Engineering Culture by InfoQ

Latest Episodes:

Steve Holyer on Collaboration, Culture & Teams May 14, 2018

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In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Steve Holyer about collaboration, culture and teams, and the state of the Agile Fluency projects. Why listen to this podcast: • Diverse lived experiences make people better individuals and team members • How important psychological safety is for teams • We all have unconscious biases and our language reflects this • The value in the Agile Fluency Model is the outcomes we can produce by using it • The Agile Fluency Model helps teams and organisations figure out how to identify value and prioritize work • The product owner as the facilitator of conversations so the shared understanding of value can emerge More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2jUipyu You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2jUipyu

CA agile leaders on the using data and creating a safe environment to drive strategy May 08, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Shannon Mason, Laureen Knudsen and Steve Wolfe about a wide range of topics from agile marketing to using data effectively to drive strategy, to organisation incentives and neuroscience. Why listen to this podcast: • While there are differences in the application of agile ideas in different domains, the principles apply across the board • An effective agile environment produces good data for executive decision making • To be able to use the data effectively the culture needs to support psychological safety • Agile adoption forces organisations to confront dysfunctional practices • The shift from seeing oneself as the individual contributor to part of a collective group who achieve success together is very hard • Define your ways of working so they work with how people’s brains work, and there is no single process which works for everyone or every area of the organisation More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2rtRc9m You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2rtRc9m

Diana Larsen on Organisation Design for Team Effectiveness and Having the Best Possible Worklife Apr 30, 2018

Show notes

This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Diana Larsen about organisational design for team effectiveness, having the best possible worklife and the evolution of the Agile Fluency Model Why listen to this podcast: • Organisation design is a distinct subset of organisation development • For teams to be effective, every team needs a clear purpose – why are we doing this work • Team effectiveness comes from every member of the team committing to working on the purpose together in collaboration and committing to making the best possible worklife for everybody else on the team • Many organisation’s motivation systems mitigate against teamwork and care for each other’s wellbeing • Deliberate practice is the investment you make in learning that gets you to a state of fluency which allows you to take on the next challenge More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2HC2seR You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2HC2seR

Chris Matts & Tony Grout on IT Risk Management Framework as a Catalyst for Change Apr 23, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, talks to Tony Grout and Chris Matts about building an IT risk management framework at a large bank and using that as a catalyst for a digital transformation. Why listen to this podcast: • Just deploying another prescriptive method will not make an organisation agile and adaptive • A risk management framework can be a catalyst for change • The components of a simple framework which enables adaptation at the team level while ensuring alignment to organisational outcomes • The importance of an organisational-level backlog which is transparently prioritised to ensure the teams who need to collaborate have clarity about cross-cutting priorities • Ensuring that controls are as easy to evidence as possible and that there very low overhead in gathering the metrics You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq

Riot Games on Moving Beyond Product Ownership Apr 16, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast recorded at Agile 2017, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Ahmed Sidky and Michael Robillard of Riot Games about their experiences in product management for a comprehensive gaming experience Why listen to this podcast: • The need for a framework to make really tough product decisions • The importance of a clear strategy when faced with many good ideas - selecting which ones not to pursue • In the Agile community most of the conversation is about being better product owners, not having better product strategy and this is a gap • In the product space there are lots of loosely defined terms (outcome, impact, mission, vision, strategy…) so aligning on common terminology and meaning was an important early step • There are models and frameworks for strategic product management which draw on multiple sources • To have agility in the tactical space you need to have it in the strategic space • Anybody in the product development lifecycle should be able to think strategically More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2vkr8mq You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2vkr8mq

Troy Magennis on Using Data to Support Decision Making Apr 13, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast recorded at Agile 2017, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke Troy Magennis about his talks at the conference on “I love the smell of data in the morning” and “10 ways to choose what to start next” Why listen to this podcast: • The absence of data means all you have is an opinion • The simplest way to start gathering data in software development is to put the starting date/time on one corner, the ending date/time on another corner and use different colour post-its for different types of work • It’s the trend that’s important, not any one week of data • Your job is to make better decisions with the least amount of effort • Context is hard to spot if you are in the middle of it – you need to be able to step away and see from a different perspective • The job of a leader is to help the people who report to you understand the bigger picture and the impact of their decisions on the whole More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2HAIBcs You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2HAIBcs

Katherine Kirk, Sally Freudenberg & Chris Corriere on Inclusive Collaboration Mar 26, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast recorded at Agile 2017, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Katherine Kirk, Sally Freudenberg & Chris Corriere on Inclusive Collaboration, Neurodiversity and Creating Safe Spaces Why listen to this podcast: • Neurodiversity is the idea that things like autism, bi-polar disorder, dyslexia and ADHD are not “disabilities”, rather they are normal variations in the human genome • The tech industry is an industry of thinkers and we know that diverse teams are more effective, so embracing neurodiversity is a sensible approach • Create environments that include collaborative space as well as spaces suited for quiet, isolated individual contemplation or work • A robust system is absolutely vital in continuous environments – it enables continuous innovation and continuous delivery and supports a mindset of continuous learning • Many of our agile practices are suited for extroverted, fast thinkers and this disadvantages the contemplators who need time to reflect before contributing their ideas • Insight is the new market differentiator – insight comes from people and they need a creative environment in order to generate insights More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ https://bit.ly/2GaLbEJ You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: https://bit.ly/2GaLbEJ

Heidi Helfand On Dynamic Reteaming Mar 05, 2018

Show notes

This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast recorded at Agile 2017, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Heidi Helfand about Dynamic Reteaming Why listen to this podcast: • Team change is real – we might as well get good at it • People come and go from teams all the time for many different reasons • A missing level in Tuckman’s model of team formation – Stagnating, when you keep a team together for too long • There are techniques to build social bonds beyond the single team level to prevent constant forming/storming when team composition changes • The rate of reteaming is a business decision based on the context and needs of the organisation at the time More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2oPFG71 You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2oPFG71

Mike Bryzek of Flow.io on Testing in Production Feb 26, 2018

Show notes

This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Mike Bryzek – CTO and founder of Flow.io about his background in philanthropy, his current role at Flow.io and how they have empowered developers and adopted testing in production in order to raise the quality of their software. Why listen to this podcast: • The value of volunteerism and philanthropy for good through focusing on outcomes • Testing in production helps make higher quality software • The importance of instrumenting the software so we get feedback in real time • Allowing the engineer to own the decision about when to release the software and be accountable for that decision results in better products because the engineers who build them carefully consider what they need to do to get the product truly ready for release • Testing in production may seem scary now, but it’s just another tool in the toolbox of building quality software – it’s the only way we can guarantee that the software is actually working as expected in the environment that it is intended for More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2sVXPoV You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2sVXPoV

Harsh Sinha on Building Culture at TransferWise Feb 19, 2018

Show notes

In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Harsh Sinha, CTO of TransferWise about deliberately designing organisational culture. Why listen to this podcast: • The organisation is structured in lots of autonomous, independent teams each one of which is focused on meeting a specific customer need • For a startup the biggest competitive edge is speed, and this organisation structure supports and enables speed of decision making and responding to customer needs • Principles such as weak code ownership allow rapid changes within clearly defined constraints • While this may sound like a recipe for chaos it actually results in stronger ownership and better customer focus • Better decision making comes about because the people who make the decisions are the ones closest to the customer problems The difference between software development and product engineering. Engineers are expected to be proactive and go deeper into understanding the customer problem, not just working from More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2obRelB You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2obRelB

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