Everything Is Broken, and It's OK

Slide 1

Slide 1 text

@johnksawers Everything Is Broken, and It’s OK Why it’s good when things break

Slide 2

Slide 2 text

@johnksawers I’m John Sawers @johnksawers http:/ /johnksawers.com http:/ /emotionalapi.com

Slide 3

Slide 3 text

@johnksawers Part 1: Everything Is Broken The Life of a Developer 3

Slide 4

Slide 4 text

@johnksawers Setbacks ● The most common event triggering a “worst day” was a setback. ● Significantly affect mood ● Dampen motivation 4

Slide 5

Slide 5 text

@johnksawers The Daily Error 5

Slide 6

Slide 6 text

@johnksawers Errors Are Everywhere ● Libraries ● Frameworks ● Operating Systems ● Servers ● 3rd Party Services ● The internet itself ● My code 6

Slide 7

Slide 7 text

@johnksawers 7

Slide 8

Slide 8 text

@johnksawers 8

Slide 9

Slide 9 text

@johnksawers 9

Slide 10

Slide 10 text

@johnksawers10

Slide 11

Slide 11 text

@johnksawers11

Slide 12

Slide 12 text

@johnksawers12

Slide 13

Slide 13 text

@johnksawers13

Slide 14

Slide 14 text

@johnksawers14

Slide 15

Slide 15 text

@johnksawers The Bug Hunt 15

Slide 16

Slide 16 text

@johnksawers16

Slide 17

Slide 17 text

@johnksawers Test Environment ● Add a new test environment for CI to the Rails config ● It should have taken half an hour ● It took 2 full days 17

Slide 18

Slide 18 text

@johnksawers The Hard Problem 18

Slide 19

Slide 19 text

@johnksawers19

Slide 20

Slide 20 text

@johnksawers Negativity Bias The Way Brains Work 20

Slide 21

Slide 21 text

“ …negative experiences tend to exert greater psychological impact on us than positive experiences of the same magnitude.[1] 21

Slide 22

Slide 22 text

@johnksawers Climbing A Pyramid 22 Photo: https:/ /thevelvetrocket.com/2010/03/11/jebel-barkal/

Slide 23

Slide 23 text

@johnksawers What You See At Every Step 23

Slide 24

Slide 24 text

@johnksawers I’m Speaking To You ● This applies anywhere in your career ● Setbacks are normal ● It doesn’t get any easier ● You don’t want it to 24

Slide 25

Slide 25 text

@johnksawers Part 2: It’s OK No, really

Slide 26

Slide 26 text

@johnksawers Change Our Thoughts The Easiest Things To Change 26

Slide 27

Slide 27 text

@johnksawers Reframing 27

Slide 28

Slide 28 text

@johnksawers Errors Are Everywhere Reframed ● We don’t notice the things that work ● We move immediately to the next broken thing ● Try to notice when this is happening 28

Slide 29

Slide 29 text

@johnksawers Bug Hunt Reframed ● Google ● Stack Overflow ● Gem/Library READMEs ● Blogs ● Library Source Code ● App Modules 29

Slide 30

Slide 30 text

@johnksawers Bug Hunt Reframed Keep An Eye Out For Direct Learning 30

Slide 31

Slide 31 text

@johnksawers Bug Hunt Reframed Keep An Even Bigger Eye Out For Accidental Learning 31

Slide 32

Slide 32 text

@johnksawers Bug Hunt Reframed Constant Rate Throughout Career 32

Slide 33

Slide 33 text

@johnksawers My Bug Hunt Results 33 I Learned: ● Environment name is loaded in rails_helper.rb, not rspec_helper.rb ● Not a problem when they’re both ‘test’ ● You can pass --env to rspec ● You can set system environment variable, but that’s loaded ● Lots of code will make assumptions that test env is called test

Slide 34

Slide 34 text

@johnksawers Hard Problems Reframed ● Notice what’s easy ● Especially if it used to be hard ● Realize this means progress ● It doesn’t get easier unless you pick trivial problems 34

Slide 35

Slide 35 text

@johnksawers35

Slide 36

Slide 36 text

@johnksawers Change Our Actions This is Where It Gets Good 36

Slide 37

Slide 37 text

@johnksawers Celebrate The Little Wins ● Not just the big ones ● They get celebrated anyway (most likely) ● Too infrequent ● Even progress counts as a win 37

Slide 38

Slide 38 text

@johnksawers Acknowledge It 38

Slide 39

Slide 39 text

@johnksawers Acknowledge It 39

Slide 40

Slide 40 text

@johnksawers Power Poses[3] 40

Slide 41

Slide 41 text

@johnksawers Do A Little Dance 41

Slide 42

Slide 42 text

@johnksawers Victory Song 42

Slide 43

Slide 43 text

@johnksawers43 Photo: https:/ /tyleredlinart.deviantart.com/art/comission-fur-on-fur-172151625

Slide 44

Slide 44 text

@johnksawers44

Slide 45

Slide 45 text

@johnksawers Spread The News ● Tell people about your wins ● Blogging ● Conference Talks ● Team Learning/Presentation 45

Slide 46

Slide 46 text

@johnksawers Make Space ● Coffee break ● Quick walk ● Stretching ● A Few Deep Breaths 46

Slide 47

Slide 47 text

@johnksawers Regular Reflection ● What went well? ● What did I complete or make progress on? ● What did I achieve? ● What went well? ● What brought me joy, fulfillment ? ● What steps did I take that got me closer to my goals? 47

Slide 48

Slide 48 text

@johnksawers Tools 48

Slide 49

Slide 49 text

@johnksawers Positivity Bias Let’s Create One 49

Slide 50

Slide 50 text

“ …people are more creative and productive when their inner work lives are positive…and have positive perceptions of their colleagues and the organization.[2] 50

Slide 51

Slide 51 text

@johnksawers Feedback Loop 51

Slide 52

Slide 52 text

@johnksawers You’re Responsible You May Not Want To Hear This 52

Slide 53

Slide 53 text

@johnksawers Pyramid 53

Slide 54

Slide 54 text

@johnksawers Stop. Turn Around. Take It In. 54

Slide 55

Slide 55 text

@johnksawers So It Really Is OK 55

Slide 56

Slide 56 text

@johnksawers It was OK all along. We just didn’t notice. 56

Slide 57

Slide 57 text

Celebrate!

Slide 58

Slide 58 text

@johnksawers58 Thanks! @johnksawers http:/ /johnksawers.com http:/ /emotionalapi.com

Slide 59

Slide 59 text

@johnksawers59 References [1] - https:/ /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3652533/ [2] - https:/ /hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins & http:/ /progressprinciple.com/ [3] - https:/ /ideas.ted.com/inside-the-debate-about-power-posing-a-q-a-with-amy- cuddy/ Related Links • How It Goes: http:/ /thedoghousediaries.com/5468 • Finding Beauty in the Mundane: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRgiVRqPVL4 • Burnout: https:/ /www.kennethreitz.org/essays/the-reality-of-developer-burnout