~/talk

Developer First: A New Leadership Mindset

Talkat Devoxx Belgium 2019 · 2019-11-04..11-08· [engineering-leadership, soft-skills]
slides:none on file

Asks managers to flip perspective and gives concrete practices: uses a 2017 Gallup stat that 50% leave managers, U S education vs jobs data framed as 70,000 vs 700,000, and a CareerBuilder finding that 40% get training. Runs partner exercises (manager vs leader, calendar audit, Eisenhower matrix), a social‑styles quiz, coaching‑only role plays, and a feedback formula (behavior → outcome → next steps). Shares templates for one‑on‑ones, onboarding checklists, peer code reviews and morning routines; claims these lift team engagement and retention above national averages.

AI-written summary · about

  1. 0:00Start
  2. 3:18Agenda
  3. 13:25Why Do Bosses Get a Bad Rap
  4. 15:58Characteristics of Great Leaders
  5. 16:18Key Technical Skills
  6. 16:54What Is this Developer First Leadership
  7. 17:42Manager versus Leader
  8. 27:00To Stop Multitasking on the Important Things
  9. 27:59Time Management and Prioritization Tips
  10. 28:55Meetings
  11. 30:12Eisenhower Matrix
  12. 30:40How Valuable Your Time Is
  13. 31:09Empowerment
  14. 38:56Empowering Your Team
  15. 40:44How To Figure Out if You'Re a Micromanager
  16. 41:20Provide Context
  17. 43:20Organizational Updates
  18. 44:02Recap
  19. 48:03Establishing a Bulletproof Morning Routine
  20. 48:44Gratitude
  21. 49:34So It's Kind Of Nice To Look Back if You Do this for About 30 Days and See You Know What Activities or What Habits Did You Do in the Mornings That You Felt Great in the Morning that You in the Days That You Did Accomplish What You Wanted To So I Do Encourage You To Think about Your Morning's and Think about How that Does Impact the Rest of Your Day I Advise You To Not Just Jump Right into Emails and and like Start Thinking about What Other People Want You To Do So I Heard a Quote That You Know Emails Are What Other People Want You To Do and Not What You Actually Want To Do Yourself So Establish Your Own Bulletproof Morning Routine so that You Can Have the Best Day
  22. 50:51So the First Step Is To Understand Your Own and How You Might Be Perceived by Others Okay So I'M Going To Go through these Slowly so There's Going To Be Three Questions on each Page and Basically You'Re Just Looking for Themes of Which Abc or D That You'Re Responding to So I'Ll Give You a Couple Minutes To Do this First One and Then We Have Two More Pages Does Anyone Need More Time on this One Okay Next One Does Anyone Need a Tiebreaker if You Have More like if You Have Two Letters That Have the Most and You Want a Tiebreaker
  23. 1:00:44They Are Uncomfortable and Will Avoid Conflict at all Costs They Value Personal Relationships Helping Others and Being Liked some Amiable Was Sacrificed Their Own Desires To Win Approval from Others They Focus on Opinions Rather than Facts and Data So At Best They Are Loyal They'Re Supportive Respectful Dependable and Perceptive and At Worst They Might Be Needy Unsure Dependent and Easily Manipulated the Expressive Expressos Enjoy Involvement Excitement and Interpersonal Interaction They Are Sociable Stimulating Enthusiastic and Good at Involving and Motivating Others
  24. 1:02:44Main Priority Is the Job at Hand and under Pressure They Will Withdrawal and Avoid Contact with Causes of Stress Amiable Is that Typical You Know Works Well with Others They Avoid Confrontation They'Re a Strong and Loyal Team Player They'Re Good Listeners and Sensitive to Others Feelings They Prefer an Atmosphere That Encourages Strong Relationships They Like To Have Direction They Want To Be Appreciated and They Seek Deep Meaning in Relationships and Experiences the Expressives Are Friendly and Easygoing They Work at Fast and Spontaneous Paces They Might Struggle with Commitment and Follow-Through They Prefer an Atmosphere That Encourages Flexibility
  25. 1:03:20They Might Struggle with Commitment and Follow-Through They Prefer an Atmosphere That Encourages Flexibility They Want To Be Admired They'Re Visionaries They Enjoy Trying New and Different Things and They'Re Happy Spirited So How Do They Talk Drivers Will Say I Will Analytical's Will Think Say I Think Amiable Might Say I Feel and Expressos Might Say I Want Communication Styles Drivers Might Be Louder Use Their Voice To Emphasize Points Talk Fast Stairs and States and Commands Stairs Can Be Outspoken or Formal Analyticals Might Be Quieter the Voice Might Not Vary That Much
