Manifesto for Technology Leadership

One of the things I care about a lot is leadership in technology - how can we as leaders, and how can our leaders, nurture an environment which gets the best out of our people.

It's easy to complain when we don't like something. It's much harder to explain what we want instead.

The agile manifesto does an excellent job at setting out the principles we should aim for when building software - without dictating any particular style. Importantly, it sees everything as a compromise (‘Individuals and interactions over processes and tools') and doesn't treat either as always right or always wrong.

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

Although this has given rise to numerous methodologies, each with their own distinct interpretations, it ensures teams and organisations have the flexibility to approach agile in a way which suits their unique circumstances - and to adapt as those circumstances change.

I propose we do the same for technology leadership.

And so I shamelessly rip off the agile manifesto style to get us started. And selfishly use the things I care about most. But I think this should be a collaboration - not just from leaders, but also the people we lead - so we create a manifesto which means something to us all.

And I think this is important. Even if we're already doing these things, others aren't.

Manifesto for Technology Leadership - alpha!

Support and direction over solutions and constraints
Responsibility and accountability over processes and rules
Encouragement and honesty over criticism and discipline
Goals and objectives over to-do lists and priorities
Appreciation and respect over praise and reward

And so...

Whatever your job role - be it developer, tech lead, UX designer, product owner, CTO or CEO - I'd like your contributions, your feedback, and hopefully your willingness to sign it to show your commitment to your teams.