Weeknote 12 - Conferences coming out my ears
Wow busy busy week! Agile Cambridge was fleeting but fab as always, ScotSoft2019 was really cool as well. It doesn’t stop there, I’ve a session to deliver at the BBC next week too! Then I can rest.
What should I remember this week for?
2 conferences, 2 sessions, busy but awesome.
Word of the week:
Busy
Message of the week:
You never know what you can achieve.
Who taught me something or really made me think this week?
So many people.
At Agile Cambridge, I delivered a session called ‘Agility for the masses’. I decided to change it up a bit and play a game with the group, do a ‘choose your own adventure’-type format and ask them to share their experiences based on what I was talking about. I of course asked for feedback and some of it got me thinking!
One person said that I apologised too much. I was experimenting on this group of people so I did tell them that I had no idea how things were going to go - I maybe did it lots of times. They said I came over as less confident in myself and people might switch off. I find this one tricky. There’s got to be a balance between being honest and making yourself vulnerable and pretending that you totally know what you are doing. I wanted feedback, I wanted to experiment, the whole point of the talk was about experimentation and trying new things. So I’m thinking about how I can take this one on board and find my balance in the future.
Speaking about experimentation, when you try something different, when people think they know what they are going to experience when they walk into a conference session and you do something different, it goes one of two ways. I had people tell me they loved the game we played, others hated it. People loved the discussion I encouraged, others just wanted me to speak. Is there a balance there too? Can you ever please everyone? Someone suggested to me that it might have been just right if the feedback was so split.
I also had a lovely chat with Lawrence Weetman. We spoke about many things, but one thing he commented on was my use of iPad for my notes. I have my notes on my iPad so I have freedom to walk around the room and not be glued to my screen to see my notes. I have notes so I don’t forget the main points and so that I don’t go off on a tangent. Lawrence tries to memorise as much as he can (he shared that he records himself and listens to it on repeat!). He does this because he feels people might think he was unprepared if he had notes. I’d never thought about this before. I thought having notes was quite a good indicator that you had prepared! It made me think. (Lawrence does a great talk about Pixar by the way, if you ever get a chance to catch it!)
I also spent Tuesday evening before Agile Cambridge at the panel and keynote dinner. I met Sandi and Ashley who were visiting from North Carolina, and together with Cara, we chatted about women and wider diversity in tech and in the conference world. The conversation was too detailed to write here, but thanks to them for an excellent evening, lots of good points raised and I hope we get a chance to get together again in the future!
Where did I find inspiration?
At ScotSoft2019 on Thursday, I did a talk/discussion about Agile Testing. I told the story of a dysfunctional team who viewed testing as a part of the process at the end of their development cycle and they were having all sorts of problems. I then asked the group to discuss why getting the tester in the team involved earlier would help the team and the quality of the product. We then discussed how that could happen, through techniques like 3 amigos all the way down to whole team testing.
All the way through the session there was someone in the audience who was nodding at everything I said and asked. When I said who’s tried mobbing, when I said who knows about whole team testing, always nodding. It was great encouragement but I was delighted to chat with her afterwards. Her name is Gemma Hanley and she works at the BBC as a test lead. She works with teams who use these techniques, who really understand the culture behind whole team testing and actively encourage the people in their team who have expertise in the testing area to be involved all the way through the development process, from requirements to deployment. Basically, I want to visit her team to see it in action! So inspiring to hear from a team who actually make this work.
What am I still trying to work out?
I’ve been to a few conferences over the past few years, and many, many meetups. The one thing I think is lacking at these events is time to talk. I’d love to have a space at a conference dedicated to people who just wanted to have open discussions and learn from each other. Not just listen to a talk or do a preconceived workshop. Sometimes I sit out a session at a conference and the conversations I have in those quieter times are more valuable than being in the conference sessions.
I get that it’s a hard sell, as I mentioned above, people go to conferences expecting a jam packed day of learning, so a place or time where you can just sit and talk, informally might not get much uptake. But it would be a chance for those who wanted to, to do it. Even tea and lunch breaks at conferences are so short and the social events often happen at the end of the day when lots of people need to get home. It’s a puzzle.
How can I be better next week?
I need to relax, next week is quite busy again but I have a chance from Wednesday to take some time for me, which I MUST do.
What am I looking forward to next week?
I’m speaking at the BBC product management conference here in Glasgow. It’s an internal event and I’m very much looking forward to sharing a version of my ‘People are precious, time is the resource’ session with them. Thanks to Lynne for inviting me along - can’t believe it’s here already!
#nowplaying
Carnival of the Animals, Saint Saens
#nowreading
No time for reading, but not finished Thinking in Systems yet!
#nowwatching
Actually got the NFL red zone on just now - it’s fairly hard to follow for a newbie, but I’m trying.
