My Manifesto

A fresh take on the Agile Manifesto by "new wave Agilist" Dan Greenberg...

I am uncovering new philosophies of leadership, through experience, observation, and contemplation. Through functioning in a leadership role, I have come to value:

Safety                            Over        Productivity
Simplicity                      Over        Intelligence
Doing What’s Right      Over        Fixing it Now
Experimentation          Over        The Way We’ve Always Done It

While there is value in the items on the right, I value the items on the left more.

1. Metrics are for the team. Metrics should never leave the team. No one outside the team should ever look at a metric. Working software is the primary measure of progress.


2. A release burnup + 25 cents buys you a 25-cent gumball from a gumball machine.


3. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential. Code every feature as if no one is going to test it. Own everything you do. If you don’t take pride in your work, use your own two feet to find another job that you do care about.


4. No one should ever be in a meeting that they do not want to be in. Ask yourself, “why am I doing a job I don’t want to do?” Remind yourself, “there are other ways to pay the bills.”


5. #noestimates


6. Fail fast.


7. Never take yourself too seriously. Never take your work too seriously. Don’t take anything personally. Any problem anyone has with you is in reality a problem that person has with themselves. You just happen to be caught in their wake.


8. Genuine laughter – not nervous, uncomfortable laughter at jokes that aren’t funny, but genuine laughter – is the primary sign of a healthy team.


9. Punish heroes. Never reward heroic behavior. Evaluate people based on how well their team does without them. The sign of a true leader is the ability of their team to function without them. The goal of any leader is to be fired and not replaced. If you don’t need my job anymore, then I’ve done my job.


10. People are by their nature already accountable. There is nothing you need to do to make them accountable for their work other than provide the safety for them to be honest with you.


11. A good system will defeat a bad person every time. A bad system will defeat a good person every time.


12. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Never act before you are done with the first three. The most courageous action any leader can take is to do nothing.