The Full Stack Leader

An old story tells of three stonecutters who were asked what they were doing. The first replied, “I am making a living.” The second kept on hammering and said, “I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire country.” The third one looked up with a visionary gleam in their eye and said, “I am building a cathedral.”

From Daily Drucker, September 29

Lesson: My job as a product leader and general manager is to help each person on the team understand their contribution to the whole.

The third stonecutter is, of course, the true manager. The first knows what they want to get out of the work and manages to do so. They are likely to give a “fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.” But they are not a manager and will never be one.

It is the second person who is a problem. Workmanship is essential: in fact, an organization demoralizes if it does not demand of its members the highest workmanship they are capable of. But there is always a danger that the true workman, the true professional, will believe that they are accomplishing something when in effect they are just polishing stones or collecting footnotes.

Workmanship must be encouraged in the business enterprise. But it must always be related to the needs of the whole.

Action: Develop a process whereby each person in the organization understands his or her contribution to producing the products and services of the enterprise.

From Daily Drucker, September 29

Effective product leaders understand customer pain points and build a vision for the product along with a logical strategy to win. They understand all the tasks needed for the software to take shape.

High-performing, customer-centric teams don’t get caught up in the tools—after all, they’re only tools. Winning teams get caught up in the story. Dream big. Then, act quickly to learn and iterate to verify the results with internal and external customers.

Related:

• “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” By Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• “The ship, like Theseus’, needs to continue sailing while we upgrade the materials that make it.” By Matías Ventura in Gutenberg, or the Ship of Theseus