Pressure and Performance: The CTO's Dilemma
, James Shore
The Agile movement has largely ignored the experiences of CTOs and senior leaders in an Agile enterprise. In this session, we move toward a pattern language of CTO-level Agile practices and underlying principles, with supporting or constraining forces. Presenters will explain survey data and a CTO panel will contribute their stories. Taking our cues from panel and audience members, we’ll consider further topics including: demonstrating, assessing, and improving performance; tensions between long and short term results; control and influence; and creating an organization where Agile teams thrive and produce.
Value Statement
Through this session, we intend to provide value to the agile conference community by:
- sparking discussion about executives’ role in Agile development;
- providing ideas that will help organizations support Agile in the enterprise; and
- enabling non-CTOs to understand their executives’ world.
Abstract
Much has been said about the role of project and functional managers in Agile environments. We want to explore the experience of a group that has been largely ignored: the CTOs and other senior leaders in an Agile enterprise. We will share stories collected from CTOs we’ve worked with, and we will include a panel of CTOs in our session to tell their own stories. We will also engage the audience with exercises they can complete in their seats.
In this way, we wish to move towards a pattern language of CTO-level Agile practices. During the session, we’ll explore the principles behind the practices we have found, as well as the forces that support or constrain the use of individual practices.
We will present prepared material and respond to the needs and experiences of our panel and audience. Topics we expect to explore include: control and influence; serving the business; demonstrating, assessing, and improving performance; tensions between long and short term results; feeding and starving organizational behaviors; and creating an organization within which Agile teams thrive and produce.
Tests
Our session will be successful when:
- CTOs think, “I recognize my situation in what the presenters said.”
- Non-CTOs think, “I have a better understanding of senior management’s world – their pressures, issues, hopes, aspirations and dilemmas.”
- Most attendees think, “I’m walking away with at least one idea that made my time in the session worthwhile.”
- Most attendees think, “This session kept my attention throughout and made me think.”
- During the rest of the conference, we hear (or hear about) conversations related to our session topic. This is an interactive session that will accommodate an audience of hundreds. We’ll use in-chair activities for individuals as well as pairs and triads of people sitting near one another.
The interplay between the presenters and among the presenters and CTO panel members will create an entertaining, fun and playful session while providing solid, original content to participants.