This week, I had the pleasure of attending the Better Software / Agile Development Practices Conference in Las Vegas.  It was a nice opportunity to check out some vendors in the agile arena, connect with a new potential client, and to sit in on some informative sessions on Agile and Better Software Development practices.

One session that was particularly relevant to me – and likely to the readership of this site – was a session on the role that management plays …or should be playing…in the agile development environment.  The presenter was Skip Angel, an agile consultant/coach from Big Visible Solutions.

Skip presented many great ideas – most focusing on the need to toss aside the way we normally think about management and project leadership.  We must move from directive leadership to catalyst leadership.


Directive vs. Catalyst leadership

The key concept is to encourage or rather enable collaborative and creative thinking.

The key concept really is to encourage or rather enable collaborative and creative thinking.  While normal directive leadership forces analytical thinking, catalyst leadership encourages systemic thinking.  Directive leadership makes us think in terms of either/or while catalyst leadership forces us to think in terms of  both/and.  Directive leadership enforces unilateral control while catalyst leadership encourages collaboration and creativity. Catalyst leadership blends chaos and order.

The catalyst leader must be collaborative and flexible.  He must be inclusive and adaptive.  He must be a facilitator.  He must be courageous.  In troubled times he must be ready to examine his role in what went wrong rather than continually look for someone to blame.


The utilization factor