Because People

Rebuild 2014 talk about the people parts of building the web. Quote attribution in presenter notes.

Transcript

1. People are more important than ideas. - Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc. - Recommended by Adam Brault, &yet.
2. 1. I am not smarter than you. 2. I do not think I’m smarter than you. This is my story. Photo Credit: Farmhouse Conf. 5
3. The best way to make sure your experience doesn’t go to waste is to invest it in the people around you. - @nrrrdcore (me) Why am I telling my story?
4. No one is self-taught. We’re all community-taught. - ??? Maybe @jllord? Yea, follow @jllord. That’s why you’re all sitting here.
5. People are more important than ideas. - Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc. I didn’t always believe this. But in the past 10 years or so, I’ve learned a lot about people, how to navigate them, and how to work with them.
7. People are difficult. - But they’re worth your time and your energy. - It takes a village to build the web.
8. Focus on giving feedback. - “No.” - “I hate this.” - “Put it back the way it was.” - There’s nowhere to go from “no.” Say “yes and…”
9. - One really great strategy for giving feedback is something known as the shit sandwich. - @rtomayko
10. Focus on communicating calmly & respectfully. - @ceejbot’s air traffic control analogy. - Approach pull requests with empathy. - “Success has a lot more to do with how you act than how you look.”
11. Your community will mimic you. - @jresig
12. Ask for help. - My favorite part of being a designer is being on a team where my weaknesses are complimented by my teammates’ strengths and vice versa. - Sometimes soliciting feedback isn’t about you.
13. If you wanna go fast [and break things], go alone…
14. If you wanna go far [and do meaningful work], go together. - *sports analogy*
15. If you wanna go far [and do meaningful work], go together. - @tenaciouscb
16. What people say [yes, even about you] when you’re not around is none of your business. - @tenaciouscb - This is probably one of the hardest thing to accept. But once you do, you’re free.
17. Every single one of your co- workers deserves your respect. - @nrrrdcore (me)
18. People will consistently choose to do the wrong thing… - @nrrrdcore (me) - The most important lesson from GitHub.
19. If doing the right thing even slightly inconveniences them. - @nrrrdcore (me) - This is just the reality of how people operate.
20. We can do better. - @nrrrdcore (me) - The most important lesson from GitHub.
21. A thousand tiny paper cuts. - @ashedryden
22. I am not a victim.
23. Better than the alternative. - I really believe that I did GitHub a favor. - You have to live with you for the rest of your life. - Act with integrity.
24. Be the red moon you want to see in space. - Or something like that. - @pushinghoops - Strive to be the person you’d want to work with.
25. They will try to trick you into thinking you’re competing with the other [x] in the room. - Since nrrrdcoregate, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about diversity on teams. I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about a few of these ideas with you all. - To women: - Tina Fey in Bossypants
26. …You’re competing with everyone in the room. - Tina Fey in Bossypants
27. Have an exit strategy. - Katherine Krug
28. Successful leaders embrace the reality that their models may be wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit what we don't know can we ever hope to learn it. - My best advice to managers, founders, etc.: - Acknowledge that you may be wrong.
29. Listen.
30. We acknowledge we will always have problems, many of them hidden from our view; that we work hard to uncover these problems… Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
31. Even if doing so means making ourselves uncomfortable; and that, when we come across a problem, we marshal all of our energies to solve it. - Act. - Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
32. Because people.