Diversity is much-praised for fostering healthier and more innovative workplaces. But whichever way you slice ‘diversity’, the majority of our teams reflect one demographic, and simply adding “a diverse hire” does not magically produce these results. So are the claims true? If so, what else do we need to do? Through our time training and placing coders from widely differing backgrounds we’ve had to get to grips with the realities of integrating teams. This talk looks at different kinds of diversity, and explores the link with quality and innovation. We also investigate some of the unconscious biases and infrastructure challenges that reinforce exclusion. With collaboration at their heart, agile teams are best placed to promote inclusion. How can we extend agile practices to place conscious attention on creating connections and to build truly healthy, demographically representative teams?

1. Embracing Diversity
With a little help from Agility
Cara Turner South Africa
COO Agile Coach | Disruptive Educator | Community Builder

2. codeX

3. The Claim
The Evidence
The Obstacles
Making Change
with Agility
Diversity
Embracing

4. Diversity
What does
mean to you?
Inclusion?
What about

5. Diversity, Identity and Exclusion

6. Social Inclusion
World Bank
Ability, Opportunity, Dignity
The process of improving
the ability, opportunity and
dignity of people
disadvantaged on the
basis of their identity, to
take part in society
-- Inclusion Matters

7. We have other Identities too

8. Inclusion
Conscious
Ability, Opportunity, Dignity
Exclusion is not
immutable.
Abundant evidence
demonstrates that
social inclusion can
be planned and
achieved.

9. The Claim
The Evidence
The Obstacles
The Opportunities
Diversity
Embracing

10. Diversity Dividend
more likely to report financial returns
above their national industry median
The Diversity Dividend - McKinsey 2013

11. Diversity Dividend
Diversity + Inclusion
= improved business performance
Gender and racial diversity are often lead indicators
of a healthy organization that is
fishing from a deeper pool of talent,
accessing a deeper knowledge bank, and
leveraging those resources
throughout the business value chain.
– Deloitte “A Global Diversity Dividend”
Resetting horizons: Global human capital trends 2013

12. The Claim
The Evidence
The Obstacles
The Opportunities
Diversity
Embracing

13. The Evidence
Economic Impact
Diversity Benefits
Quality
Innovation
Claim Evidence Obstacles Opportunities

14. Diversity Provokes Thought
The Research

15. • Thinking Clearly
– Surfaces assumptions
– Reduces error
• Thinking Widely
– Surfaces ambiguity
– Increases neural connections
– Introduces new options
Diversity Provokes Thought
The Research

16. Validate
Evaluate
Elaborate
Facilitating Creative Innovation
Ideate Select
Open
Combinations
Perspective shift
Dissonance
Imagination Visualization
Create New Connections

17. Conway’s Law
Build the Right Thing
Diversity Benefits
Quality
Innovation
Claim Evidence Obstacles Opportunities

18. The Other
Evidence
In Practice
Exclusion
Claim Evidence Obstacles Opportunities

19. The Claim
The Evidence
The Obstacles
The Opportunities
Diversity
Embracing

20. Infrastructure
Exclusion
• Infrastructure:
Water, Electricity, Roads
Housing, Healthcare,
Childcare
• Access to Transport
• Safety in transit
• Internet connectivity
Barrier to Diversity
Photo credit: Johnny Miller millefoto.com/
Obstacles

21. HR Practices
Exclusion
Selective Inclusion
• Interview Selections
• Job specs
• Incentives & rewards
• Late nights
• Childcare
• Interviewing Biases
Filtering out Diversity
Obstacles

22. Micro-
Aggressions
In-Groups & Out-Groups
Micro Aggresions
• People like you…
• Doubt Skill
• Shaming
• Name pronunciation
Exclude Others
Pushing Away Diversity
Obstacles
Exclusion

23. Imposter
Syndrome
Obstacles
Exclusion
• Constant daily anxiety
• Under-represent qualifications
• Don’t apply for jobs
• Refrain from public speaking
Excluding ourselves

24. The Obstacles
Your challenge?
Exclusion
• Infrastructure Challenges
• Hiring Practices
• Toxic Workplaces
• Imposter Syndrome

25. How can this be?
In Practice
Exclusion

26. SEEDS™ Model
Unconscious Bias
Exclusion

27. Similarity
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
People like me are
better than others
By NASA - Great Images in NASA Description, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6458422

28. Expedience
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
If it feels right to me
it must be true

29. Experience
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
My perceptions are accurate

30. Distance
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
Closer is better than distant

31. Safety
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
Bad is stronger than good

32. The Effect of Pressure
Never Enough
time, money, trust, security
No Slack
Constant Anxiety
Poorer decisions
Greater cost of mistakes
No ‘stop & think’ time
Failure demand
Tunneling
More problems
to solve
Tradeoffs
“The bandwidth tax”
Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir

33. Discuss
Unconscious Bias
Exclusion
Your challenges:
Obstacles?
SEEDS Biases?

34. With a little help from Agility
Resilience
More Awesome
Design for
Flaws
Embracing Diversity

35. Modern Agile
Joshua Kerievsky - modernagile.org

36. Similarity
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
People like me are
better than others
• Shared Goals
• Similarities
• Invitations

37. Expedience
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
If it feels right to me
it must be true
• Create Spaces
• Good Routines

38. Experience
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
My perceptions are accurate
• Multiple Perspectives
• Note, rest, invite

39. Distance
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
Closer is better than distant
• Imagine things closer
• Go and See

40. Safety
Unconscious Bias
SEEDS™ Model
Bad is stronger than good
• Make Safety a
Prerequiste
(modernagile.com)
• Imagine decisions are
made

41. Making Change
Being Conscious
With a little help from Agility
Counteracting Obstacles
Claim Evidence Obstacles Opportunities

42. Doing it
Agility is making change by
Experiment
Your challenge:
• Ideal condition
• Which Obstacle & SEEDS are
present
• What could we change?
• Incorporate into an Agile Practice
/ Meeting
• “Make it *FUN*

43. #TheYearWeMispronounceBack

44. Doing it
Agility is making change by
Experiment
Your challenge:
• Ideal condition
• Which Obstacle & SEEDS are
present
• What could we change?
• Incorporate into an Agile Practice
/ Meeting
• “Make it *FUN*

45. Group
Dynamics
Changing
Inclusion
“I soon realized that there were
two ways in which I could
respond to my situation:
either to react with bitterness or
seek to transform the
suffering into a creative
force.
I decided to follow the latter
course.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

46. Cara Turner
Cape Town, South Africa
Get in Touch
projectcodeX.co
sugsa.org.za
twitter: @cara_faye
slideshare.net/carafaye
The best way to predict the future
is to invent it.
- Alan Kay