Technical Leadership

If Your Software Team Was a Football Team Instead…

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No, I’m not asking you to consider what it would be like for your Jr. Dev to play Defensive Back in the NFL, nobody could stomach watching that…

Stiff arm

What I am asking you to consider is this:

What would it look like if your team operated like a competitive sports team?

  • When your Wide Receiver carelessly drops a touchdown pass in the end zone, are they pulled aside, coached, and then sent back in to make the next catch?
  • When your Running Back wants more touches on the ball, do you set clear expectations and work with them to create a plan to get what they want?
  • If a strong personality is diminishing the team’s ability to operate productively, do you attempt to correct course? If they can’t change, are you willing to trade them away?
  • Are you getting together to watch film after games to help everyone learn from their mistakes and improve as a team?
  • If you as the coach can’t coordinate the team and win, should your job be on the line? (yikes!)

When you look at leadership in this way, running a software team versus a sports team is not all that different. You’d never expect a coach that can’t manage his talent to show up in a Super Bowl, so how should your team be any different?