  26. 1:20:33Okay so You Know as a Leader I Like To Think about What Am I Paying Attention to and What Opportunities Am I Looking for To Give People Feedback Now I Think It's Much More Valuable Being on a Team with like Amazing Amazing Amazing Lead and Principal Engineers That I'M Actually Paying Attention to Behaviors and Passion Instead of Content and Status Updates You Know So I Think It's More Important and Again this Depends on the Team Absolutely like Maybe Your Manager Who Does a Lot of Code Reviews and Have To Be that One To Share that Type of Feedback but I Think It's a Lot More Important in My Role To Pay Attention to Behaviors
  27. 1:21:35And I'Ve Also Learned the Hard Way That You Have To Make Sure that You'Re in a Mental State To Give that Feedback So if It Is Something That Personally Offended You and You Need To Practice Maybe Giving that Feedback or Having that Conversation Make Sure that You'Re Not the One You Know To Bring that Up Right Away and in Fact and Instead Maybe Pull a Mentor You Know Practice Giving that Feedback and See How You Would Respond if Certain Things Trigger You throughout that Conversation Okay So How Do We Initiate Feedback
  28. 1:21:46Make Sure that You'Re Not the One You Know To Bring that Up Right Away and in Fact and Instead Maybe Pull a Mentor You Know Practice Giving that Feedback and See How You Would Respond if Certain Things Trigger You throughout that Conversation Okay So How Do We Initiate Feedback Here Are a Couple Ways That Will Hopefully Make It an Uncomfortable and Not a Comfortable Situation Where the Person Knows that They Are About To Receive Feedback and Can Acknowledge that They Approve in It It's a Good Time To Receive Feedback so the First One Is You Know I'D Like To Give You some Feedback Is Now a Good Time Just Straight Up Do You Have a Moment To Catch Up on How this Situation Went or You Know Can We Talk about this What Do You Think Is Going Well or What Didn't Go Well
  29. 1:22:59Now Next Steps in Addition to Sprint Planning I'D Like To Sit Down and Walk through the Stories You Pick Up so that We Can Ensure You Have Everything You Need whether It's Help from a Senior Engineer Access Etc I'D Also Request that You Use Your Daily Stand-Ups To Highlight any Blockers That You See Preventing You from Getting the Work Done Now some Bad versus Good Forms of Feedback Your Stand-Ups Are Very Confusing to Us We Need You To Share Better Ones in the Future Good You Know Your Stand-Up Updates Aren't As Clear as We Need Them To Be from Now On Please Share Specific Tasks That You Are Working on and Call Out any Blockers That Could Impact Your Progress
  30. 1:26:04Why You'Re Avoiding It and Also What Is There To Gain
  31. 1:26:33And It Can Be with like a Friend or a Family Member Too Can You Raise Your Hand if You Need More Time Okay Thanks All Right Raise Your Hand if You Still Need More Time Okay Okay Now It's Time To Practice Everyone's GonNa Do It All Right So I Have a Stopwatch You Are GonNa Get Two Minutes each To Practice Giving this Feedback so as a Reminder Here Is a Template for What Formula To Follow Make Sure You Have Context Obviously It's Not Timely at this Point Make Sure It's Genuine Make Sure that You'Re Let's See Yeah Talking about Outcomes
  32. 1:42:40Goal-Setting
  33. 1:45:08Listening without Distractions
  34. 1:49:04Coaching
  35. 1:49:59Difference between Instructing and Coaching
  36. 1:54:16Coaching Exercise
  37. 1:59:11How Did It Feel To Be Coached versus Instructed
  38. 2:03:07Authenticity
  39. 2:04:14Stop Calling People Resources
  40. 2:07:14Diversity and Inclusion
  41. 2:10:03Past Failures
  42. 2:10:27Recruiting and Interviewing
  43. 2:11:35A Strategic Vision
  44. 2:13:09What Would You Do if You Win the Lottery
  45. 2:16:17Have Step-by-Step Instructions for How To Set Up Their Development Environment
  46. 2:20:02Interaction with Your Partner
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