For those of us who currently manage development teams and the work they carry out, sometimes it feels like we're one of those plate spinners you see on a variety show or busking on the street:

We're trying to keep many plates spinning at once. We have the team objectives (their missions), we're managing the ability to deliver on the objective (clarifying requirements, removing impediments), we ensure the teams have the right people with the right skills, we're hiring, and we look after our team members' professional development and individual performance. On top of this, we're trying to create high-performing teams that are getting into our customer's real needs and moving from just delivering software to making an impact and delighting our customer.

"We could reduce the number of plates that we're trying to spin...