Lead Dev 2016 London: How to get engineering teams to eat their vegetables

• Duretti Hirpa @duretti
• works at Slack
• slides: https://speakerdeck.com/duretti/how-to-get-engineering-teams-to-eat-their-vegetables

How to foster excellent working environment with minimal process ?

• We are making more than just software, but also culture and norm
• iteration beats rewrite
• coordination is a competitive advantage
• software engineering is a collaborative process
• solidarity matters

Qualities of high performance teams:

• teams are the atomic unit of a company
• a good team:
  • enthousiasm and support
  • sense of togetherness
  • vulnerability (it is safe to report errors in a learning culture) -> psychological safety
• productivity is a measure of comfort
• good teams are smarter than individuals
• good teams share control (empathy)
• satisfaction is important. Without it, that’s the burn out

Pratical magic:

• listen ! (eye contact)
• play a game to foster human communication, coordination and sync
• pair program
• better meetings
  1. agendas
  2. interruption free
  3. turn talking
• chit chat
• effective feedback

Good teams are like weapons. Don’t suppress your humanity.