Modern System Administration

Chapter 21. Leading Sustainable Teams

Let’s revisit some concepts from the previous chapters and apply a leadership lens. Throughout my career, I’ve seen how the overall systems impact the flexibility and capabilities of a team. As a leader, there are additional opportunities to foster and support the team by changing how the overall system works.

OK, this chapter is explicitly for individuals in leadership positions. While I believe strongly that everyone can be a leader, I know that different organizations block functional leadership. If you aren’t leading now, I encourage you to read this chapter and share it with your management if you like what you read here.

In this chapter, I will share how to lead teams with a whole-team approach that centers on continuous learning throughout every phase of a system’s lifecycle without siloing or centering any specific role (i.e., development, quality assurance, or operations).

Collective Leadership

A leader is not one who wishes to do people’s thinking for them, but one who trains them to think for themselves.

Mary Parker Follett

Leading is required when the problem is bigger than one person can solve or influence. It’s not specifically about management, and it’s not telling someone to do something. It’s a lot of work to convince others that a problem exists and that you can fix it together.

Additionally, I recognize that there is formal power in an organization. The individuals with authority over money decisions (e.g., hiring, firing, ...