Whether you're an introvert or extrovert, Heather Fleming, VP of Product Delivery at GrubHub, will help you understand what it takes to build great teams within a technology organization. She'll share the best ways to motivate your teams, why it's important that your people bring their authentic selves to their work and a team ingredients framework to help you ensure your teams have the elements they need to succeed.

1. 1
The Introvert’s Guide
to Building Great Teams
Heather Fleming
@hfleming

2. Fun Facts
● VP, Product Delivery
● Likes wine...
● BA in Theatre
● MBTI®
Freak
● Karaoke Queen!
● Twitch Streamer - twitch.tv/veruca
● INTROVERT!

3. Are You an Introvert?

4. E I
Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)?

5. Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)?

6. Keywords associated with E & I
E I

7. Introverts as Leaders
● Often think things through before acting
● Can learn how to leverage “being quiet”
● Actively listen to the needs of the team
● Are honest and humble about their own
achievements
● Often work as “servant-leaders”, behind the
scenes, putting the team’s needs first

9. Empathy &
Communication
Forging Real Connections
Authentic Self
Psychologically Safe Environments

10. Team Ingredients

11. We value your strengths and
what you bring to the table and
believe you should be able to
contribute to the team using
those strengths -
regardless of your job role
or title.

12. Team Ingredients: Benefits!
★ Allows team members to bring their
authentic-self to work
★ Creates discussion on skills, interests and
responsibilities
★ Develops an environment of empathy and trust
through explicitly addressing expectations
★ Reduces Overhead & Costs!

13. Let’s give it a try!

14. Instructions...
1. Think of a team you’re on, or working with.
2. Draw the following chart on your paper and put in your
Team Members.
3. Listen to the Ingredient Description.
4. Write the Ingredient Name at the top of the column.
5. Put the Color into the corresponding box.
Green – I know it well enough to teach it.
Orange – I can do it well.
Yellow – I want to develop this.
Pink – Not something I can/want to do.

15. Ingredient 1 Ingredient 2 Ingredient 3 Ingredient 4 ...
Team
Member
Team
Member
Team
Member
Team
Member
Team
Member
...
Green – I know it well enough to teach it.
Orange – I can do it well.
Yellow – I want to develop this.
Pink – Not something I can/want to do.

16. FAQs...
● Yes, these ingredients can and have changed over time! #agility
● No, you don’t have to use them all. Some may be N/A.
● Yes, you can make up your own - every organization has different
ingredient needs!
● Yes, you should make this a game!

17. Ideator
● Develops Product Strategy
● Aligns Team on Vision & Mission
● Drives KPI Thinking
● Makes Prioritization Decisions

18. Subject Matter Expert
● In-depth knowledge of the area being
worked on
● Often represents the needs of the
business
● Influences product backlog prioritization
● Is an advocate for the team when
communicating to the organization

19. Relationship Manager
● Communicates team’s progress and
achievements
● Creates and delivers excellent
presentations
● Develops a relationship of trust with
external stakeholders

20. Customer Advocate
● Understands expectations, preferences
and aversions in the customer lifecycle
● Focuses on the customer emotion &
psychology
● Helps create Personas

21. Product Marketer
● Defines and articulates the marketing
strategy for the product
● Clearly articulates the benefits of new
features to the customer

22. Cruise Director
● Makes work fun!
● Sets up team events, lunches, happy
hours, etc
● Facilitates team bonding & positive
team culture
● Understands team dynamics

23. Motivator
● Passionately articulates why the work
the team is doing is important
● Creates a safe and open work
environment, promoting healthy team
dynamics
● Enables team’s self-reflection and
continuous improvement

24. Organizer
● Brings focus to the team towards
current goals
● Shields the team from distractions
● Helps find the right tools and methods
to get stuff done
● Maintains transparency into what is
happening and when
● Effectively runs project meetings

25. Business Process Thinker
● Understands the org’s business process
and workflows
● Evaluates impact of changes on the
business
● Identifies bottlenecks and process
improvement opportunities
● Trains business users on new tools &
systems

26. Financial Thinker
● Understands the impact of costs in
prioritization decisions
● Develops models for forecasting
● Provides ongoing financial reporting on
costs vs. budget

27. Architect
● Understands the current & future vision
for the technology architecture
● Seeks to minimize complexity in the
overall architecture of platforms and
systems
● Influences the shaping of future
products

28. Software Craftsman
● Works across the full stack - may have
a preference for front-end, back-end or
mobile development
● Experiments with new technologies
● Passionate about performance,
scalability and the customer experience
● Obsesses over quality of the
end-product

29. Data Guru
● Provides data needed to influence
product direction
● Helps team understand what data is
important and how to interpret it
● Identifies A/B testing opportunities and
analyzes results

30. Quality Champion
● Focuses on bug prevention
● Helps to address assumptions early
● Insures the right level of automation is
in place
● Drives instrumentation to monitor issues
and find root-cause

31. DevOps Champion
● Enables developers to speed up the
develop-test-deploy rhythm
● Passionate about automation tools
● Monitors production operational
parameters for problems & gives
feedback to developers

32. UX Champion
● Defines user flows and interactions in
the customer experience
● Balances the needs of the customer
with business objectives
● Develops wireframes, prototypes and
interaction design pattern libraries
● Creates consistency in interactions
across the product suite

33. Critical Thinker
● Helps the team to avoid blind spots and
make the right decisions
● Articulates problems and proposes
solutions
● Never settles for the path of least
resistance - constantly challenges the
status-quo

34. Green – I know it well enough to teach it.
Orange – I can do it well.
Yellow – I want to develop this.
Pink – Not something I can/want to do.

35. Things to Discuss!
1. GAPS! How will you address?
2. EXPECTATIONS! Who will do what?
3. DEVELOPMENT! What are the learning
opportunities?

36. Authentically You.

37. How can you bring your individual
strengths to the team to foster an
environment of empathy,
communication and trust?

38. As an Introvert…
● Recognize and value your strengths!
● Accept and discuss the ingredients you
don’t want to contribute (it’s okay!)
● Listen and help team members be their
best, authentic selves.
● … and build a great team!

39. 39
Thank You!
Heather Fleming
@hfleming