The best teams are the ones with a diverse ways of working, diverse opinions, and diverse backgrounds. BUT with great diversity comes great responsibility -- what do you do when someone rubs you the wrong way or when people don't quite get along? The problem is simple: not getting along, and the solution is simple, too: getting along. What's not so easy is the magic in between. At pivotal labs, we pair with clients and have little influence over who shows up at our door from our client. Moreover, we work closely together on teams; we pair with each other 1 on 1 for the full day and switch pairs daily. With little room for conflict, we need a really good bag of tricks if we want to have a successful project and career. Instead of focusing on whether you will like everyone, let's talk about how to make the overall experience better. From understanding yourself and modifying your own behaviors to understanding others and modifying theirs, there's a lot to try.

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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

8. My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

9. My interest in facilitating better team interactions
@nerdneha

10. People are both the
problem
and the solution

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

15. Alignment
Planning
Execution
Feedback

16. Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

17. Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

18. Mindset
Making team friends is hard
@nerdneha

20. Mindset
Making team friends is hard
Ignore yellow flags
@nerdneha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

29. 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

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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

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

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

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

42. Retrospectives -- circulates feedback
Action Items
@nerdneha

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

44. 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

45. Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level

46. 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

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

48. Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

49. Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

50. Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

51. Credit: Onsi Fakhouri

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

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

54. 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

55. 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

56. 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

57. Project Level
Weekly Level
Daily Level
*When things get tense

61. 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)?

62. 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

63. 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

64. 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

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