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I have a really leadership test at every place I work at: Can I, and everyone around me, tell the story of how the random thing they're doing today connects all
by josephg 2y ago
I have a really leadership test at every place I work at: Can I, and everyone around me, tell the story of how the random thing they're doing today connects all the way up to the company's big picture goals?
When this works well, its obvious to everyone. "Today I'm triaging a bug that comes up for our customers. We want customers to have a delightful experience, keep giving us money and recommend us to their friends." / "I'm writing a technical blog post. I've been asked to blog more because it helps us attract good talent, and good talent will help us make better software."
But its heartbreaking how often teams and people fail this test. "Oh, I'm doing this but I don't know why. My boss asked me to do it. But she didn't tell me the reason and I didn't ask." / "Yeah we're all working hard on this product but there's another team doing basically the same thing and in 6 months all our work will probably be scrapped." / "Our scrum meetings are an absolute waste of everyone's time. My boss admitted over drinks that we only do it because it makes our team look good in the meeting with all the big bosses."
Sometimes the problem is communication. Sometimes its a lack of initiative on the ground - eg "I learned to stop asking questions like that". Or a lack of mentorship to junior employees. Sometimes its a lack of leadership from the C-suite, or incompetent middle managers or VPs or something. But whenever people can't explain the point of their work, something is going terribly wrong in the company, and I hear a calm voice playing in my head: "Please take a moment to locate the nearest exit. It may be behind you. In the event of an emergency, ..."