Developing software as part of a team introduces a host of challenges. A strong, motivated development team working together can marshal the strengths and specialities of each of its members to create something much larger than the sum of its parts. Teams that don’t work together can drain resources and make the workplace a miserable place to spend the day. The fact is, strong teams need strong leaders, and strong leadership is something that each of us can cultivate within ourselves. No matter your experience level or seniority, if you work as part of a team, you have the capacity to help lead your colleagues toward success. We’ll discuss strategies for dealing with conflict, ideas on how to become stronger communicators, and ways to help you and your teammates get the best from one another.

1. TDD
(Team-Driven Development)
Samantha Quiñones

2. Samantha Quiñones (keen-YO-ness)
@ieatkillerbees
http://samanthaquinones.com

4. mainframes360.com

5. Photo Credit: ChrisM70 via Compfight CC

6. “Dog Walker” © by Anthony Arrigo licensed under (CC BY 2.0)

7. “Ramen - Super H Mart” © Wes Bryant licensed under (CC BY-SA 2.0)

8. Copyright © Twentieth Century Fox

9. Photo © Terry Shuck licensed under (CC BY 2.0)

10. “If there’s no user group in your area, congratulations, you’re it.”

11. If your team has no leader,
congratulations, you’re it.

12. –Ken Kesey
“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go.
You lead by going to that place and making a case.”

13. – RADM Grace Hopper
“If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to
apologize than it is to get permission.”

15. Photo by © Adib Wahab licensed under (CC BY-ND 2.0)

16. Photo © Christoffer A Rasmussen

17. Image © David Celis

19. Growing Your Team
• The whole team should be involved in the hiring process.
• Bad first impressions happen. Be careful about dropping people after the
1st meeting
• Focus as much on social & cultural IQ as much as technical skills

20. Care and Feeding

21. 1 in 5 Americans are effected
by mental illness
nimh.org, 18.2% of US adults

22. Many people hide their
problems.

23. Photo © Margie Korshak Associates, public domain

24. Develop an honest interest in
your teammates.

25. Empathy

26. Empathy Is…
(Wiseman’s 4 Attributes)
• The ability to take the perspective of another person.
• The ability to understand another person’s feelings.
• The ability to communicate that understanding.
• The ability to avoid judgment.

27. Empathy is Not Sympathy
• Empathy is sharing another person’s experience.
• Sympathy is acknowledging another person’s experience.

28. Empathy is a skill that can be
learned and improved.

29. We must allow ourselves to be
vulnerable

30. You are not alone.

31. We are all human.

32. Your teammates are worth the
effort.

33. © Disney*ABC Domestic Television. All rights reserved.

35. Are You Listening?
• Speculating about our partner’s agenda
• Trying to remember that amazing article that refutes our partner’s argument
• Thinking about our own problems
• Thinking about that one time (times?) that our partner was a jerk

36. Slow down and pay attention.

37. Share your partner’s context.

38. Ask good questions.

39. Proceed when…
• You understand the topic your partner is trying to address,
• You understand your partner’s key points, and…
• You understand what your partner expects from the interaction.

40. It’s OK…
• To suck at this. It takes practice!
• Pause or reschedule when you are (meaningfully) distracted

42. Photo © unknown, via mthruf.com

43. Photo by Josh Plueger USAF, public domain

44. Photo © Carsten ten Brink, licensed under (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

45. Productive Arguments
• Have a topic and a goal
• Allow all interested parties equal time to make a case
• Have a neutral referee

46. Be timely. Don’t let conflicts
fester.

47. Stick to your main points.
Explain your reasoning.

48. Be attentive, and listen to
comprehend.

49. Don’t let it be personal. You
are not your ideas.

50. Focus on the end, not the
means.

51. It’s not about winning or
losing.

52. Strong teams are built on
trust.

53. Trust build bonds. Bonds
make teams unbreakable.

54. Diversity of Educational
Background

55. Diversity of Work History

56. Diversity of Language &
Culture

57. Diversity of Gender and
Sexuality

58. Diversity of Socioeconomic
Status

59. Establish Community Space

60. Open Source the Workplace

61. • Discuss projects in the community space
• Make side-conversations open to interested parties
• Adopt a pull-request ethic

62. Develop a culture of service

63. Play Together

64. • Host hack-a-thons
• Code contests
• Obfuscated X
• Slowest useful SQL query

65. Learn Together

66. • Attend conferences together
• Have a weekly in-house conference

68. Mental Health Resources

69. • Prompt - http://prompt.engineyard.com/
• Mental Health First Aid - http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/
• Open Sourcing Mental Illness - http://funkatron.com/osmi.html

70. Other Resources

71. • Brené Brown on Empathy - http://youtu.be/1Evwgu369Jw
• Servant Leadership - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership

72. Feedback
• @ieatkillerbees
• https://joind.in/13446