Building Compassionate Software

Presented at iOSoho: https://www.meetup.com/iOSoho/events/232809656/

More information available here: https://ashfurrow.com/blog/building-compassionate-software/

Transcript

1. Ash Furrow
   Artsy Auctions
   Compassionate
   Building
   Software
   

   View Slide

2. Psychological Safety
   

   View Slide

3. Agenda
   1. Feelings matter.
   2. Teams with psychological safety perform better.
   3. Implementing psychological safety on your team.
   

   View Slide

4. Feelings Matter
   

   View Slide

5. Science Says So
   

   View Slide

6. Empathy
   • Seeing the world as others see it.
   • Recognizing and understanding another’s feelings.
   • Staying non-judgemental.
   • Communicating that you understand.
   

   View Slide

7. Teams with Psychological Safety
   Perform Better
   

   View Slide

8. The belief that one will not be punished or
   humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions,
   concerns, or mistakes.
   Psychological Safety:
   

   View Slide

9. Project Aristotle
   • Five-year study of team dynamics at Google.
   • Goal: find predictor of high-performing teams.
   • Conclusion: psychological safety correlates with performance.
   

   View Slide

10. Think Back.
    

    View Slide

11. Psychological Safety
    • Important that developers feel able to ask questions, raise concerns.
    • Especially necessary in small, resource-constrained teams.
    

    View Slide

12. Psychological Safety at Artsy
    

    View Slide

13. Measuring
    • Psychological safety is observed in groups as two behaviours:
    • Conversational turn-taking.
    • Average emotional sensitivity.
    

    View Slide

14. Benefits
    • Higher team performance.
    • Makes team members feel more welcome.
    

    View Slide

15. Implementing Psychological
    Safety on Your Team
    

    View Slide

16. View Slide

17. Role Modelling
    • Admit fallibility.
    • Frame all work as learning experiences.
    • Model curiosity.
    

    View Slide

18. Everybody Struggles
    

    View Slide

19. Framing Work as
    Learning Experiences
    

    View Slide

20. Model Curiosity
    

    View Slide

21. Other Good Ideas
    • Small talk at the beginning of meetings.
    • Watch out for people getting interrupted in meetings.
    • Don’t push for immediate feedback.
    • Allow space to revisit discussions.
    • Practice empathy: reflect on meetings, focus on peers’ feelings.
    

    View Slide

22. View Slide

23. Boring Good Ideas
    • Schedule recurring appointments to review your week.
    • Block off time immediately following meetings to reflect.
    

    View Slide

24. Opportunities
    • Retrospectives and/or post-mortems.
    • Peer and performance reviews.
    • Hiring process.
    

    View Slide

25. Wrap Up
    1. Feelings matter, science says so.
    2. High psychological safety correlates with performance.
    3. Operationalizing psychological safety is hard but worth it.
    

    View Slide

26. Sleep on it
    

    View Slide