Managers Resolve Impediments the Team Escalates

In ​Visualize Problems with a Board​, there’s a column on the board called Waiting for External Decision. The team escalates to the team’s manager the problems it cannot resolve itself. (Yes, I am assuming every team has only one manager.)

Problems outside the team’s control are often systemic problems. If your organization requires either change-control requests or a deployment team, the project team cannot release its product when it is done. Sometimes the annual budgeting process eliminates the possibility of making product advances in the marketplace because this project was not supposed to do that. Sometimes the team doesn’t know enough about interpersonal skills or technical skills, so the manager can arrange for training.

Great managers start with this question: “What do I need to do to see a flow of value from this team?” If the manager optimizes for value flow, the manager will see what his or her role could be.

For more reading, see Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management [RD05] and “Agile Management: The Essence of Leadership.”^[26]