Accountability ... It's For Everyone!

Accountability: the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.

Software Engineering is as much art as it is engineering. From the engineering side, their are best practices that guide developers on how to structure code, ensure the contracts between functional silos are maintained, ensuring performance constraints are adhered to, etc. On the creative side, there are a million different ways to write a specific function, as code is created, the engineer has the ability to choose how the exact implementation will be constructed.

From a management perspective, it can be hard to set and ensure that our teams are on track with specific milestones. Over the years I have tried several different tactics. Some have worked better than others. Recently, I've come to believe and rely on the following as a way to ensure that the leaders within my team have a pulse on what is going on within their teams and can actually provide factual responses to the question of 'where are we at'.

First, we established daily stand-ups within each of the resource teams. These run separate from any project related meetings/stand-ups that the project managers may run. Our goals with this 15 minute activity are to:

1. Open up communication within each of the respective teams and let every team member have visibility into what is happening.
2. Ensure that there is accountability within the team - everyone knows what the promise is and has to speak to what they've accomplished and what is coming up next.
3. Give the leaders of each team insight into current tactical activity to ensure that team members are working on what they are supposed to be working on, eliminating unplanned work, shifting resources to address roadblocks, and validating that the appropriate progress is being made to meet the established milestones.

These meetings run quickly - typically 15-20 minutes and each team member goes thru the following items:

1. What did I accomplish yesterday - was I able to deliver on what I promised.
2. What roadblocks am I encountering - do I have a path forward or do I need assistance.
3. What is my promise for tomorrow.

I am not able to attend every stand-up for every team, but I like what I'm seeing within these meetings. Team members are engaging with each other and have a better understanding of what all is being worked on within the team. When there is a problem, people are offering to jump in and help resolve the issue. When people have a little bit of down time, they are volunteering in the meeting to help other team members out with their tasks or are jumping ahead on stuff that still needs to be done.

These simple questions and setting aside 20 minutes a day to discuss, has altered how we are handling things within the team. First, I believe we have significantly reduced the unplanned work. Second, we have much better visibility into when a team member might be stuck and people are jumping in to help - either by just talking things thru or actually getting on the keyboard and solving issues. More importantly, I would also argue that my teams are communicating better. Communication is the key to everything, if we talk with each other, we solve problems and create wins!

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile