JAX London - Empathy The Hidden Ingredient of Software ... · •Java, Go, JS, microservices,...

EmpathyThehiddeningredientofgoodsoftwaredevelopment?

DanielBryant

@danielbryantuk

empathynoun|em·pa·thy |\ˈem-pə-thē\

Thefeelingthatyouunderstandandshare

anotherperson'sexperiencesandemotions

Theabilitytosharesomeoneelse's

feelingsandperspective

24/10/2016 @danielbryantuk

Atypicalsoftwaredevelopmentdebacle…

Me: Ithinkwe’resomemissingempathyhere…

Client:IsthatanewJavaScriptframework?Empathy.js?

Me: No,no– sharedunderstanding...

Client:Isitanewcommunicationstyle?RxEmpathy?

Me: No,Imeanthinkingabouttheneedsandfeelingsofyour

(customer|teammate|boss|internettroll)


Empathymisplaced?


We’re(typically)developingsoftware…

…forotherpeople

…withotherpeople

...tocreatean(emotional)experience

Surelywehavetounderstandotherpeoples’experiences?


We’re(typically)developingsoftware…

…forotherpeople

…withotherpeople

...tocreatean(emotional)experience

Surelywehavetounderstandotherpeoples’experiences?

Thisiswhyempathyisimportant


@danielbryantuk

• ChiefScientistatOpenCredo,CTOatSpectoLabs

• Agile,architecture,CI/CD,DevOps

• Java,Go,JS,microservices,cloud,containers

• Drivingchangethroughtheapplicationoftechnologyandteams

• LondonJavaCommunityAssociate

• InfoQ Editor,DZone MVB,Voxxed…

• Conferenceregular:Devoxx,JavaOne,QCon…


Thenext40minutes:Empathy…

• Coreprinciples

• Intherealworld

• Requirementsgathering

• Architectureanddevelopment

• Operations

• Leadership


CoreprinciplesKnowyourself,knowothers,seekrapidfeedback


Corethemesinthepresentation

• Knowyourself

• Whowearedetermineshowweseeothers(emotionalintelligence)

• Thefirstpersonwemustexamineisourselves

• Knowothers

• Theworld– withoneexception– iscomposedofothers

• Wecanliftpeopleuportakepeopledown

• Seekrapidfeedback

• Noonegetsitrightallthetime


Knowthyself…


Knowothers


Therangeofempathy…


Strongempathy Strongapathy

RequirementsgatheringBecausewe’recreatingsoftwareforotherpeople


ITasconversationalmedium

• Post-agile

• Designthinking

• Empathy

• Ethnography

• Abductivethinking

• Iterativeusertesting

• Startwithwhy(impact)


Impactmapping


www.impactmapping.org

Personas

• Representamajorusergroup

• Expressneedsandexpectations

• Uncoveringuniversalfeaturesandfunctionality

• Describerealpeoplewithbackgrounds,goals,andvalues


Empathymapping


Ethnography- “getoutofthebuilding”

• www.notonthehighstreet.com

• “Inyourshoes”

• LargeUKretailer

• “Shopfloortime”

• Myownexperiences…


Corethemes- requirements

• Knowyourself

• WhatimpactamIseeking?(Startwithwhy)

• Knowothers

• Seektounderstandusers

• Visitusersintheirnaturalhabitat


• Prototyping

• Build,measure,learn


ArchitectureanddevelopmentBecausewe’rebuildingsoftwarealongsideotherpeople


Architecture

• Sharedunderstanding

• Architectsmustcode

• ‘Justenough’upfrontdesign

• Thepowerofdiagramming

• Riskmanagement

• Technical

• Stakeholder


Riskmanagement- evaluation

“Iwillpostponeusingthisshinynewframeworkuntilmypeershave

validatedtheproposedbenefitswithrigorousscientificexperiments”

- Saidbynoprogrammer

…ever


Evaluation- Fitnessfunctions

• Microservices asanEvolutionaryArchitecture

• NealFordandRebeccaParsons

• Greatforevaluationanddocumentation

• Platforms/Language

• Middleware

• Datastores


Evaluation- Raible’s comparisonmatrix


www.slideshare.net/mraible/comparing-jvm-web-frameworks-february-2014

Evaluation– TheSpineModel

• Effectiveconversations makeforeffectivecollaboration

• It'saTOOLProblem• Asaspecies,wehavealwaysbeenToolusersandmakers.

