Talk: Building Better Software: Responsibility and the Dolphin Model
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Speaker:
David Legge
Talk description
Title:
Building Better Software: Responsibility and the Dolphin Model
Short synopsis:
Leadership starts with yourself: “If you can’t manage yourself, you can’t manage anyone” as my Grandma used to say. This talk is all about taking responsibility; learning not to blame circumstances or other people. This is about acting with confidence in both your coding, your own actions and when dealing with other people and their code. Imagine a dog doing it’s business near you in a park - are you a Pointer or a Scooper? And if there’s a mess in your codebase? We will also cover models for helping deal with ordinary people and the inevitable difficult ones - and yes, their behaviour will have a name. All of this is aimed at building better software.
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Long synopsis (optional):
Leadership starts with yourself. “If you can’t manage yourself, you can’t manage anyone” as my Grandma used to say. If a dog did it’s business near you in a children’s play park would you be a Pointer or a Scooper? Would you get on and deal with the problem or stand back and let someone else do it? The same goes for a mess in your codebase, do you tackle it, or wait for someone else to sort out your mess, letting it fester in the meantime. The Law of Entropy says that even without a dog helping, unless you actively work against it disorder takes over your code, killing your project like the proverbial boiled frog. Is it going to be you that tackles it, or are you going to kick back and let someone else? This chimes with one of Steve Covey’s Habits of Highly Effective People - Be Proactive - tackle a problem before it becomes one. When (heaven forbid) someone finds a bug in your software, your reaction can and will betray how you feel about the code; this could be denying there’s a problem or blaming someone else. Christopher Avery’s ‘Responsibility Process’ Model lays out the different possible reactions - and how to rise above justifying what’s wrong to owning problems, taking responsibility for them, and not doing it begrudgingly. He also makes clear this is not a management tool, but one only for self-improvement. As well as your code, we can look at how to take responsibility for dealing with people. We can then look at the Dolphin Behavioural Model, mapping 4 types of behaviour and what kind of outcomes they look for. We can then show how you might deal with each of the types of behaviour - not that it makes it easy, but at least it gives you a shot. This model means that even when someone else is acting in an un-ideal way you can take responsibility for turning it around and not just write them, or your relationship with them, off. Being more Dolphin encapsulates another of Covey’s Habits - seeking Win-Wins. Working in software you will have to get used to Embracing Change. Sometimes you’ve been working on something for a long time and suddenly the requirements change, or the product just isn’t seen as important any more - even though you’ve invested so much into the current way of doing things. This can be really painful and it’s so easy to just resist any change. It can help to step back and try to see things from a business or strategic perspective. Sometimes they are wrong, I remember saying to myself, “Well, he’s the millionaire and I’m not”. Ultimately, as I teach my kids, taking a deep breath makes the world feel a better place; remind yourself that responding to change is what Agile is all about - so Bring It On! All of these models, strategies and techniques are about taking responsibility for yourself, even if that is only be within your own sphere of influence. It helps to remind yourself that you can only influence the controllables (control, like lunchtime, is an illusion), worrying about the things that you can’t influence is a waste, but you can be more responsible than you first think.
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