[teampractices] [FYI] Starters, Finishers, and Implementers

[Kevin Smith]

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Max Binder <mbinder at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 7:59 AM, Kristen Lans <klans at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> This was an interesting read related to the notion of "Starters,
>> Finishers, and Implementers":
>>
>> https://hbr.org/2011/06/how-to-become-a-great-finisher
>>
>
> Any reason to not send this on the public list?
>


> Also
>
> Great managers create Great Finishers by reminding their employees to keep
>> their eyes on the prize, and are careful to avoid giving effusive praise or
>> rewards for hitting milestones “along the way.” Encouragement is important,
>> but to keep your team motivated, save the accolades for a job well — and
>> completely — done.
>
>
> I feel like Lyssa Adkins says something to this suggestion in Coaching
> Agile Teams.
>
>
I finally got back around to reading this article, and am shifting this
thread to the public list.

I liked that the the article didn't just say "finish stuff", but gave one
concrete tip to do so: Focus on what remains to be done, rather than what
you have completed so far.

Although I suspect I have a natural tendency to focus on what has been
done, I do very often step back and ask "Ok, exactly what will it take to
finish this?" Apparently that's a healthier habit than I realized, and one
that I will try to do more of.

This psychological trick (of focusing on what remains to be done) aligns
well with burndown charts, and to a lesser degree, burnup charts. Those
charts focus attention on the gap between where we are and the target line.

Max's point becomes tricky when developing software. Clearly, prior to
hitting a milestone, you would want to give encouraging pushes toward
finishing that milestone. But after a milestone, you shouldn't celebrate?
Ouch! And if you wait for a piece of software to be "finished" before
celebrating...well....as we know, software is *never* finished. At that
point, you're talking about putting people on an endless death march.

An answer, I think, might be to treat each milestone as a point of full
completion. Push to hit it, and celebrate it. Then reset everything, and
focus on what's left to hit the next milestone. Don't count up how many
milestones you have hit. If anything, track the number of milestones
remaining.

Kevin Smith
Agile Coach, Wikimedia Foundation
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