Reducing small team culture shock with agile

Handling immigration with grace

Jamie RiedeselDevOps Engineer

@sysadm1138

Reducing Small Team Culture ShockWith Agile

Service Organization

Do things for other parts of the

organization, at the direction of

those other parts.

Experts charged with keeping

things running, but have to ask

others to approve any

improvements.

A

TRADITIONAL IT CULTURE

Generative Organization

Create a product, continually

make it better, in collaboration

with the entire product group.

Experts working in a group to

keep things running, and

continually improve them.

B

SMALL TEAM AGILE CULTURE

@sysadm1138 HelloSign

Traditional IT Organizations are Different:

● Extremely heterogenous in supported technologies.

○ Many different platforms, software frameworks, and even

databases.

● Separation of duties.

○ Separate departments for SysAdmin, Development, DBA,

Network...

● Mixed ownership.

○ Some parts it owns, other parts it merely supports.

○ Sometimes, which is which is not clear.

● Bureaucratic and sometime pathologic in organizational culture

○ Rarely generative


PsychologicalSafety

Americans are absolute crap at treating their service-workers with respect.

Even highly trained technical service-workers.

It gets old.


Little makes for a toxic environment faster than being highly trained, with professional standards,

and no one listens to you.

Microaggressions. OMG Microaggressions.

@sysadm1138

PsychologicalSafety

HelloSign

MICROAGGRESSIONS COME FROM

ALL SIDES

Stupidity from Below



ALL SIDES

Stupidity from Below

Malware

Phishing Failures

Mr. Helpful

Porn collections

DMCA Notices

UnauthorizedVPNs



ALL SIDES

Incompetent bozos

Incompetent bozos

@sysadm1138


ALL SIDES

Willful Ignorance


My Team is Awesome

We are the thin line between the duct-taped infrastructure and

the chaos monkeys that will wreck it.


Reflexive Change Resistance

Fear of change not initiated by me, or my

team of awesome.

By pitching a fit, we can sometimes affect

positive change. Maybe involve us earlier

next time.

1

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY METHODS


Intentional Deinvestment

To be used when pitching a fit doesn’t

work.

To save my sanity, I no longer care how

this turns out.

2



CompartmentalizationI see you’re getting steamrolled by

management.

You have my sympathies.

To save my own sanity, I won’t help you.

3



Bonding through negativity

Pain shared is pain divided.

4



Negativity:Pain shared is pain divided.

Not just IT types.

Police

Fire-fighters

ER Professionals

Animal Control officers

4



Service Organization

Toxic cesspit of disrespect and

things I hate.

A

TRADITIONAL IT

Generative Organization

Wonderland of promise and

not hating my job.

B

SMALL TEAM AGILE

SaaS


New Job! Yay!

IMMIGRATING TO AGILE


Wait, what?No.We can’t do this, we don’t know how.

REFLEXIVE CHANGE RESISTANCE


What challenges are you seeing?

Let’s make some user-stories about that.

Can you work with #{person} to make a list?

REFLEXIVE CHANGE RESISTANCE


Comes from having an initiative denied.

Re-engage them, find out why they shut off.

DEINVESTMENT & COMPARTMENTALIZATION


Everyone loves a good stupid-user story…

I got lots.

BONDING THROUGH NEGATIVITY


Check that shitSignpost your office culture. This is not acceptable.

Even you, Upper Midwesterners. This conflict is worth it.


Stop hurtful negativity

It does not reinforce

psychological safety, it

hurts it in most people.

Check that shit.

Fire the assholes who

don’t adapt.

3Redirect

Turn the reflexive

negativity into an

opportunity to provide

feedback.

Teaches that they can

provide feedback without

excessive verbal elbow.

1 Reengage

If they retreat after a loss,

look at it as another

opportunity for feedback.

Teaches them that they

are not a service, they

are a person; and you

know that.

2

HelloSign@sysadm1138

Handling immigration with grace

Jamie RiedeselDevOps Engineer

@sysadm1138

Reducing Small Team Culture ShockWith Agile

Reducing small team culture shock with agile

Technology

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