The divide between Engineering, Sales, Product, and Support has been noted, and dozens of attempts have been made to connect the groups. Technique aside, it comes down to communication. To get the partnership they need, tech teams must pave the way for other groups to communicate and collaborate. If you’re a part of a technical team and frustrated by other groups (cough, Support, Product, or Sales, cough) constantly asking for updates, scope, reprioritization of features, more documentation, more training… the list goes on; then perhaps it’s time to take a step back and consider how to help those groups help themselves. If what you want is to be left alone to do your work, you’ll want to listen in. In “You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Or Can You?)” we’ll touch on tried-and-true and data-driven methodologies for communicating with the other teams in your organization. We’ll (quickly!) cover the following: Learning to identify the real problem (between the lines!) they’re coming to you with Reusing systems, tools, and practices you already use to communicate beyond your team Refocusing the conversation to advocate for your team Onboarding non-technical team members into your workflow so they understand how you work You work hard to build your products - don’t get derailed by internal confusion and communication. Get what you want by learning how to save time and headache by giving non-technical teams exactly what they need before they even ask!

1. You can’t always
get what you want
(or can you?)
DevOpsDays PDX 2017
Kristen Gallagher
@kristenmaeve

2. You want to make the
best thing, right?
What’s standing between what you
want and you being able to
work on it?

3. I want to help you
help yourself by
helping other teams.

4. What
the org
chart
looks
like...

5. How we’re
supposed to
communicate...

6. How
communication
actually works… ? ?

7. There must be a
better way!
(after all, we write code
for a living…)

8. What’s the real communication
challenge your teams are
facing?

9. First, understand their business
needs - not just your own.

10. What are the business goals for
these teams - and how are they
different from yours?
Sales
Support
Product Management
Human Resources
Finance

11. What might these teams
need from yours?
Sales
Support
Product Management
Human Resources
Finance

12. How are you
currently
communicating
to these
teams...
& what’s not
working?

13. Let’s get some examples
down:
What specific challenges does your
team face when communicating
with other groups?
Where are those challenges coming
from (what’s the root?)

14. Refocus the
Conversation
➢ Move from adversarial
to advocating
➢ See it as “we”, not “us vs.
them”
➢ Try “yes, and”
➢ Include your
understanding of their
business needs

15. Let’s get some examples
down:
What can you do to refocus the
conversation?
How can your team have empathy
for another, non-technical, team?

16. Second, realize that you might
be a black box to some other
teams. Help them by turning on
the lights.

17. ?
?
?

18. To turn on the
lights, use what
you already have.

19. Jira/Ticketing
➢ Create a workflow &
checkpoints
GitHub
➢ Teach a basic GitHub
workshop & work
together to create
handbooks, etc.
Confluence
➢ Improve your space’s IA
so it has more context

20. Let’s get some examples
down:
How might your team use the tools
you already work in every day to
communicate with other teams?
Workflows? Processes? Check-in’s?

21. Third, onboard your non-tech
team peers into your team, just
like you’d onboard a new hire to
your team.

22. What do you do that’s
integral to your work, but
that also connects to
other team’s work?
Start with that list, then build out
lightweight, jargon-free
documentation to help them get
their questions answered early on.

23. Finally, reflect and get
feedback. What worked for
those teams? What didn’t?
Iterate!

24. So, maybe we
can smooth out
that org chart
after all...
? ?

25. ...and get what
we want.

26. Thank you!
And thank you to #WOCintech for
the photos!
You can find me at @kristenmaeve
kristen@edifyedu.com