Who’s In Charge?

I was talking to my offshore counterpart today and I asked him a question: Why are our leads not doing what they are responsible for doing? I was referring to the recent QA failure that came to light only when the customer identified it. The frustrating part is that this was not a first time issue. We’ve seen it before and we have had processes and measures put in place to identify and eliminate these common QA oversights much before our deliverables go out – the responsibility of which lies with the respective project/team leads. So, why with all the resolutions and fixes in place do we battle the same challenges again and again?

I know that there are a multitude of reasons and excuses that we can all come up with for why this happens. But I think one common reason I see these days is that leaders turn into assistants. They turn into task oriented resources and will do anything they are asked to do, which in this case was to find the root causes, dig up data, provide explanations, justify, etc. I see this especially in large projects where we’ve customer-facing, accountable front-line managers who make all the decisions and absorb most of the impact. The project leaders live under these shadows that they don’t take the initiative to provide solutions nor do they feel the need to make executive decisions. There is very little or no leadership at all from them. This is one of the many reasons why, I think, issues are identified by our customers and not by us; because we may have put an assistant in charge of the project while the leader in him hibernates.

Some might counter-argue saying “work on your QA processes instead of criticizing the leaders” while others may argue “if the leader is hibernating, then isn’t this your fault?” I don’t disagree. Both arguments are valid. The fact is we have always been focusing on the former argument by bettering our QA practices, introducing more reviews & checklists, using more tools, leaning towards automation techniques et al. But the same problems resurface and we fight the same cause, again and again. Why? Because we don’t have a leader in charge. That’s why I want us to focus on the latter argument, which makes us realize that by making these decisions for our leaders, we are at fault. Let us start by asking ourselves – Do we want assistants or leaders in charge?

As for that leader who is hibernating – well, for a start I am going to throw some cold water on his face. That should wake him up.