Human Factors in Engineering, Workshops

VSM03 Workshop: Mastering Human Factors

11/13/2023

8:30am - 5:30pm

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Benjamin Day

Author, Trainer, Developer

Angela Dugan

Cloud Solution Architecture Manager

Microsoft

You have solid DevOps pipelines, the best of breed tooling, your processes are well documented and discoverable, and your team rooms are full of comfy chairs and the tastiest snacks! So why is it still so stinking difficult to meet your commitments and deliver high quality software? If it's not a tooling problem it must be a people problem, and if it's not a people problem it must be a system problem, right? It is easy to say that software delivery would be so easy…if it weren't for all the humans. But why is that?

The technical stuff is easy by comparison. Humans need convincing and explanations and reasons for why they should embrace an Agile mindset, and follow DevOps leading practices, and work on this thing instead of that other more fun thing. If you're in a leadership role, how can you tell if your teams are facing challenges, and what do you do about it? How do you know if your team members are productive? How can you prevent burnout, increase morale, and sustain a high performing team that crushes their commitments? What do we ALL need to know about being truly great team members, and why should we care?

In this workshop, Ben and Angela will connect the strategic, human-oriented reasoning to the tactical 'nuts and bolts' of a successful software organization. We'll discuss process, metrics, communication, all of the typical Agile and DevOps concepts, and instead of focusing on any particular technology or framework, we'll focus on how to help you and the humans around you to be happier, more effective, and truly productive.

You will learn:

  • How to level up your communication and feedback to support continuous improvement, and minimize friction and conflict
  • How to optimize delivery and maintain a healthy team morale by tracking the right metrics, not just the popular or common ones
  • Understanding theories of complexity and constraints, and using that knowledge to manage and adapt to bottlenecks