Today I had the benefit of watching a group of children play "red light, green light." For those of us in software, you don't have to go much farther than the name in order to see the similarities. But wait, it gets better. The room was about the size of a basketball court: larger than average. The kids couldn't really hear the leader (another kid) call out red light or green light. So the leader decided to use hand signals to indicate state. The policeman style STOP with a flat palm was stop, and a nyse style GIMMEE with one hand's fingers flapping toward the palm was go. Not a bad move, leadership-wise: asses the problem and come up with a solution. The benefit to everyone of plaing in a big space was worth the compromise.

But here's what happened. Because of the hand signals, the leader could not turn around while it was green light. The leader could not even really cover his eyes during green light - his hands were busy. So he decided that this was only a small detail and he could just call people on whether or not they were moving based on careful watching just after he switched to red light.

I remember playing this game, and on the times I got to be leader, I remember turning around and seeing quite clearly who was moving. There was a forest of trees, moving by breathing and that was about it, and then there was the people who took an extra step or lost their balance. There was no judgement call to make. It was easy to pick out the offenders and they usually laughed and went to the back of the pack. The fact that you had to turn around gave the players a little bit of warning. But with this game today, you could go from green light to red light very quickly. As a player, they had no warning. And as leader, it was impossible not to let the movement you were previously watching bias you against those folks. The kids knew it. Soon, there was a crisis in credibility in the game. Most of the players were quite far away, and they actually decided to start their own game and someone else became leader up close. A girl, I think. Probably a bossy one. But that's beside the point.

The poor deposed leader had made good decisions all along, but he still failed to see that when people are working for you, they need time with your back turned, and they need warning for when you will turn your attention on them. Otherwise everything you say will be based on work that's not finished or even presentable. Feedback based on drive-by's is not casual or fun, it's degrading and compromises morale as well as the credibility of the manager. This happens all the time in software. Lots of times a new game is started too, and sometimes the playing field is so ambitiously large that the leader doesn't even know he's been deposed.

comment []3:50:46 PM