Making Disagreements at Work Respectful and Productive

Workshop from January 2021 at You Got This From Your Couch - https://yougotthis.io/couch/

Transcript

1. Claire Knight - @krider2010 You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Making Disagreements at Work Respectful and Productive
2. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Introduction
3. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Resources https://github.com/ krider2010/disagreements More
4. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements How can disagreements be positive?
5. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Positive Outcomes from Disagreements • Learning • Improved solutions • Collaboration • Trust and respect
6. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Disagreements in Software Engineering
7. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Common Disagreements • Design of the solution • Implementation of the solution • Business v technical goals • Team dynamics
8. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Company Culture Ask v Guess Personality & Customs People are Complex!
9. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Ask v Guess • Ask - it’s fine to ask for anything but you may be told no as an answer • Guess - avoid requests unless you are sure the answer will be yes
10. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Personality & Customs • Type of environment brought up in - cultural and caregiver norms • Natural tendencies to ask/guess; wanting to move forward v not wanting to offend • Explicit v implicit in communications
11. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Company Culture • Trust in the team. Trust in the leadership. Psychological safety can affect how anyone behaves. • Already established (cultural) norms on how to interact, ask for advice, learn, collaborate. • How much of a top down “tell” setup the company has.
12. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements So how do you handle things?
13. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Key Aspects • Curiosity - ask questions • Empathy - put yourself in the recipients shoes • Cultural sensitivity - be mindful of the experiences others may have had before now • Openness - be ready to learn, but also to share your knowledge/opinion
14. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Knowing Limits • Times to speak up and when to let things go • Be realistic • What do you want to get out of the disagreement if you do speak up?
15. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Build Relationships Never forget that there are more humans involved in the disagreements. A positive disagreement can move you both forward. It creates and builds relationships that make further communication easier.
16. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Exercise - Pull Request Reviews Part 1
17. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Let’s Discuss…
18. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Exercise - Pull Request Reviews Part 2
19. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Let’s Discuss…
20. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Humility and Empathy! Remember…
21. You Got This - From Your Couch 2021 Respectful & Productive Disagreements Cheat Sheet •Provide links to anything you might reference. Provide reasoning or examples where appropriate. •Share knowledge you’ve picked up as you explain why something could be improved •If something is great say so! Positive feedback is as valuable as things that need a little more refinement. •Make suggestions that are actionable, or be clear if a suggestion can be ignored. •Treat a review as a conversation •Ask questions. Try and learn without judgement. Questions foster discussion. Statements foster debate. If the answer comes back as something you think is not great in the code, then approach that situation but don’t assume from the outset. •For things which must be changed, focus on the code and the problem being solved, not the author. Use suggestions and specifics to guide what you feel needs to be done. •Answer questions the PR author might have raised if they are asking for specific input
22. Thank You! @krider2010 @krider2010