modified)

1.    The Vision

2.    The Roadmap

3.    The Next Release

4.    The Next Iteration

5.    The Next Day

Essentially, each agile planning session occurs in one of these levels. With each level dependent on its predecessor. Ideally, you need a vision before you have a road map, road map before you plan the next release...you get the idea.

This really made sense to me. For years now I've used a somewhat complicated model to describe what it is we do. This model, oddly enough, can be easily distilled into this 5 level process.

In the table below I have identified each level of planning with WHAT being the expected artifact and the WHO generally describing the participants:

Level	What?	Who?
The Vision	A Vision Statement	Chickens
The Roadmap	Roadmap (duh)	Chickens
The Next Release	Release Plan/Stories/	Chickens/Pigs
The Next Iteration	Iteration Plan	Pigs
The Next Day	Engineering Tasks	Pigs

In the first level, The Vision, your goal is to provide a vision statement. Each shop will decide its own requirement but I general recommend a condensed vision statement that can be easily hung on the wall as an "Information Radiator" (Remember...big visible charts). The Vision should be agreed upon by all stakeholders (chickens) and written without concern for technology. It should also convey some sense of purpose, since it is intended to drive the development process.

Once you have a Vision your team of chickens is ready to start working on The Roadmap. The Roadmap should also be brief enough to work well as a Big Visible Chart. Ideally your developers will keep the roadmap hung up in the shop. As items on the Roadmap are completed they can be checked off. The Roadmap will list, in order of importance, the vision for future releases. I recommend a bulleted list with each release defined by no more than 2 or 3 sentences (1 is better). As with the vision the roadmap should have a sense of purpose and as each item on the roadmap is completed you'll likely want to revisit the vision (it may have changed).

With your Roadmap written you'll want to start planning your Next Release. Planning a release is no simple task. You'll want the input of all your chickens and pigs. I'd recommend, first, relooking/revamping the vision for the next release; something may have changed. During release planning the chickens should be presenting stories to the pigs. These stories fall into 3 categories; enhancements, new features, bugs. Chickens should only consider enhancements and new features that fit into the vision for this release. Any stories considered a bug may be considered, regardless of the vision. Beware what you call a bug....just because you "don't like the way something works", does not make it a bug.

During Release Planning you should play the planning game. Chickens write a story, pigs estimate, chickens rewrite.... The final result should be a set of estimated stories with user values and generally well described acceptance tests. This may take several days. Pigs should feel free to throw back any story that can't be estimated. Chickens should make sure to stay within the vision for this release (or revise it).

Once you've hammered out your Release Plan, you're ready to begin working on the Next Iteration. Your original estimates of a story should not change unless the story is changed. Tracking progress should be done via your velocity (that is outside the scope of this article). At the beginning of each Iteration you will select a set of stories to complete. This should be a sort of "do or die trying" commitment on the part of the Pigs. If you've tracked your velocity properly then making a commitment should be easy. Put story cards somewhere visible or use a large chart to track progress. No story should be started without an acceptance test and no story is complete until the test passes.

As each iteration progresses you'll constantly be planning The Next Day's work. Each day engineers/developers should pair up and select a story to work on. Pigs will sometimes hold design sessions with CRCs or write engineering tasks to remind themselves what needs to be done next. A coach should be available to cheer them on as the stories slowly disappear and the new builds start to appear. Always make big visible charts and information radiators to track progress of tests, builds and stories.

As you get into a rhythm your team should start to move through these stages naturally. For many companies distractions are a way of life. Try your hardest to insulate developers from these distractions and you'll see your vision realized much faster. If distractions are unavoidable they just realize that your velocity will suffer. As long as distractions are common your velocity should adequately adjust for them.

Draiman for Mayor of Los Angeles

Draiman for Mayor of Los Angeles 

YJ Draiman for Mayor of LA

(March 5, 2013 Election)

Contact:  yjdraiman@yjdraiman.org   818

  “A vote for DRAIMAN is a vote for you”

We must focus far more intently on the economic plight of ordinary Americans

     “Transparency and accountability is my motto”

Decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world for many generations into the future. Ensuring that decisions being made about our energy, water, and natural resources are sustainable is central to this belief.  This also applies to political, financial and economic decisions that affect/obligates current and future generations.

When elected I will appoint one neighborhood council member to each of the city's boards of commissioners. Including the proprietary departments as well. Either through a charter amendment, ordinance or by policy directive.

1) It will provide direct info flow from community to agency heads
2) Save time and effort
3) Accountability and responsiveness

Draiman for Mayor of LA