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In Deborah Tannen's book, she describes how men and women often misunderstand each other because of fundamental differences in their use of language. Similarly, in too many situations, managers and developers just don't understand each other; their concerns, interests, and even personalities are too divergent. But, to be professional, developers must be able to get things done in their organisations.
This workshop will attempt to bridge that divide by showing technical staff how they may be perceived by their non-technical colleagues and how to make themselves understood. We also welcome managers who need better understanding of their developers.
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Lombard Risk Systems Ltd. | Steve Freeman is Technical Lead in the Trading Systems division of Lombard Risk Systems, where he has been moving his team, as fast as his understanding will allow, to Extreme Programming. Steve has worked in a wide range of situations from research to developing shrink-wrap software. He has a PhD in Computer Science and degrees in Statistics and Music.
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QA Consulting, UK |
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This workshop will use role-playing to lead developers to a better understanding of how they are perceived by non-technical managers, and of how to get their point across when it matters.
| Session: Drama workshop 75 minutes | Level: all |
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Audience: The session is intended for technical staff who are concerned about how to communicate with management in their organisation, and for managers who need better understanding of their developers.
| Max 24 |
The workshop will produce a summary of the flip sheets prepared by each of the groups.
Session participants will be divided into small groups, each of which represents an imaginary organisation. We will prepare a description of the organisation and of a task or project that needs to be completed.
Each member of the group will be assigned a role, such as Finance Director, to play during the session. We will prepare a description of each role that includes its motivations and relationships with other roles in the group. There will be only one developer in each group.
In the first session, the members of the group will establish their positions and start the project. During this process we will introduce some minor project risks, such as new competition or technology developments. The group will then have to adjust to cope with these changes.
In the second session, we will introduce major threats to the project, such as a draconian funding cuts or key staff leaving. Once again, the group will have to negotiate to cope with these new changes, but under considerably more stress and for higher stakes.
Finally, each group will write up a flip sheet to summarise their experiences, and present those experiences to the workshop as a whole.
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