After the years, I’ve spent in Software Development, I’ve realized the following things:

1. Complex and successful solutions are made by TEAMS, not by unique and independent people
2. Software Development is NOT about Family but pretty close to Professional TEAM SPORT: both are high—competition business where talented teams are so important (not only because of this, but I will explain this vision in some other post)

Team Sport history has thousands of years. I’ve asked myself what we can take from this?

What about Values?

I think yes! I assume, it can give some ideas for Software Dev Teams and Companies which values should be promoted to become a leader.

Now the UEFA Champions League is running, so I decided that it will be pretty interesting to gather the Values of top, well-known football clubs with a long history.

Let’s begin.

Side note: I’ve added a link to their official webpage where values were mentioned.

FC Real Madrid

1. Excellence 
2. Winning Spirit
3. Universality
4. Solidarity 
5. Humility 

FC Barcelona

1. Humility
2. Effort
3. Ambition
4. Respect
5. Teamwork

FC Bayern Munchen

1. Be Successful
2. Be Inspiring
3. Be Committed
4. Dream Big

FC Borussia Dortmund

1. Intensity
2. Authenticity
3. Cohesion
4. Ambition

FC Liverpool 

1. Dignity
2. Ambition
3. Unity
4. Commitment

FC Arsenal

1. Always move forward
2. Be Together
3. Actions that Matter

FC Atlético de Madrid

1. Dignity
2. Ambition
3. Unity
4. Commitment

Side note: I also understand that sometimes values mentioned in public resources are a part of marketing, but I assume that it still representative and describes the culture or a target for it. Especially for a company (clubs) with a long history.

After I’ve gathered it together, I see clearly that all these values-words of winning clubs can be divided by following groups:

1. Achievement-orientation: includes values like Achievement, Be Successful, Winning Spirit, Ambition, Intensity etc.
2. High Standards & Motivation: Inspiration, Excellence, Be Inspiring, Dream Big etc.
3. Importance of Team & Personality:  Teamwork, Universality, Solidarity, Unity, Respect, Cohesion etc.
4. High Personal Qualities: Dignity, Humility, Respect, Commitment, Be Committed, Sacrifice etc.

So now you can check if the values of Your company and Yourself are in these groups and aligned with the values of top football clubs 😉

Definitely, Software Development is close to sport but not the same, and not all of these values should be there. But still, it has some sense for me.

Based on this analysis, I’ve asked myself which values from this list can be taken for my ideal Software Development Company. My choice is the following (without priority):

• Highest Value for Client (I have substituted Achievements to be closer to software development)— all our work should be transmitted into the highest value to the Client. It makes us win on the market.
• Excellence—to bring the highest value, and win a great prize, you need to set up and reach high targets and follow high standards.
• Teamwork — big wins are impossible without teamwork. Team players are valuable for us. Teamwork has trust, respect, friendship, cooperation, and unity behind.
• Inspiration—it’s difficult to set up high goals and win if you are not inspired, not motivated.

Side note: It’s also existing a chance that non-top clubs/companies have the same values. My opinion is:

• It depends on how these values really supported by the company, management and usual employees.
• Good values, even if they are fully supported, are helpful, but not enough to win. It depends on the right people with the right ideas in the right place, financial aspects, competitors etc.

During my work as a manager, I’ve clearly realized the following facts:

1. Know your employee as a human. We are not robots, but humans! To manage successfully, you need to know your employee not as a worker only, but human. You need to know their personal goals, motivators because it’s closely linked with your success.
2. Help employees with their goals to reach yours. Connect them. The story of successful/not successful management is about how the goals of you and employee fit to each other. To manage employees, you have to help with their goals. To make your goals to be reached – link your goals with the goals of employees. It’s applicable for short and long-term goals.
3. Bidirectional feedback makes work more efficient. It adds a self-improving mechanism to communication with employees, which also improves work efficiency, make it predictable. As a part of it creates convenient and less stressful work environment for all sides. Read the book “Radical Candor” for more explanations.
4. Action, Action, Action! All the previous is excellent, but will not work if all of this will be not supported/transformed into actions which will be finally done and make all of these happen, no on words!

As an important instrument to cover all of these things is 1–1 Meetings with employees.

In this post, I want to share with you my insights and Template, which significantly increased the value of such meetings for me.

I heard many positive feedbacks from colleagues and finally decided to share it with the wider community.

Let’s start with few insights:

1. 1-1 should be NOT mixed with status call with employee. It should be a separated meeting in time because it’s hard to change mind quickly: from work goals and tasks to personal goals and motivators, from reporting to communication as a partner etc.
2. 1-1 should be regular and NOT be skipped. Sometimes for employees and managers, it looks like nothing to discuss. Usually, it’s a wrong feeling because of different factors. It can be because meetings are too frequent: I suggest doing it at least 1 per month, with frequency convenient for both sides: when they have something to discuss. It can also be because it’s hard to start with something: employee and manager have no points to start with, not clear what really can be discussed. In this case, my template below will be pretty helpful. Meetings should be regular because it should be never ending, iterative work on improvements.
3. 1-1 will NOT work if no trust between employee and manager. 1-1 should be a place when sides talk more like a trusted partner: share feedback, goals, concerns, objections in both directions. If no trust – the value of 1-1 meeting is not clear it all. As a result, managers should prepare a trustful and safe environment for subordinates (see Radical Candor book for ideas how to do it).

