It is becoming increasingly challenging for product development leaders to effectively lead as workplace demands continue to increase. The rate of change in technology, society, and business places immense pressure on leaders to ensure their groups move in the direction of their goals. What might have worked in the past no longer works.

Organizational surveys show that firms struggle with leadership. Product development leaders routinely complain of burnout and stress while their teams members complain of workplace dissatisfaction, resulting in organizational underperformance. The lack of evidence-based leadership literature for product development leaders means that many leaders are left to figure things out with little guidance. They do not have a reliable resource that they can refer to when they face leadership challenges and, as a result, struggle during times of crisis and change. This book addresses this challenge by providing a theory-informed set of techniquesfor product development leaders. Becoming a Leader in Product Development provides an evidence-base set of practices for product development leaders. In doing so, it explores what leadership is and the leader's role in the leadership process, the impact of national culture and organizational culture on the leadership process, and the need for product development leaders to practice adaptive and servant leadership, followership, and self-care. The underlying theories for each topic are reviewed and then brought to life through stories and examples.

Autorentext

Dr. Ebenezer C. Ikonne is a practitioner-academic (pracademic) with over 20 years in product development. He is currently a Product and Engineering leader at Cox Automotive. Ebenezer started his technology career as a network engineer and software developer. He later transitioned into product development leadership and management and has held middle to senior-level leadership and management positions in large organizations, small corporations, and startups.

Ebenezer has extensive experience leading organizational change and understands the complex challenges leaders face in demanding product development contexts. His experience, coupled with his education, provides him with a unique perspective on how 21st-century product development leaders can become more effective. Ebenezer is passionate about fostering a positive workplace where people thrive. He regularly speaks on issues relating to leadership, product management, and software development. He publishes content both on LinkedIn and at eikonne.wordpress.com. He has also written for the Cutter Consortium. Ebenezer's aptly named YouTube channel Joy at Work provides practical tips on how anyone can experience joy at work.

You can reach Ebenezer on LinkedIn ( http://linkedin.com/in/ebenezer-ikonne) and Twitter (@eikonne).

Inhalt
Chapter 1 Why Leaders (31 pages)oThis chapter explains the core concept of leadership. It begins by describing leadership both as a social process between a group of people and a system consisting of the leader(s), followers, and context. The chapter also explains that leadership only occurs with shared direction, alignment, and commitment among a group. While leadership, an emergent property, does not depend solely on what the leader does, the leader(s) still has a large responsibility for leadership to occur. The chapter explains the foundational concepts used throughout the book, like authority, power, and influence. It further demonstrates the relationships between these leadership aspects. Last, the chapter uncovers the difference between bad leadership and management and argues that effective organizational leadership depends on effective management.o1.1. What is Leadership1.1.1. Determining Where are We Going1.1.2. Working Together1.1.3. Being There for Each Othero1.2. Leadership as a System1.2.1. Understanding the Context1.2.2. Leaders and Followers1.2.3. The Role of Leaderso1.3. The Authority, Power, and Influence Cocktail1.3.1. Formal Authority1.3.2. Informal Authority1.3.3. Power1.3.4. Influence1.3.5. Authority, Power, and Influence Combinedo1.4. Bad Leadership and Management1.4.1. Bad Leadership1.4.2. Management Differs from Leadershipo1.5. Software Development Leadershipo1.6. Chapter 1 Takeaways•2. Chapter 2 The Agile Game (19 pages)•Agile Software Development is the most common form of software development that many software development organizations attempt to practice. Many software development leaders will need to lead in an Agile context. This chapter gives a brief overview of Agile software development and how it differs from traditional software development methods. The chapter presents Agile as more than just a software development method by illustrating how Agile Software Development has cultural levels with tacit assumptions, values, and artifacts. The Agile culture also differs from traditional software cultures, which leaders need to remain aware of. The chapter also goes over the limitations and criticisms of Agile and recommends that leaders leverage the Agile approach to achieve organizational objectives.o2.1. What is Agile2.1.1. Brief Review of the History of Agile2.1.2. Agile as a Software Development Cultureo2.2. Criticisms and Limitations of Agile2.2.1. Limitations2.2.2. Challengeso2.3. Leading Agile Software Development Teamso2.4. Closing Thoughtso2.5. Chapter 2 Takeaways•3. Chapter 3 Making Sense of National Culture (28 pages)•This chapter explores the impact of national culture on leadership practice using Hofstede's and GLOBE's national culture dimensions on leadership within groups. In further chapters, the book recommends specific leadership theories and practices. However, these leadership theories will need to take into consideration the leadership expectations of their teams. For example, teams in Nigeria will have different expectations from teams in the United States. Understanding these cultural dimensions helps leaders adopt and adapt leadership practices to fit the national context where they might find themselves. Twenty-first-century software development leaders need to deal with the reality that they have teams composed of people from different countries with different leadership expectations due to globalization. Cross-cultural or even global leadership has become a vital competency for software development leaders. This chapter provides examples of how to lead cross-culturally and provides resources for developing cross-cultural leadership competency.o3.1. National Culture and its Dimensions3.1.1. Power Distance3.1.2. Individualism3.1.3. Masculinity3.1.4. Uncertainty Avoidance</div&gt...