ROWE versus WADE…
My wife — a savvy and astute business woman… and a voracious reader on business and history — sent me a link to an article.
And while I was reading it, the article, to me, was like a breath of fresh air — very refreshing, invigorating and inspiring; what a great exhibition of absolute trust — faith that it will be done — on the part of the employer/company and extreme ownership — full commitment; and that it will be done with the best of their abilities — on the part of the employee!
Read it here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/success/results-only-work-place/index.html
The biggest source of / foundational dysfunction of a team is the ‘absence of trust’. Without it, ‘fear of conflict’ follows… then ‘lack of commitment’… then ‘avoidance of accountability’… then … drum roll … ‘inattention to results‘!
The ROWE acronym stands for ‘Results-Only Work Environment’. In fact, Scrum is results over processes; results is the name of the game!
The acronym WADE stands for ”Work At your Desk Environment’… butt on seat … a bit antiquated in this day and age (with technology connecting us all anywhere and anytime) from my point of view. It is a ‘control’ issue; ‘absence of trust’ issue.
Teams should be able to deliver value / results from anywhere and anytime with fast feedback and fast learning.
Trust but verify is a good balance… trust that work is being done and will be delivered; demonstrate it to verify; have customers validate… keeping that continuous fast feedback and learning loop going.
ROWE versus WADE… which one of these two is your ‘cup of tea’?
P.S. To my students / class of October 19-20, 2019… this post is for y’all … we’ve discussed ‘trusting’ our teammates to do the right thing… and not comparing teams!
