Building Trust and Breaking Barriers (with LEGO!)
Presented by: Thomas Haver
LEGO(R) sets are fun to build, but who has ever attempted to build a set without looking at the instructions? In this workshop, attendees will form teams and attempt to build a LEGO(R) set without instructions. Through a series of iterative exercises that provide more product details, the teams will...
Format: PreCompilerLevel: Introductory and overviewLet's play!
Presented by: Jean Lange, Remy Porter
Have you become a feral person who doesn’t remember how to interact with other humans? Let’s exercise those interaction muscles by playing some improv games! You will practice cheerfully celebrating failure, figuring out when it’s your turn to talk or listen, and negotiating uncertainty - and...
Format: PreCompilerLevel: Introductory and overviewLearning Feedback with LEGO: The Building Blocks of Giving and Receiving Feedback
Presented by: Arthur Doler
You dread your annual review time. You cringe at retrospectives. You wince in the face of a 360 Review. You don't like feedback - and you're not alone. Receiving feedback is hard, and when we ask for help with it we just get more feedback. On top of that, your brain doesn't like feedback, and it has...
Format: PreCompilerLevel: Introductory and overviewEnd the Stigma: Become a Mental Health Ally
Presented by: Matt Williams
It is estimated that in the US, approximately one in five will ...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewWhat a global pandemic can tell you about better DevOps practices
Presented by: Jeremy Meiss
In early 2020 a global pandemic set in motion events which none of us could predict. With anonymous data collected from 900k+ devs, 50K orgs, and 60m+ builds/mo we found some interesting insights into better DevOps practices. Since then, we've seen even more interesting activities happen, which shed...
Format: General SessionLevel: IntermediateFinding Your Flow With Kanban
Presented by: Jeremy Jarrell
More and more teams are discovering that they're more productive and more effective with Kanban. Many of these teams who choose Kanban do so out of a desire to work in an agile way, but without the overhead of sprints. But, if your team has adopted Kanban simply because there are no sprints, then...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewSabotage Productivity the CIA Way
Presented by: Matt Williams
In 1944, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor of the CIA, published the Simple Sabotage Field Manual -- a guide for resistance forces to characterize simple sabotage, outline its possible effects, and to present suggestions for inciting and executing it. ...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewFailing Successfully
Presented by: Cassandra Faris
Failure is normal. It’s so normal that many software development teams encourage people to fail and fail fast. Failure is also scary. It makes us feel vulnerable. We may even worry that our jobs, relationships, or goals are on the line. Yet we hear countless stories of people turning failure into...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewBetter Interviews, Better Work
Presented by: John Lange
Being an interviewer for technical jobs is hard. Checking for technical competency can feel impossible. Asking questions that start with "tell me about a time when" can feel like it has no value. And for many people giving interviews, there is no training; you're left to figure it out on your own. ...
Format: General SessionLevel: IntermediateTribal Knowledge in Agile Teams
Presented by: Jeffrey Miller
Let's face it. We don't communicate well, and we document even less. ...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewSomething from Nothing
Presented by: Damian Synadinos
Improv(isational) theater is, essentially, making something from nothing - performers create and perform shows spontaneously, without a script, props, or costumes. But, to be successful at improv, you should learn, practice, and use a few, fundamental improv "rules" - principles and skills that are...
Format: KidzMash SessionzLevel: Introductory and overviewConfessions of a TDD Late Adopter
Presented by: Jeffrey Miller
After two decades of rehashing Test Driven Development techniques, what’s left to say? ...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewYou’re Not Just Tired: The Psychology of Burnout
Presented by: Arthur Doler
After the events of the last year, burnout has been on everyone’s minds. Are you feeling nostalgia for the days when your job wasn’t such a hassle? Do you find yourself struggling to care about your job… or anything at all? You may be wrestling with burnout.. But what exactly IS burnout? If...
Format: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overview