• Weuse_____togetourworkdone

• Peoplegetstuckinadilemmawhereequallyplausibleoptionsareavailable

• “GoinguptheSpine”breaksdeadlock http://spinemodel.info/explanation/introduction/

Determinetheneedforthetool

• PRACTICESbeforeTools• DecideonthePracticesthatthetoolsarethereto

support

• Wedo_____tocreatevalue

• PRINCIPLESbeforePractices• DecideonthePrinciplestomeasurethosePractices

against.

• Weleverage_____tochangethesystem

• VALUESbeforePrinciples• MakeasexplicitaspossibletheValuesatplayinthe

system.

• Weoptimise for_____

• NEEDSbeforeValues• ItallstartsatNeeds.Whydoesthissystemexistinthe

firstplace?

• Weareheretosatisfy_____ http://spinemodel.info/explanation/introduction/

Coding

• Allcodeiscommunication

• ”CleanCode”

• WikisandREADMEs

“Alwayscodeasifthepersonwhoends

upmaintainingyourcodeisaviolent

psychopathwhoknowswhereyoulive.”

-JeffAtwood

blog.codinghorror.com/coding-for-violent-psychopaths/


Systemsthinking– theuserjourney

• Understandtheuserjourney

• “Shiftleft”QA

• Threeamigos

• ”QualityAdvocates”

• BDDandTDD

• Outsidein


Ifyou’rebuildingmicroservices...


specto.io/blog/recipe-for-designing-building-testing-microservices.html

Corethemes– architectureanddev

• Knowyourself

• Checkyourevaluationandcommunicationskills

• Knowothers

• Understandthewhole(systems/solution-focused)

• Establishthecorrectperspective- thinkoutside-in


• Prototype


OperationsBecauseeveryoneisresponsibleforthe(continual)deliveryofvaluablesoftware


Regulatoryfittheory


MaryPoppendieck

bit.ly/1VvYi83

Sharethepain...


“Developer-on-call”

Anoccasionalspiketothehead

isagoodthing...

...metaphoricallyspeaking

• Youbuildit,yourunit

• Accountability

• Sharedresponsibility

• Communication


DevOps- it’snotadepartment

• Pairwithdevelopers

• Treatoperatorsarestakeholders

• Involveinstandups

• Communicationface-to-face


Outside-in(andsystems)thinking

• Lineage-drivenfaultinjection

• Semanticmonitoring

• Avoidingalertfatigue


www.infoq.com/presentations/failure-test-research-netflix

Corethemes- operations

• Knowyourself

• Seekfreedomandaccountability

• Knowothers

• Dev-on-call/DevOps

• It’sallaboutperspective– thinksystemsandoutside-in


• Semanticmonitoring(systems)


LeadershipBecausewe’realwaysinfluencing(leading)otherpeople


Communicatethetechvision


Don’tmicromanage- Peoplelearnfrommistakes


Devs withnewtechbelike…

…f*cking newtechnology

Thishasbeenme

manytimes!

Listen,empathise,andprovidefeedback

• Separateappreciation,coachingandevaluation

• Firstseektounderstand

• Seeyourblindspots

• Identifytherelationshipsystem

• Cultivateagrowthidentity


Dealingwithdifficultpeopleintheteam(whogenerallyaren’tpsychopaths/sociopaths)


Leadership

• Knowyourself• Bigfivepersonalitytraits,MBTI,andmeditation/mindfulness

• Knowyourvision/mission/goals

• Knowothers• Engineers(includingmyself)canbeafunny interestingbunch!

• Careabouttheteam(theirstories,journey,motivation…)

• Coachingisavaluableskills

• Seekrapidfeedback• 360feedback


WrappingupBecausethispresentationhastofinishatsomepoint…


Empathyislikeamuscle…


Empathyislikeamuscle…

• Habit1:Cultivatecuriosityaboutstrangers

• Habit2:Challengeprejudicesanddiscovercommonalities

• Habit3:Tryanotherperson’slife

• Habit4:Listenhard—andopenup

• Habit5:Inspiremassactionandsocialchange

• Habit6:Developanambitiousimagination


Finalthoughts

• Knowyourself

• Whowearedetermineshowweseeothers

• Thefirstpersonwemustexamineisourselves

• Knowothers

• Theworld– withoneexception– iscomposedofothers

• Wecanliftpeopleuportakepeopledown


• Noonegetsitrightallthetime


Therestisuptoyou…

Thanks toalltheOpenCredo teamandTareq Abedrabbo forinspiration

@danielbryantuk

[email protected]

www.opencredo.com


JAX London - Empathy The Hidden Ingredient of Software ... · •Java, Go, JS, microservices,...

Documents

Transcript of JAX London - Empathy The Hidden Ingredient of Software ... · •Java, Go, JS, microservices,...