It’s not you, it’s us:
Winning over people for yourself and the team
Neha Batra, Engineer at Pivotal Labs
@nerdneha
#s1p #springone

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
@nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
@nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
@nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
● Get good teamwork in the first place
● Deal with issues as they come
@nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
@nerdneha

My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

People are both the
problem
and the solution

“All life is an
experiment.
The more experiments
you make the better”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback

Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

Mindset
Making team friends is hard
@nerdneha

Mindset
Making team friends is hard
Ignore yellow flags
@nerdneha

Mindset
Making team friends is hard
Ignore yellow flags
We’re on the same team
@nerdneha

SWOT: What do you bring to the table?
@nerdneha

SWOT: What do you bring to the table?
Write it down
@nerdneha

SWOT: What do you bring to the table?
Share it
@nerdneha

What do you want? Why do you care?
@nerdneha

What do they want? Why do they care? (Empathy)
@nerdneha

What do they want? Why do they care? (Empathy)
¯_(ツ)_/¯
@nerdneha

Inception -- aligns goals and scope
● Overview & Scope
● Deadlines & Milestones
● Goals (engagement & product) & Anti-goals
● Risks & Mitigating strategies
● Team & Roles & Stakeholders
● Workflow
● Story writing & Prioritization
● Retro
@nerdneha

Inception -- aligns goals and scope
Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback
@nerdneha

Inception -- aligns goals and scope
● Overview & Scope
● Deadlines & Milestones
● Goals (engagement & product) & Anti-goals
● Risks & Mitigating strategies
● Team & Roles & Stakeholders
● Workflow
● Story writing & Prioritization
● Retro
Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback
@nerdneha

Inception -- aligns goals and scope
● Overview & Scope
● Deadlines & Milestones
● Goals (engagement & product) & Anti-goals
● Risks & Mitigating strategies
● Team & Roles & Stakeholders
● Workflow
● Story writing & Prioritization
● Retro
@nerdneha

Inceptions -- align goals and scope
● Overview & Scope
● Deadlines & Milestones
● Goals (engagement & product) & Anti-goals
● Risks & Mitigating strategies
● Team & Roles & Stakeholders
● Workflow
● Story writing & Prioritization
● Retro
The moment our
nay-sayers
(“engineers”) have
been waiting for
@nerdneha

Facilitator’s Techniques
● Start meetings with a purpose & set scope
● Have parking lot for out of scope
● Read the room
● Breakouts & Joining
● Sticky notes & Sharing
● Checkpoints
● Summarize
@nerdneha

Facilitator’s Techniques
● Start meetings with a purpose & set scope
● Have parking lot for out of scope
● Read the room
● Breakouts & Joining
● Sticky notes & Sharing
● Checkpoints
● Summarize; relate back to purpose
@nerdneha

Project-level tools sets the tone for
collaboration and productivity
● SWOT Analysis: what is your team’s combined profile?
● Personal Goals: what do we each want out of the project?
● Inception
@nerdneha

Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

“People are happiest
when people are being
productive”
- Rob Mee

Schedule -- provides predictable template
Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback
@nerdneha

Schedule -- provides predictable template
Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback
Standups
Pre-IPM
IPM
(WORK)
Pre-CL
CL
Retros
@nerdneha

Retrospectives -- circulates feedback
Action Items
@nerdneha

Retrospectives -- circulates feedback
Action Items
Tech Retros
Parking Lot
@nerdneha

Weekly-level tools give people a forum; a place
to be heard
● Set schedule/cadence
● Provide feedback opportunities at multiple levels
● Provide “safe haven” to get work done free from scope changes
● Have a way to collect concerns and dedicated time to discuss them
@nerdneha

Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

Talk in person & record in writing -- reduces
confusion
Walk over to PM
Pair with designer
Schedule check-in
Appear.in/Dedicated video
Call - Batphone
@nerdneha

Talk in person & record in writing -- reduces
confusion
Write into story comments
Write into epics
Take photos & upload
Gdrive / shared folder of info
@nerdneha

Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

TDD + Pairing -- avoids fights
Easier to agree on a test
Go with the simplest implementation
Red, Green, Refactor
No pull requests/judgement day!
@nerdneha

TDD + Pairing -- avoids fights
Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback
@nerdneha

TDD + Pairing -- avoids fights
Easier to agree on a test
Go with the simplest implementation
Red, Green, Refactor
No pull requests/judgement day!
Alignment & Planning
Execution & Feedback
@nerdneha

Daily Retros -- circulates feedback faster
How do you think it went?
I was concerned about ______, did you feel that way?
Should we try something new next time?
@nerdneha

Daily-level tools flush out issues early
● Talk in person
● Write down conversation/context
● Find a way to align first (ex: TDD + Pairing or discussing high-level)
● Daily retros
@nerdneha

Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level
*When things get tense

Think about the way you want to attack the problem first.
What are the ramifications?
Is it better 1:1 (sensitive) or in a meeting (group alignment)?

What do you want out of this conversation?
Establish shared goals and shared interest.
Give benefit of the doubt. Listen. Do they feel the same way?
Share your side objectively (STATE):
● Share your facts
● Tell your story
● Ask for others’ paths
● Talk tentatively
● Encourage Testing
Addressing the issue head-on
(adapted from Crucial Conversations)
@nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us; squad goals
To give you a toolchest of techniques to enable all
personalities of your team, clients, and customers
to prevent and mitigate issues as they come up
with a facilitator’s mindset.
@nerdneha

Tool chest to prevent & mitigate issues as
they come up
● SWOT Analysis: what is your team’s combined profile?
● Personal Goals: what do we each want out of the project?
● Inception
● Set schedule/cadence
● Provide feedback opportunities at multiple levels
● Provide “safe haven” to get work done free from scope changes
● Have a way to collect concerns and dedicated time to discuss them
● Talk in person
● Write down conversation/context
● Find a way to align first (ex: TDD + Pairing or discussing high-level)
● Daily retros @nerdneha

It’s not you, it’s us:
Winning over people for yourself and the team
Neha Batra, Engineer at Pivotal Labs
@nerdneha
#s1p #springone