Christmas Day, 2016 I found myself getting admitted to the cardiac unit at Abbot Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. For three days I laid on a hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of monitors, with doctors running all sorts of tests to determine what was going on with my heart. I was 37 years old, athletic, seemingly healthy and the doctors diagnosed me with left ventricular hypertrophy and high blood pressure. Having excellent labs with everything else, the docs chalked it up to long ignored high blood pressure caused by a combo of genetics and stress. I was burned out. With so many misinterpretations about scaling, agility, breaking things and moving fast, many organizations are realizing a growing concern of employee burnout. This is a serious problem not only for the person who is burnt out, but it also affects their family, friends, workplace, community, and even our economy. As written in a recent Forbes article, “Why We Need To Talk About Burnout In The Tech Industry”, the healthcare spending on workplace stress costs an estimated $125 to $190 billion annually. Even worse, it contributes to around 120,000 deaths per year. Look, the reality is that burnout is rampant in our fast-paced, high-demand, competitive environment that is the tech industry. But it does not have to be this way. This talk focuses on sharing real and tangible solutions on what we can do to protect ourselves against burnout. Join the conversation and lets and make a positive difference today.

1. Uff Da!
I am SO gosh darn burned out!

2. 1 8 + Y E A R S I N T E C H
M I N N E S O TA M A D E
❤ B U I L D I N G & L E A R N I N G
A G I L E C O A C H
S C R U M M A S T E R B U T M Y ❤ I S W I T H X P
C H A N G E A G E N T
D O E R
L E A H C U N N I N G H A M
S O L U T I O N D E S I G N . C O M
L E A H C U N N I N G H A M
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3. Credits & Acknowledgments
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4. Important Disclaimer
Question every single
word I say to you
#ChallengeWhatYouThinkYouSeeAndHear
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
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5. <— This is not me
I am not a medical
professional
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6. Keep the conversation alive
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7. Spring 2010
Winter 2012
June 13th 2013
Summer 2015
December 7th 2017
July 4th 2014
Autumn 2011
July 4th 2016
Summer 2018
#WhatNearlyBrokeYouButYouPreserved?
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
August 18th 2018
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9. “Job burnout is a state of physical, emotional
or mental exhaustion combined with doubts
about your competence and the value of your
work.”
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10. This is some serious
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11. W W W. C U N N I N G L E A H . C O M

12. Seriously, this is really is some legit
like “people are literally dying”serious
#DeathPoopIsABadThingButAGoodBandName
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
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13. What causes burnout?
Are you #!$@
kidding me?
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14. 1. Workload Do you have too many
demands, too few resources?
2.Control How much autonomy do you
and your team have?
3.Reward How meaningful are your
rewards?
4.Community Are your work
relationships healthy?
5.Fairness Are policies and practices
fairly administered?
6.Values What is important to me?
1.Engaged zero negative scores
2.Ineffective 1 high negative score:
inefficacy
3.Over extended 1 high
negative score: exhaustion
4.Disengaged 1 high negative
score: cynicism
5.Burnout 3 high negative scores
Job-Person Fit
Six Strategic Areas
Maslach Burnout
Inventory
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15. Jeffrey Pfeffer. “Dying for a Paycheck”
Comparing Health Effects from Work Stressors to Secondhand Smoke Exposure
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16. Jeffrey Pfeffer. “Dying for a Paycheck”
Deaths Per 100,000 Persons Attributable to Workplace Exposures
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17. Jeffrey Pfeffer. “Dying for a Paycheck”
Health-Care Cost (USD) Per Person Attributable to Workplace Exposures
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18. W W W. C U N N I N G L E A H . C O M

19. Take Care of Yourself!
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20. Factors Correlated with
High Levels of Burnout
Unhealthy Organizational Culture
Deployment Pain
Ineffectiveness of leaders
Little to no investment in DevOps
Poor organizational performance
Humble, Forgeson, Kim “Accelerate”W W W. C U N N I N G L E A H . C O M

21. Organizational Culture
#StriveToBeMyBestMe
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
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22. Deployment Pain
#MakeYourDeploysSafer
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
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23. Effectiveness of Leaders
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24. Organizational Investments
In DevOps
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25. What DevOps is to me
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26. Agile & DevOps
Two Sides of the Same Coin
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27. W W W. C U N N I N G L E A H . C O M

28. Organizational Performance
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29. Systems and Human Beings have a
symbiotic relationship with resiliency
#IamResilient
#LetsSolveBurnoutInTech
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30. Impacts of engineering and
lean practices on work life
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31. Rest in Peace, David
Thank you for everything