I like to do 1-1 in face-to-face format with coffee in cozy place 😉

Finally, let me share the template which can be used to manage 1–1 meetings with exact employee.

It contains the following useful info separated by tabs:

1. Possible Agenda of 1-1 step by step with possible timing
2. Motivation Check where employees can easily identify and share their motivation in details
3. Action Items log to keep them in mind and track their state
4. Long-term Agreements contains important agreements which important to know and support on a long distance.
5. Career Path high-level description
6. 1-1 History & Feedback to store Manager<>Employee feedback and also motivation points – to see dynamic

Enjoy!

Great insights from Template: since you can measure the motivation of your employees, you can gather this information from your sub-managers (if any) and analyze their results. It increases visibility across your organization retention of employees, resolve their blockers quicker. I’ve created a matrix for all employees in the organization and tracked it on monthly basis.

Additionally, to these, you can create a repeatable checklist which be launched automatically before1-1 to be ready for both sides. It can be easily automated in checklist-based Process Management Tool checkflow.io. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help with it.

Side note: additionally, to my personal experience, it’s also based on:

• A fantastic list of motivation factors and idea how to work with it was provided by the coach of Stratoplan management school.
• Ideas from Radical Candor book by Kim Scott.

Why Manifesto was created

Me as Manager of Delivery, Developer, and Team Player, by developing software I always want to bring a great and unique value to the Client, development Company I represent, Myself, my Team, and the World at all.

Through the years, I’ve realized that many companies which develop software can use the power of such an organizational structure as Team to bring value and satisfaction to all parties which are involved in the work process.

Here I bring together my vision, approaches and values in a form of Manifesto statements.

For Whom is this Manifesto

Initially, this Manifesto was focused just on Software Development Teams. Now I see that the Manifesto statements below are pretty generic, they define values and approaches which can be applied outside of Delivery and even in not-IT companies.

Manifesto

We are working in IT to bring the best value and satisfaction to the customer, company, team, and ourselves.  It’s pretty challenging to find a balance and reach all these goals at once. Through our work, we have come to values and conclusions which will make these goals do not contradict but fit each other:

1	The Team is one of the most important values of the company
2	The Team is the most important structure of the company, which creates value for the customer.
3	A motivated, result-oriented and professional Team can bring more value and satisfaction to the customer and company than just professional Team or group of independent employees.
4	Being a part of a Team, with the ability to Own & Invest & Get value from its work, is one of the best ways to make employees motivated, engaged and accountable for results.
5	Team individuality, its rights to impact on its work processes and composition should be respected.
6	Team Satisfaction is no less important than Customer Satisfaction
7	The skill to act as a Team Player is essential for an employee.

How to Sign Manifesto

If you agree to the statements mentioned in the Manifest – You can sign this Manifesto by leaving comment under this page with the text: Agree.

Goals of Manifesto

Let me summarize here, goals I would like to reach by defining of Manifesto.

1. Way to share my concept to a wide audience in a form of clear and consistent statements. This goal is based on the Manifesto definition.  Thoughts can include key ideas, values, conclusions. 
2. Promotion of Ideas & Values across people who will potentially help to build solutions or use their results (employees, customers etc.) . The manifesto should help attract attention and gain support and approval of the concept.
3. Identify and unite like-minded people to bring thoughts and concept itself to life. Manifesto should help to clarify if employees or company agree / have a trust in our ideas, values and ready to support them. Agreement with Manifesto is some kind of marker/entrance gate to work with people or companies with the same mindset.
4. Give directions for solutions, how to solve the problems which exist in software development.
5. Align solutions and decisions to make them consistent. It gives ranges for solutions implementations and decisions made during implementation. 
6. Speed up decision-making of during applying of solutions.  It’s hard to be fully aware about fast changing processes and solutions, but decisions should be made fast. Alignment of decision with the Manifesto will lower risks that the decision will break something or will be inconsistent with the solution.  

This Manifesto created not to be apposed with other statements and modern development approaches as Agile Manifesto, but support them.

What I mean under Team

As mentioned above, the Manifesto is used for Software Development Team, which is well-known term in the IT world (including Outsource). But now we see that the Manifesto is well applicable for Teams across other areas. It attracts people to support it. We see a big power in it and don’t want to use strict definition.

As a result, let’s use the most general definition: A Team it is a group of people united by common goals, interests, ideals, acting together. Team members are united by each other’s support and are collectively responsible for the result of the entire team’s activities.

In some other resources, it can be used a less strict definition from Wiki: A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal., which is also allowed for the Manifesto.

