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Competence, Compassion, and Confidence Diana Mounter @broccolini

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I work on design systems at GitHub (CSS Architecture, UI patterns, style guide documentation etc.)

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I’m a designer I write code I’m a women (in tech) I’m an alien About me

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COMPETENCE COMPASSION CONFIDENCE

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LEVEL 1

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As a designer Hmmm which green…

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Prepare to be constantly wrong As a designer

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Everyone has an opinion As a designer

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Design is very accessible (lots of people have a friend or a cousin that build a website for $200) Everyone has an opinion

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This doesn’t look so hard FREE websites templates! Minimal Portfolio Menu theme Fashion site Notebook Hacker theme Many services to use (and for free)

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Most people can look at something and say if they like it or not Everyone has an opinion

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Design critique Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinions Opinio

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Dinosaurs Humans Invent the wheel Roman Empire Land on the moon Product Design Computers (Not to scale) Sliced bread iPhone

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With all this against you How do you build your confidence & competence?

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Back yourself up with data How do you build your confidence & competence?

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But it’s so obvious! ?

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But it’s so obvious! ? 200

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But it’s so obvious! ? 200 400

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But it’s so obvious! ? 200 400 500

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Always be researching & testing How do you build your confidence & competence?

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How does this same interaction work elsewhere? Prototype and iterate in design & code, see how it feels. Seek feedback & critique: your colleagues may have insights you don’t. Always be researching & testing

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Leverage the tried and tested methods that already exist How do you build your confidence & competence?

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The Boring Designer Cap Watkins blog.capwatkins.com/the-boring-designer

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Chooses obvious over clever The boring designer

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Doesn’t reinvent the wheel (until it needs to be) The boring designer

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Is practical with time & resources The boring designer

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Must Should Could Won’t Prioritize (MoSCoW)

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Strong opinions, weakly held. Paul Saffo saffo.com/02008/07/26/strong-opinions-weakly-held/

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Boring CSS Me In my drafts folder on Medium.com

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Obvious over clever CSS makes it easier for everyone to have confidence in what the CSS is doing Boring CSS

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“If I’m reading HTML, I want to know what the CSS is going to do.” Adam Morse CSS and Scalability

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LEVEL 2

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As a women in tech Washrooms >>

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I have to overcome stereotypes As a women in tech

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Bossy Over emotional Probably lowered the bar to hire a women Too sexually distracting Overreacts Probably wants kids soon Won’t be able to handle the pace Will have to mansplain everything

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I use a lot of energy with dual track thoughts As a women in tech

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You’re not confident enough You’re being too bossy

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No content

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And there are a lot more minorities that face difficulties

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Making online collaboration safer at GitHub Danielle Leong https://youtu.be/0CLYWi8wSyk

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Women are more likely to have their pull- requests merged if they hide their gender* *Study is not yet peer-reviewed California Polytechnic State University North Carolina State University

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“Everyone should be able to merge, no matter what the vehicle.” Danielle Leong https://youtu.be/0CLYWi8wSyk

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You be you. It’s a tricky balance, but remember

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LEVEL 3

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Imposter syndrome

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It must have just been luck I got this job.

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No content

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I’m not good enough to be here.

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Maybe if I act more like them…

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All that does is make it harder for other diverse people to be accepted Don’t be a chameleon

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And you might be hiding some of the best parts of yourself Don’t be a chameleon

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Find your squad

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New to the company, new to being remote, and then I started building a new team I still struggle with confidence sometimes

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CONFIDENCE INVADERS

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Right amount of confidence Intimidation Fear Assumptions Arrogance Ability Empathy Bias Worth

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I am already enough, before 
 I take action When you don’t feel confident, remember:

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Preparation is your friend When you don’t feel confident

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Make an agenda & share Rehearse Walk through your work & check it Make a list of talking points Set context Preparation is your friend

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Actively listen & observe Choose your battles Back up your opinions Remember to:

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I don’t know but I’ll find out. When you don’t have the answer, it’s okay to say:

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Give your best guess, follow up and check your answer. Or…

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LEVEL 4

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Feedback on how you work

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Feedback on your work There’s a difference between

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how you work and

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Bad bad bad bad bad bad!

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Bad bad bad bad bad bad! -1,000

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Good, fair, excellent, how to improve.

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300 500 600

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Is there repetition? If so, figure how you want to respond. Give yourself time to absorb, then ask yourself

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Don’t sweat the one-off feedback too much, just take it into consideration and be mindful of other occurrences If not,

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Reach out to other people you trust for their opinion If you feel concerned

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Remember to thank others Giving others feedback

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That was totally radcakes Aw shucks, thanks!

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Good feedback gives people a path forward Giving others feedback

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That’s wrong

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I think this would work better with…

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BONUS LEVEL

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Change is the only constant In the tech industry

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Try and enjoy it!

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Don’t forget to turn back around and help the next person in line. When you get to where you’re going

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When you get to where you’re going, Tim McGraw A country singer (I’m not really into country music) I just copied this quote from someone at ElaConf Don’t forget to turn back around and help the next person in line.

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Thank you. Diana Mounter @broccolini Thanks to Space Invaders and Loren Schmidt for design inspiration, and to the speakers at ElaConf 2016 for all their inspiring talks.