This week we take a slight detour in our journey through Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 – Buy a copy and read along!) As we have noted before, the book is at heart a cautionary tale; however, it is easy to pass the shenanigans (in private I might use stronger language) as confined to the boardroom, and therefore not something that can happen inside the boundaries of an agile team or in a department.  Ahhhh, think again. To establish the basis for this brief respite we published a review of some of the common attributes of toxic organizations and toxic leaders. It would be easy to go through both of the lists and a find points in the first six chapters and tick the attributes off almost like you were watching a slow(ish)-motion train wreck.  Here are a few of the more interesting points:

Chapter 1 establishes the win-at-all cost mentality of Holmes and the yardstick she used to evaluate success: money. Most software development teams (used in the broadest sense) do not have raw money as their yardstick of success; their yardstick ought to be focused on product and functionality. Personally in my twenties, I mentally established a salary goal and pursued that goal. My behavior did not rise to the level of Holmes but looking back through the filters of time, I might not have been the best team member of all times.  All of us have our own goals, whether they are money, position or power. Teams need to establish enough trust to share and support colleagues’ healthy goals. This level of trust requires not only sharing but having a common overall purpose that links the team.  The overriding goal is critical, I have seen many well-oiled teams start betraying trusts after achieving their mission (sometimes even before the victory parties have been cleaned up). Win at all cost and goals/values that don’t match will cause problems at any level.  

Chapter 3 highlights the impact of siloing information with Holmes at the center of the web.  Siloing is a common problem that makes many great organizations somewhat toxic. Information is often linked to power.  In today’s dynamic world where organizations flex to meet market changes, individuals use informational power to maintain or improve their position in the organization.  Project and program managers and release train engineers due to their position as information nexuses, which can foster silos, impeding the flow of information. While smaller scale than the silos at Theranos, they can be equally toxic.  People finding themselves at the nexus of informational flows need to reflect on the tenants of servant leadership. Those managing the flow of information need to focus on making sure they share information to advance the work toward the goals of the organization.  This might sound pollyannaish, and perhaps it might be in the presence of other leadership or organizational toxins, but it is the expectation of the leadership roles such as release train engineers, scrum masters, project, and program managers.    

Each chapter has examples of toxic attributes that occur as a smaller scaled of an agile team or group of teams.  The first five chapters describe the path to an environment where bad things not only might happen but will (I read ahead).  

Next week we will dive back into the story and the issues that leaders can reflect on and hopefully avoid.

Remember to buy a copy (using the link will support the blog and podcast) of  Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018).

Previous installments:  

Week 1 – Approach and Introduction – https://bit.ly/2J1pY2t   

Week 2 — A Purposeful Life and Gluebot – https://bit.ly/2RZANGh

Week 3 — Apple Envy, Goodbye East Paly and Childhood Neighbors – https://bit.ly/2zbOTeO