Step Aside: Stop Leading from the Front
Until now, test leadership has mostly been about you—your ability to manage testers and testing, your artful problem solving skills, your gift of keeping a clear head during chaos, and your mastery in directing teams toward project goals. The better you led your teams and the more they accomplished, the more successful you became. But if you look back, you may notice that while you grew and strengthened, your teams did not. What if there were a better model by which to lead? One that creates more skillful leaders who inspire with vision, lead by example, while preparing a new generation of leaders? Bob Galen believes there is, and he is going to share it with you. Join Bob as he draws on his own journey from out-front test management to behind-the-scenes leadership. Learn how to trust your teams. Explore why leaders must not only become storytellers and adjust for different generations but also must grow and mentor teams and new test leaders. See why this legacy is your most crucial deliverable. And most importantly, recognize why stepping aside in your own leadership journey—to do all this from the back of the pack—is necessary to empower your teams to shine—from front and center.
An agile methodologist, practitioner, and coach, Bob Galen helps guide leaders and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift toward Scrum and other agile methods. Bob is often called “a Coach of Coaches” because of his deep and broad experience in the agile arena. He is director, agile practices at Zenergy Technologies; president of RGCG, LLC; and a frequent speaker at international conferences and professional groups on topics of agile software development. Bob authored Three Pillars of Agile Quality and Testing, Scrum Product Ownership, and Agile Reflections. A prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster, Bob can be reached at [email protected] or at LinkedIn.