Talk: Why Your Developers Hate Agile (and How To Fix It!)

Talk description

Title:	Why Your Developers Hate Agile (and How To Fix It!)
Short synopsis:	It seems like everyone is going through an agile transformation but some of your biggest opponents are the developers on the team. Do you feel like people are rolling their eyes any time you mention agile? Are you getting frustrated at people because you feel like if they just listened and had an open mind, agile would make their lives so much easier. Why are they resisting so hard when they’ll benefit the most!? Let’s talk about common reasons why developers think they hate agile. From inconsistency to too much rigidity, from information overload to too little communication, and from too much chaos to too much planning, we’ll discuss how you can open communication with your developers and not repeat the mistakes about agile that hurt them in the first place. Max size: 500 chars
Long synopsis (optional):	Information for Program Team: As a developer for 7 years on a variety of agile teams at a variety of companies, I feel like I have seen a huge shift in how people are feeling jaded every time they hear agile. A lot of my fellow developers have expressed frustration at "capital A agile" and the lack of real agility and it's led them to this learned helplessness. I've been frustrated at agile conferences teaching "games" and prescribing rules that people follow without understanding. I want people to get back to the core of what we want -- we want high performing teams that feel empowered to do what is right. This talk is a mix of describing what has made developers feel jaded about agile and things that agile practitioners can do to break the cycle and fix it. A lot of this talk is around combating what I call learned helplessness — complaining during retros that things are miserable, but then not taking any ownership to try things on one side and then the other side complaining that people are too resistant to change. It’s about bridging the gap and creating a shared understanding between developers, agile practitioners, and business folks. Time allocated as follows: 0-5: Introduction - Agile should be routine and boring 5-10: Ways to aim for consistency on teams - forecasting, pacing, no artificial inflation of points, respecting how long things take 10-15: Pitfalls of too much rigidity 15-20: Chaos - agile is not a justification for not having any sense of a plan 20-25: What does agile mean for your team? 25-30: Tips to think through giving the right amount of guidance to your team 30-35: How to get developer buy-in and participation in every meeting and end useless meetings 35-40: How to return back to safety and team agency to make decisions - focusing on getting the team to have real conversations to move forward 40-45: Q&A Max size: 5000 chars
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