TL;DR: A team manifesto is a solid tool for both ICs and leaders. As an IC, it has been a guiding light in my journey, providing clarity and purpose. As a lead, I’ve deployed it to unify my teams, motivate, and reach high performance. I involve my entire team in crafting a manifesto, ensuring it embodies our shared values and goals. Through my leadership, the manifesto has fostered an environment of trust, transparency, and mutual respect. It's a powerful tool that every team in any field can use to work more effectively and feel genuinely invested. Together, we're on a mission.
I've always been drawn to strong leadership, especially when it's built on a clear vision and transparency. I've looked up to leaders who turn their dreams into reality, creating high-performing teams by building a place where everyone knows the rules and understands the mission. The first step to achieve this is usually a manifesto, a public declaration of the team's intentions, motives, and values. It gives us our collective vision and lays out a clear plan for the team, removing confusion and promoting unity.
A good manifesto is like a guide for valuable engineers - it gives clarity, structure, and direction. It shows them how their work fits into the bigger picture. This boosts their motivation and productivity and gives them a sense of fulfillment.
For high-performing teams, a manifesto is what holds everything together. It sets out everyday rules, encourages teamwork, and promotes a culture of responsibility and ongoing improvement. It's not simply about setting rules; it's about building a place where everyone can do their best and feel valued. In this piece, I want to share my thoughts on how manifestos can turn everyday engineers into valuable assets of high-performing teams.
A Guide
A manifesto is like a map. It's not just words - it's a plan and a push to keep going. It ensures your work matches what the team wants to do. It shows you that what you do is helping the team get closer to the goal.
The manifesto gives you a clear path and a reason to keep moving. It brings the team together and reminds us we're working towards a big goal. In a world that changes a lot, it's a steady thing that keeps our team's values in everything we do.
For instance, let's say the team has to choose between making something fast or making it really good. If the manifesto says "quality first," then the choice is easy. No need to spend hours debating! This is how a manifesto can make you feel like you belong and give purpose, showing everyone that what they do is important to the mission.
Leadership Tool
A manifesto is a key tool for any leader. It helps keep a team of engineers focused and excited. It reflects a leadership style that's clear and bold.
The manifesto guides decisions, ensuring all actions align with the team's shared values and goals. It encourages clear communication so everyone understands the target. This openness builds trust and respect, which are key for any top-performing team. With a manifesto, a leader can guide the team towards their objective, ensuring everyone feels part of the journey.
Imagine if the leader has to be away for a while. Even without their presence, the team can still make critical decisions guided by the manifesto. Their actions would continue to align with the shared vision. This shows how a manifesto can foster a sense of trust and reliability, creating a self-sustaining team that always strives for the best.
My Journey
Having had the opportunity to experience both roles as an IC and a lead, I've gained distinctive insights into the invaluable role a manifesto plays in molding team dynamics and fostering individual growth.
As an IC, the definitive clarity that a well-thought-out manifesto brings cannot be overstated. It removes ambiguity, often around decision-making and prioritization. Understanding what our team stands for and the mission we're collectively pursuing instills a sense of confidence in me. I see my work not as a collection of discrete tasks but as integral parts of a meaningful mission.
As a lead, the manifesto became essential for creating team unity and a high-performance culture. It gives the team a framework for informed decision-making, enabling them to operate effectively. This manifesto-guided approach strikes a healthy balance between leadership oversight and individual responsibility, facilitating the growth of a genuinely self-reliant team.
My favorite leadership style balances clear direction with openness. The manifesto exemplifies this approach, defining rules and expectations unambiguously while leaving sufficient space for individual insights and innovation. This isn't about exerting my authority but crafting a shared vision in which every team member feels genuinely invested.
Creating a Manifesto
Building a manifesto is a team effort. It's a process that includes input from every team member. Each person's unique insights add value to the manifesto. It's a reflection of you as a leader and of us as a team.
Here are the steps to create a powerful team manifesto:
Know Your Team: Learn about your team's strengths, what needs to improve, and what goals they have.
Find Core Values: Figure out the values your team thinks are most important. These values should be clear in your manifesto.
Write the Mission: Make sure your mission is clear in your manifesto. It will keep your team focused and eager to work.
Show Your Team Culture: Explain what your team culture is like. This can make your team work better.
Write the First Draft: With all this information, start writing your manifesto. Keep it simple and uplifting.
Ask for Feedback: Once you've written a draft, share it with your team. Their thoughts will make sure the manifesto represents the team.
Iterate: Based on what your team said, make your manifesto better. You might need to do this a few times.
Share: Share the final version with your team. Make sure everyone understands and agrees with it.
Use it: Start using the ideas from your manifesto in your daily work.
Keep it Updated: As things change in your team, your manifesto should change too. Make sure it stays up-to-date.
Example
The Minifesto is one of the manifestos I admire. It's a guide that all valuable engineers should learn from. Here's why it resonates with me:
Focus: The manifesto focuses on doing the most important 20% of work, giving 80% of results. This has helped me focus on what matters and significantly improve my productivity.
Growth Mindset: The principles encourage continuous learning. Rather than striving for immediate perfection, it encourages steady progress and learning from mistakes. This mindset has improved my coding skills and helped me become a better problem-solver.
Innovation and Simplicity: The manifesto emphasizes simplicity and creativity. The less is more approach helped me build creative solutions in my work, showing that simplicity is sophisticated.
This manifesto is more than a guide - it's a way of thinking and living that I strongly believe in. The changes it brings to your coding approach, the growth mindset it pushes, and the spark of innovation it lights are invaluable. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced engineer looking to refine your skills, I recommend you read and absorb this manifesto. Its potential to improve your coding skills is enormous.
Followership
In a previous piece, we discussed the importance and power of followership for valuable engineers.
To recap, followership isn't about following rules; it's about understanding the mission, adhering to the shared plan, and valuing diligent work. A clear manifesto is crucial for encouraging this mindset.
With a well-defined manifesto, every team member gets why they're doing what they're doing. They see how their tasks fit into the larger mission of the project or organization. It clears up confusion and helps everyone stick to the mission, which boosts the team's overall performance.
The manifesto serves as a tool that clarifies each member's role and ties their work to the team's collective goals. It makes it easier to stick to the mission.
Opinionated
In addition to enhancing followership, manifestos foster more opinionated teams, as discussed in the piece below.
Opinionated engineers have firm beliefs rooted in knowledge, experience, and insight. These engineers are decisive and forward-thinking but are also adaptable. A clear manifesto makes it easier for them to stand strong in their beliefs.
A clear manifesto boosts the team’s confidence to speak up, knowing their thoughts fit the mission and values everyone adheres to. This encourages new ideas and taking the lead - keys to success in our field.
A clear manifesto helps make being opinionated easier and more effective. It's what powers the drive of forward-thinking teams.
Final Thoughts
In engineering, true leadership is more than technical skills or managing projects. It's about creating a high-performance culture, guiding your team toward a shared mission, and turning your engineers into valuable assets. A manifesto is the foundation of this transformation, reflecting my belief in transparent leadership and guiding my team towards our mission.
I urge you, as engineers and leaders, to use the power of a manifesto. Be the clear and assertive leader your team needs. Guide your team towards excellence, ensuring every member is invested in the journey.
Together, we're on a mission.