Hero-Culture vs Team-Culture

I recently blogged about how to Transform a Hero Culture. James Bach replied stating that hero cultures should be encouraged. I agree with some points he challenged me on, and disagree on others.  In this post, I will attempt to clarify the issue I had with ‘hero cultures’, as my message may not have been clear. I understood the context under which I was writing my post, you did not.

What organizations promote as ‘heroism’ is rarely how I would define ‘heroism’ (see photo). In this post, I talk about a ‘hero culture’ and ‘heroism’ in terms of how I have seen organizations promote them. You can be a true hero in a team-encouraged environment, but it works differently than a hero-encouraged environment.

Consider the firefighter who saves a child trapped in a burning building, who is able to do so because of the support of his team; and the team who saves the building. Firefighters work as part of a team where each individual plays a role to keep themselves safe and save whomever or whatever it is they hope to save. The team is heralded for the work they did to save the building, and the individual heralded for rescuing the child. They all do their best work possible, support one another, and get the job done no matter what. Team cultures celebrate both the successes of the team, and of the individuals within the team. Neither is done at the expense of the other. If a ‘hero culture’ such as those I have seen in organizations were promoted in a firefighting department, you would hear about firefighters scrambling over themselves to be the one who saves the child, no matter what, so that they are heralded as the most important hero who saved a person. It is that type of ‘hero culture’ that I speak of in this post.

My Message

The notion of a hero as someone who does things because it is the right thing to do should not be done away with. It is how a ‘hero culture’ is promoted and encouraged in organizations that needs change.

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Support the Testing Community

I have always been uncomfortable participating in group discussions, volunteering in the community, joining a committee or Board, writing articles, and giving presentations. As an introvert I felt like I was exposing my innermost self to strangers, as when I undertake an activity, I put my whole self into it – heart and soul. In recent years I found ways to work around this discomfort enough that I could do all of these things, just as the people I respect and admire do.

The Catalyst

Several years ago I found myself pressured by some colleagues to join the executive team of my local software quality association. I had often considered joining as it seemed an excellent venue for networking and getting more involved in the software testing/QA community, but I always had a reason for not joining. I thought, “What do I really have to offer?”, “I am too busy this year”, and simply, “I’m scared!”.
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Transform a Hero Culture

At Agile Coach Camp Canada in June 2010, I lead a session on How to Transform a Hero Culture. It was the first session of the day, and a spirited discussion with many new friends, old friends, and people I admire.

Organizational culture is a critical factor in whether a new process or methodology will be successful. Whether you are an Agile coach, a change agent, or a natural leader, you recognize that if an organization’s culture is not in alignment with the new direction, and is unwilling to shift, the new direction will most likely fail. This is a big challenge!

I have worked in several organizations where a hero culture was prevalent. What I mean by this is that heroic efforts to rescue a failing situation are rewarded and encouraged. In this type of culture, whether fixing a critical issue or working 60 hour weeks, you are what everyone should aspire to be.

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Handy Modeling Tools, from CAST2010

I recently blogged about CAST 2010, and mentioned a presentation I gave titled The Art of Visualization. My talk shared how different visual modeling techniques can help improve effectiveness in testing, and allow testers to add more value to stakeholders. Check out my presentation slides and supporting paper for more information.

Chen-Gackstatter Minimal Surface, by Paul Nylander

I particularly enjoyed the discussion that occurred during the latter portion of my session. Participants questioned some ideas and shared their own experiences. This is what makes CAST a great conference – lots of conferring!

One outcome of the discussion was a list of handy tools, aids, or methods, that support the use of visualization techniques. With a little creativity, visual models can be crafted on a variety of surfaces – computers are not the only tool for creating visual aids.

Check out the myriad of options for making good use of hand drawn diagrams, pictures, and other visual aids that foster collaboration, communication, and understanding:

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5 Reasons to Attend STP Conference

The Software Test Professionals Conference is quickly coming up Oct 19-21.

Have you registered yet?

If so, I look forward to seeing you there!

If not, what are you waiting for?!

Read on for 5 reasons to attend:

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Experience CAST 2010

Last week I attended CAST, the Conference for the Association for Software Testing, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was my third in attendance, and my second as a presenter. As always, it was fabulous.

A bold statement? … Perhaps.

If you have ever attended CAST though, I am sure you would agree with me. If you haven’t, check out my earlier post on Why I Attend CAST to learn why.
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Try a Lightning Talk

My first opportunity to do a lightning talk was at StarEast 2010 during a final evening shindig. A bunch of testers got together to do a post-conference, final conference event, which included sharing testing ideas and perspectives via lightning talks, and through subsequent discussions and testing games.

When asked by Jonathan Bach if I was doing a lightning talk, I wimped out. I had never seen one done, had no idea what to talk about, and certainly had no clue how to do it in less than five minutes. I eventually said I would do one if time allowed for it. It turned out that time did not allow (everyone was hungry), so StarEast was not meant to be the stage for my first lightning talk.

It ended up being at Agile Coach Camp Canada 2010. Instead of 5 minutes, I had a mere 3 minutes (the topic for which will be covered in a different post). I learned some interesting things through that experience, some of which surprised me.

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