My talk at Extreme Programmers London discussing how using personality tests can be useful for dev teams.

1. Are personality tests
useful for developers?
Daniel Irvine
@d_ir
31 August 2017

2. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
TL;DR
Having a systematic way of measuring the
individual personalities on your team is a
systematic way of understanding other people.
That helps to create effective interactions.
Effective interactions lead to effective teamwork.

3. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
Introvert vs extrovert
“Open plan offices are terrible for work because
noise is so distracting.”
Crowds of people vs small groups of familiar people
How quickly are you drained in social environments?

4. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
Myers-Briggs
Four psychological functions:
Perceiving (P):
sensation (S) — trust information from the present senses
intuition (N) — from patterns or past experience, and future
consequences
Judging (J):
thinking (T) — make decisions based on rules
feeling (F) — from empathy to achieve a ‘best fit’ for all

5. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
By Jake Beech - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30859659

6. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
DISC
Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance

7. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
Empowering teams
Startups and smaller companies often need
everyone to pitch in.
How can you increase your success at your
current employer?
How do you handle new scenarios like
introducing new team members?

8. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
Roll your own personality tests
Hold a day half-day workshop where teammates
have a structured way of learning about each
other.
Use an online personality test or, if you’re really
adventurous, roll your own.

9. @d_ir31 Aug 2017
Learning about others without tests
Self-assessment is never going to be very
accurate.
Be interested in people!
Does being ‘professional’ mean not knowing
about the lives of our colleagues?

10. Thank you
Daniel Irvine
@d_ir