What is as basis for the Manifesto

This Manifesto was formed based on personal experience of creators, including work in IT and Sports. In addition to this, the Manifesto is based on the following opinions/science knowledge/researches:

• Basic Psychological Needs proposed by Self-Determination Theory (see relatedness need)
• Seven Major Sources of Economic Progress, mentioned by James D. Gwartney and Richard L. Stroup, in “What Everyone Should Know About Economics And Prosperty”, 1993

Let me continue practice of small notes about Management:

1. Good Leader / Manager unites the team, Bad – make team members fill outside
2. If you not an engine by anchor for your team – it’s time to step out and give ability for a new engine. It will save what you have done.
3. Every Activity (including Project, Process, or one time change) should be wrapped with key Goal(s)+ KPI(s) to track success. If manager says it’s impossible to setup – they doesn’t understand what they are doing.
4. Every Activity should have an owner who has a short-term vision/plans in short term (“executor”) and owner who has long-term vision (“visioner”). Both visions are really hard to combine in one person.

From time to time I make some quick notes. I think it’s a good time to collect them here:

1. Good Manager simplifies complex things
2. Great (Clear) idea compensate a lot of gaps to be achieved
3. Power of Manager is a power of his team. Hire powerfull employees.
   A Manager hire A employees
   B Manager hire B/C employees
   C Manager hire D employees.
   Be an A Manager
4. Leadership is about bravery: to take reponsibility, make decision, be transparent.
5. Under Process we still mean exact People. Under Changes we mean exact People.
6. Before giving benefit, define what you want to take back at the end.
7. To change some process you need to describe the process at first.

Recently, there was a case when an employee was fired from a large company for speaking aggressively on LinkedIn.

In fact, I was surprised by the reaction of some colleagues and decided to share my opinion:

1) Aggression, which is aimed at a certain large and heterogeneous group of people on the basis that is given by nature (gender, sexual preference, age, skin color, nation, etc.) is essentially close to hooliganism for no reason: such aggression does not put in the calculation of a specific person to whom it can be directed. It can be any person with different values ​​and education. Usually, it’s a normal person.
Such aggression is irrational. I think this is a sign of some kind of trauma, fear, or lack of education.

2) Such aggression devalues ​​a person, reducing his dignity to a certain sign. I have doubts that it is possible to build rational, open, positive relationships with such a person.

3) In their work, such people clearly create risks, given the fact that other team members and the customer may belong to the group. Working with such a person is a ticking time bomb. Perhaps he extends this pattern to other groups (for example, women)? I understand this reaction from the company.

About the dismissal. Here I have a twofold feeling and the question: does it make sense first to give a choice to such an aggressor: take a course with a psychologist/psychotherapist or still quit. Should the company take responsibility for the person in matters of psychological health? I don’t have an answer yet.
I am also surprised to read the opinions of other members of the IT community when they support the expression of such aggression. On the other hand, I understand that it is sometimes difficult to draw a line between freedom of expression and irrational aggression.

I also made a survey “Should the company pay attention to the psychological health of the employee?”

Out of 618 people, the answers were distributed as follows:
40% – Yes – conduct training
30% – Of course – a psychologist should be on staff
30% – No – it’s a human business

I read more and more about the 4 stages of an interview, etc. I was also previously skeptical about the principle of fast hire, fast fire.

At the moment, I have two opinions on this matter.

Opinion number 1

A good interview could consist of 3 parts.

Ideally, could be reduced to one interview:
The first part (30 minutes) is HRM pre-screening, which is essentially done to save time and superficially assess the candidate / match the position and the company as a whole (soft skills). The candidate asks questions about the company. This can be done simply as a short informal acquaintance. This part is best done separately from the interview.
The second part (1.5 hours) is carried out by a similar Expert Advisor, which is one level higher. It is important to have a quick test task (30 minutes). This part will help you understand the suitability of the position (hard skills)
The third part (30 minutes) is a direct acquaintance with the future manager. This will help to understand alignment with the future objectives / values ​​of the leadership. For an employee – to get specific work. Unfortunately, this important part is often skipped because the manager is busy or even uknown. Anyway this part gives necessary specifics and can solve a lot of questions and risks in future.

In total, the optimal duration of an interview with a separate prescreening / acquaintance is 2 hours.

Anything that longer seems to me more redundant and can be minimized to this timing. Of course there are exceptions: you build rockets or is has a non-trivial position.
Anything shorther – carries certain risks and benefits.

Opinion number 2

After all the interviews I have done and the bugs caught, my slogan is:

The best test for a person is directly the work that he has to do.

I made sure that:

• There are candidates who can go through all the stages, any tricky interviews and tests, but show their inadequacy to the work / team,
• There are also candidates who do not disclose at the interview, but demonstrate excellent results at a specific job.

There is another important reason why employees can leave their work after an excelent interview and great manager:

Work and external factors affecting the employee are also quite dynamic things.

If a person came to the same tasks, there is a possibility that over time (and usually unexpectedly soon) they will change, like the manager, the team. Even candidates don’t know if they can cope with such changes. Only time and specific work in a specific team will tell.

As a result, I think it doesn’t make sense to scare away candidates with complex interview: you will never find all hidden stones or gold. Real work will make it clean and clear.

In fact, I think fast hire, fast fire still makes sense, no matter how brutal it sounds.