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Assholes are killing your project
Reputation Results Contributors The Community Circle
Your ability to get results depends on your community.
What makes a great community? The best Assholes Most of us
What isn't an asshole? Conflict is good You need to differentiate between personal attacks and technical criticisms.
What is an asshole? Two tests <ul><li>After talking to the asshole, does the target feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energiz...
Does the asshole target those less powerful? </li></ul>
What is an asshole? Look for patterns Everyone has a bad day sometimes. For assholes, every day is a bad day.
How many good interactions does it take to cancel out one bad one?
 
 
 
5 good for 1 bad. Your team needs 5/6 positive people just to break even!
Fight Flickr: undergroundbastard Men tend to
Flight Flickr: noeluap Women tend toward By tolerating assholes, you alienate women
Problems assholes cause to targets <ul><li>48% decreased their effort
47% worked less time
38% dropped their quality
66% declined in performance
80% lost time worrying
63% lost time avoiding
78% became less committed
25% quit; 20% of witnesses quit! </li></ul>
Cascading effects amplify the problem Flickr: wsdot Cascading effects amplify the problem
Flickr: wsdot Word of mouth transforms one asshole into an avalanche
Problems assholes cause to projects <ul><li>Reduced innovation & creativity
Reduced cooperation & cohesion
Cost of targets' retribution toward project
Impaired cooperation from external projects & people
Impaired ability to attract the best & brightest
Recruiting more assholes </li></ul>
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Business, Sports, Technology
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Nov. 23, 2009

Assholes are killing your project

The strength of your community is the best predictor of your project’s long-term viability. What happens when your community is gradually infiltrated by assholes, who infect everyone else with their constant negativity and personal attacks? This talk will teach you about the dramatic impact assholes are having on your organization today and will show you how you can begin to repair it.

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Assholes are killing your project

  1. 1. Assholes are killing your project
  2. 2. Reputation Results Contributors The Community Circle
  3. 3. Your ability to get results depends on your community.
  4. 4. What makes a great community? The best Assholes Most of us
  5. 5. What isn't an asshole? Conflict is good You need to differentiate between personal attacks and technical criticisms.
  6. 6. What is an asshole? Two tests <ul><li>After talking to the asshole, does the target feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled?
  7. 7. Does the asshole target those less powerful? </li></ul>
  8. 8. What is an asshole? Look for patterns Everyone has a bad day sometimes. For assholes, every day is a bad day.
  9. 9. How many good interactions does it take to cancel out one bad one?
  10. 13. 5 good for 1 bad. Your team needs 5/6 positive people just to break even!
  11. 14. Fight Flickr: undergroundbastard Men tend to
  12. 15. Flight Flickr: noeluap Women tend toward By tolerating assholes, you alienate women
  13. 16. Problems assholes cause to targets <ul><li>48% decreased their effort
  14. 17. 47% worked less time
  15. 18. 38% dropped their quality
  16. 19. 66% declined in performance
  17. 20. 80% lost time worrying
  18. 21. 63% lost time avoiding
  19. 22. 78% became less committed
  20. 23. 25% quit; 20% of witnesses quit! </li></ul>
  21. 24. Cascading effects amplify the problem Flickr: wsdot Cascading effects amplify the problem
  22. 25. Flickr: wsdot Word of mouth transforms one asshole into an avalanche
  23. 26. Problems assholes cause to projects <ul><li>Reduced innovation & creativity
  24. 27. Reduced cooperation & cohesion
  25. 28. Cost of targets' retribution toward project
  26. 29. Impaired cooperation from external projects & people
  27. 30. Impaired ability to attract the best & brightest
  28. 31. Recruiting more assholes </li></ul>
  29. 32. TCA: Total Cost of Asshole Team lead Developer relations team Project leadership Recruiting & training new developers Targets & witnesses __________________ Total Cost of Asshole + + + +
  30. 33. An asshole is incompetent Flickr: escapo Social and technical ability are orthogonal. One never balances out the other.
  31. 34. How do you fix it? Flickr: trp0
  32. 35. Flickr: kalandrakas Personal interactions— Have a conference
  33. 36. Flickr: hashir People need somewhere to complain and a sense that action will happen— rapid feedback
  34. 37. Flickr: shannonmary Are you here to fix people or accomplish your goals? At some point, it's time to cut off the detour.
  35. 38. How do you prevent it? Flickr: redefyne
  36. 39. Flickr: koenvereeken Be quantitative Show that social aspects have metrics, too. Developers believe numbers.
  37. 40. Flickr: soldiersmediacenter What are your standards? Is “good” really good enough? You are a SWAT team, you need great!
  38. 41. Flickr: mount_otz Provide expectations Nobody knows your culture when they start. Do you want them to learn it from an asshole? Provide a code of conduct.
  39. 42. Want to learn more? Read these
  40. 43. In the long run, dealing with assholes is never worth it.
  41. 44. Donnie Berkholz Gentoo Linux [email_address]

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