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I don’t come to you with my problems, do I?

Introducing himself to Bob Dylan at a party, Peter Grant extended his hand and said, “Hi. I’m Peter Grant, manager of Led Zeppelin.”

Dylan looked at him and said, “I don’t come to you with my problems, do I?” then turned and walked away.

This famous anecdote says a lot about Dylan’s dyspeptic personality (Dylan was our Kanye, but with a sense of humor), but it indicates more, and better, I think, about why Peter Grant was a great manager.

Peter Grant

Grant was a former South London wrestler who became one of the most powerful men in the music industry. The formidable 6 foot, 5 inch, ‘Genghis Khan of Rock’ struck fear into the hearts of anyone foolish enough to try to rip off one of his bands.

Across a long career, Grant managed the Yardbirds, Bad Company, Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, and the Animals, but his reputation was cemented in rock history with Led Zeppelin.

There were many rough edges to this ex-wrestler (who once beat up a security guard who mistakenly cuffed his son), including years of drug abuse and depression when John Bonham (Led Zeppelin’s drummer) died of alcohol abuse.

But, for now, let’s focus on Grant’s positive attributes, the ones we’d like to see in all our managers.

The Problem with Team-Based Development

Good small product teams become pros in their area of expertise, as they should. But they can also start to think they are the experts in the whole solution, from end to end, not just the one part they are focused on.

Grooming Sessions

Grooming sessions are a whole lot more effective when the Product Owner kicks the meeting off with a short presentation that shows what the results are of the last release, what the team needs to accomplish in the upcoming quarter, and what are the 3-4 priorities that need to be accomplished in the next sprint.

Support the Professionals

I’ll never forget the day I reconnected with my friend Babak Ardalan a few years ago. He’s a seasoned program manager who I’d worked with on big projects for Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, and others. When the conversation turned to work, he told me he’d dropped all of the standard project management artifacts and was running his current projects […]

Product Owner = A Leader with a Passion

At the end of the day, if you don’t have a leader who has a passion for the product, it doesn’t matter how good your team or delivery process is. And no amount of well-facilitated workshops, brainstorms, roadmaps, standups, or demos will change that. If your leader is not a rabid fan of the end product […]

Fast User Story Workshop

Over the past few Sprints, we’ve found that many of the stories we’re trying to estimate or prioritize need more information. Of course, much of the details behind each story should come out during the Planning Session (which we hold the day after the Grooming Session). But, since we are trying to get through many stories at once, […]

Standup: Focus on the Stories

I’m not a big fan of the typical round-robin agenda for standups: What I worked on yesterday, what I’m working on today, and blockers. I find that format often encourages folks to sing for their supper, to develop an on-the-spot narrative of what they’ve been up to and why they’re worth their salary. I don’t […]

Whiteboards Rule

I find it very disruptive and unproductive to try and type issues, risks, status, and other information into Jira, atTask, or whatever tool teams are using during standup. Frequently, it’s just an excuse for a Scrum Master to look like they are adding value by futzing with the technology on a big screen. I often […]

Bad Smells

Once I put a take-home container of Chinese food under the front seat of the van I was travelling in with my rock band in the 80s. After about a hot day-and-a-half, we couldn’t figure out where the bad smell was coming from. When our lead singer Trish finally found it under the seat (next […]