diverse.IT #1- David Kunz

Title: Building a diverse product development team

Transcript

1. Eventually Diverse @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin Building a diverse Product Development Team
2. The Mission @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin • I joined Springer Nature in November 2016 • To build a cross functional product development team • With approximately 25-30 members • Only obligation was English speaking candidates • Diversity was not addressed at that point
3. Personal Motivation • As Developer and Project Manager there was little to no influence on staffing • Staffing is one of the key factors to project/product success • Building a whole team from scratch is usually a rare chance and great opportunity @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
4. Goals • “Build the coolest development team in town” • Create a place people love working at • Disrupt a more traditional company by installing a new team with different mindset • Hire people with a wide range of experience and personalities @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
5. Recruitment • Over 1200 applications from all over the world (less than 20% Germans) • Practical task for every discipline (e.g. Coding Challenge for devs) • Involve and hand over tasks and responsibilities to the team members • No bias - treat every application equally but consider experience • Doing remote interviews • A good match requires more than high skill @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
6. The Team @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
7. The Team • Over one third female team members • 40% female developers • Experience level ranges from 0-15 years • Age ranges from Twenty something to four decades • Average probably around thirty something • Each member adding lots of personality @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
8. Comments from the Team ... “This is the most diverse team I have been in when it comes to gender distribution; it is also very diverse when it comes to nationality and experience levels. People here are mature, correct and respectful. They balance being professional with having empathy, which is something hard to achieve sometimes.” “I believe that diversity is a strong feature of our team. It brings a lot of balance and it needs to be always encouraged. It can be definitely though improved.” @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
9. Comments from the Team continued ... “It's the first time when I work in balanced team in terms of man/woman proportions... It's really nice experience and improves overall atmosphere.” “Our team shows the magic of diversity in practice! We have a very good basis that I am confident will bring excellent results. We could work a bit on age diversity and also we are mostly European, these could be next diversity targets. Happy and proud to be part of it!” @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
10. Some Thoughts • The wide range of applications was essential • Springer Nature as a company attracted lots of talent • Let the team advertise itself as soon as possible • Improve remote interview process - probably different tasks • Besides getting older ourself how can we attract more senior candidates @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin
11. Fin. @diverseIT / #diverseITberlin