At PeopleNotTech we make software that measures and improves Psychological Safety in teams. If you care about it- talk to us about a demo at contact@peoplenottech.com
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A week ago Air and Space Force’s Chief Software Officer penned the most honest exit letter of our decade when it comes to the tech industry. This is an astonishing story indeed. And make no mistake about it, it’s a story about HumanDebt™.
Is this whistleblowing, courage or even part of the #GreatResignation? Maybe it is all of these wrapped into one. Is this man still employable after this act of extreme courage? Possibly not, let’s face it. Unless of course if some smart organisation carves him a role as “Chief Courage Officer”. (Update – read below in the comments – he’s eminently employable, thankfully! Nicolas is basically a walking HumanDebt barometer right now as the ones who will snatch him have either really low HumanDebt or a desire to lower it. Hats off to them.)
We live in a world of butt-naked emperors where we’re all a bit too fearful to point out that they ought to cover up. Every day in business we shake our heads at transgressions we know are inexcusable and carry on. Most times we don’t even say anything. In fact, we barely trust our instincts that something is wrong. It’s like our professional lives gaslight us.
We learn to ignore common sense and stop being amazed as that’s not the mark of a consummate professional. We learn to pretend we don’t see technical debt and human debt being created before our very eyes. We learn that we have to suppress that “Come on! There’s an easier and smarter way to do this – these approvals/hesitations/endless meetings are unnecessary/a waste/criminal and the answer is a lot more logical”. That we’re never welcomed to voice “This isn’t ok behaviour” or to ask “Why can’t we be 110% honest and work this out?”. That appealing to others’ common sense or decency can be seen as “unprofessional”. That saying things exactly how we think them or calling them how we see them, is potentially dangerous – damaging to our career standing.
Years and years ago, I met a tech/banking leader. He was a rising star in our industry and he had had an impressive academic and then professional path. He had now been tasked with standing up one of the hottest banking propositions in the world. The powers that be had believed in him so much they gave him an astronomical budget and an open mandate. He was smart, really knowledgeable and hungry for change. He quickly became my Superhero. When his new bank became a success -no less partly thanks to the software the company I was with was making- I took to telling his story as it was the kind of success we needed to hear about. When I referred to him as a “tech genius” he corrected me pointedly “I’m not. I know a lot but am no genius. In fact, I know just about enough. About tech that is. And the bigger picture. What sets me apart is that I’m a great politician too. In these organisations being a genius is just never enough if you’re unable or unwilling to play the politics game.”
At the time I was aghast and almost dismissed it – surely this amazing mind couldn’t have spent any neurones or energy deciphering the HumanDebt that made the bank a political maze. I was wrong. He had done. If he hadn’t, that miraculous budget and carte blanche to really bring in innovation would have never existed.
Obviously, Nicholas Chaillan refused to do so. Or perhaps keep doing so.
Some of the things he said were scathing indeed and they apply ten times over to other enterprises. Maybe the most poignant of them was “I told my leadership that I could have fixed Enterprise IT in 6 months if empowered”. And he knows he could have. What’s worse? They know he could have too. It’s not that they didn’t trust him to, but they didn’t trust themselves to care enough to change the set-up in a way that would empower him. Take the big conversations, ask open-ended questions, keep it real, put their own positions on the line. Because truly big change, if the organisation is sick enough, requires everyone to be courageous. Preferably at the same time.
He did no beating around the bush “It seems clear to me that our leaders are not aligned with our vision in pursuing agility, the importance of DevSecOps, continuous delivery of capabilities nor most importantly the need to fund teams…” Crystal clear. You have to wonder if said leaders in their heart of hearts think “Damn right we’re not “aligned” that’s all silly trendy stuff that will pass, good riddance Chaillan” or did they pause and pondered “Are we not? I thought we were, what are we missing? Give me that manifesto again and let’s look at how to help these teams, what do we need?”
Neither of these, likely. They probably don’t even realise they have to have a clear stance on this. That their fence-sitting and lack of having taken Agile to heart and done the courageous battles it would have needed to materialise, is amassing in the HumanDebt that is causing all this. That their own fears and impression management cause them to not see what he’s on about.
But the most important thing he said that we have to pause on is his “A lack of response and alignment is certainly a contributor to my accelerated exit’. He didn’t feel part of a team. That is what keeps the other tormented execs in their roles. The fact that they are in a tight-knit team they’d be letting down if they blew the whistle and *really* spoke up. That and needing to pay the mortgage, of course.
This is why self-serving as it may sound, I would be remiss not to remind us all that working on the teams and making them Psychologically Safe -without or without the Dashboard we created– is the single most important thing you can do to combat comparable HumanDebt.
Here’s the thing I found more bedazzling about the Nicholas Chaillan story though- the lack of tidal wave of comparable frustration when we know his story is almost everyone else’s.
Yes it got RTed and reshared here and there and a handful of courageous leaders have raised a “hear hear” virtual cup to it (400 courageous comments and nearly 3000 silent, fearful likes) but where are the tens of thousands of messages of support from the hundreds of thousands of tech leaders whom we *know* see themselves in every grievance from the lack of mandate or “organisational permission” and support to the lack of true roll out of DevSecOps.
Why isn’t this the pivotal “Chaillan Missive” moment that started an “Enough is enough, let’s be completely honest and fix all the things” revolution?
Where is the chain reaction of agreement this deserves when everyone feels the same and has almost verbatim lived this? Where is the manufacturing CTO or the pharma CIO? Where are the heads of transformation for banks? The scale-up CEOs? The tech leaders asked to bring Agile in, who know it’s lagging if not failed. The ones leading product that had enough. The ones tasked to make true change happen who see it stagnate or even roll back for ridiculous reasons that are cited in Chaillan’s missive.
The answer is evident. They’re fearful. Not daring to agree openly and perhaps not even ready to admit these things to themselves because if the emperor is indeed this butt-naked and we have no team to help acknowledge his nudity, then what chance do we have?
Perhaps it’s not too late and this is a slow burner that would have made enough impact in other people’s hearts and minds eventually. Perhaps they’ll join in with their own view and tales of woe. Perhaps we’ll all collectively have a shot of extreme courage and agree there’s far too much rotten in Denmark to carry on with masses of organisational HumanDebt.
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The 3 “commandments of Psychological Safety” to build high performing teams are: Understand, Measure and Improve
Read more about our Team Dashboard that measures and improves Psychological Safety at www.peoplenottech.com or reach out at contact@peoplenottech.com and let’s help your teams become Psychologically Safe, healthy, happy and highly performant.
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