Presentation: High Performing Teams Act Like Owners

Managers often ask engineers to “act like owners” or “show great ownership.” What does this even mean? How can you act on something that isn’t well defined? You’re an engineer, after all. Maybe it’s just code for your manager wanting you to work nights and weekends.    

In this talk, we will explore what it means to act like an owner. All of us know those certain folks that get the diciest or most pressing tasks because we know that we can rely on them getting the task done. We will talk about what situations look like from a manager’s or teammate’s perspective when somebody shows ownership -- and what it looks like when they don’t. We will draw analogies to software design that will help illustrate these concepts. Finally, we will talk about why teams need ownership to be high-performing. When team members, regardless of whether they have a formal leadership role or not, act like owners, magical things can happen.    

By the end of this talk, you will walk away with ideas that you can apply to your own work, regardless of your job title. You will get some ideas about how to recognize when you don’t live up to your own expectations of acting like an owner, and how to handle situations when others don’t.