Hi Sal,
Tech 30 yrs
I’m a bit nervous being at only my 3rd testing conference.]
Last time I admitted I had never been a tester, although for sure I have done a lot of testing.
Now, I work for Cucumber, so I’m slowly edging towards you all.
QUESTIONS
One of the directors and owners of Cucumber.
Chief “Being Sal” officer.
It even says so on my Business cards.
Roles are kind of fluid, sometimes I’m a developer.
At the moment, since September last year, I’ve become acting CEO for a while as well
This is about the developer bit, because I have an unusual story to tell.
I had a 15 yr break from doing technical work.
Mainly I was an agile consultant and trainer.
And then I decided to have a go at going back.
Many frameworks and processes make agility seem like a simple, clean problem.
That’s seductive. But It’s not. It’s a socio-technical problem.
Even coaching very close to a team doesn’t feel the same as being right in the midst of it.
Starting to lose touch with what that feels like. The “messiness” of being right there in it. Both at the team level and exec level.
I would find myself struggling to understand people’s difficulties.
At the same time I have never forgotten that what I have always loved about coding is that I LOVE LOGIC. It’s kind of tidy in its messiness.
See if I still loved coding
Women (and men) take career breaks and I want to see if it was possible to go back and IF IT WAS I wanted people to see that AND hopefully inspire them.
In my head especially to
inspire returners,
particularly (but not exclusively) women
especially somewhat older folk.
especially people who had a career break, maybe to parent their kids
especially folk who also happened to be autistic like me.
– because if there is a skills shortage in tech, heaven knows there is also a inclusivity issue for all of these demographics (and of course many more).
Steeped in the privilege of knowing so many wonderful people.
Surprised that people I asked said yes.
2 days each stop (because I’m a mother of 3 and I don’t like to be away from home for longer than 2 days unless I really can’t avoid it)
Thoughtworks Manchester – Claire Sudbury – Menopause symptom tracker (now remote pairing on game – Clare is going to talk about in her session after lunch)
Makers Academy – Rachel Davies (Ruby defects & events website)
UnRuly media –Steve Hayes pairing / mobbing in a 3 (refactoring the build server with David Al Kanani)
2 Amazing things happened
200+ hackers
57 teams
25 hr hackathon
All women. 50% autistic.
Luce, Cynthia, Clare
Self-care
Side room – just a few teams, quiet.
Slept – larks and owls
Even had calming aroma-therapy oils.
Lightweight agile (user story map)
One hour iterations – 45 mins work, 5-mins flash Review (look at this cool thing) and Retro, 10 min break.
AND WE HAD “SOME” AUTOMATED TESTS
We made a (deliberately ridiculous) time machine.
We won best in show – First ever all female team
I wasn’t at the awards ceremony – home with my kids, literally got in the front door and watched the awards ceremony with the kids on my son’s iPad at the kitchen table.
Astonished. I had gone from not coding for 15 years to being part of a winning hackathon team.
If you had told me that a year before I wouldn’t have believed you,
Second thing….
Known Cukes a long time – so Iong I have had 4 different hair colours since this photo and cycled back to blonde!
VERY Experienced developers. Very lovely people.
The most unintimidating intimidating people ever
Although they usually mob remotely I wanted to have a first session in the same room so they arranged a meetUp in Belgium in my honour
Sal - First mobbing session – in person.
Terrrifying!
(Singer story)
But face2face good for learning behavioural norms & helped feel connected when remote.
Co-location isn’t the norm for the team though. Far from it. And that really works for me.
Sal – Co-location doesn’t let you flex your sensory environment
Vestibular system – balance
Proprioceptive – where your body is in space
(sunglasses, noise cancelling headphones, shopping centres, bowling alleys or amusement arcades. Vegas.
I like sitting on the floor. I seek strong flavours. I’m rarely “still”, it helps me focus.
Yet one size fits all environment are common
Zoe
Or maybe you are just more of an introvert.
Or want some peace and quiet from time to time to concentrate
The set up
(remotely) Zoom and git
Ten mins timer – but we cheat (we value flow)
Driver has least idea
Remote mobbing.
Own environment – MVP – low cost, cobbled together with familiar things.
low distration – it’s a cupboard that opens out. I have a door right behind me, it feels safe.
My favourite chair has lovely soft velvet unholstery.
Can mute / turn off screen / don’t need to make eye contact / I CAN EVEN LEAVE
Can stim “off screen” e.g. drum fingers etc or even flap on screen and the team don’t seem to mind too much.
I can have calming things –A light fitting that makes a little prisms.
Besides ITS MY HOUSE
And best of all……..
No need to be sociable on breaks
Upgrade.
Good -
Kept – “cubicle” – enclosed corner.
Everything rocks
Concentration aids.
Tried a running desk – fell off in under 10 minutes of using.
Standing desk is good for you
Not so good –
Glary
Less cocoon like
Standing desk makes me more impatient.
Definitely still a work in progress
Look at all that natural light
Yeah, but….can’t block it out yet (get blinds)
Zoom – see self but also see what’s behind you.
Distracting.
Trees make me giggle.
Even worse in the dark – I can see four reflections of the back of me from different angles – it’s FASCINATING.
Strategy work - Having difficult conversations - spatial
Sharing artifacts – sometimes you just feel you want whiteboards and post-It notes – RealTimeBoard
Informal “bumping into each other” – fika. Limited success.
Also peripheral awareness, overhearing what others are doing.
Some of you might know that regularly tear down the phrase “cultural fit”
I know Ash is going to give a wonderful closing keynote about cultural fit, so I’m not going to talk generally about it.
Cucumber’s “culture” is that:
We’re not robots – everyone’s different. We support one another.
Which is just as well because well….I’m autistic and
The cukes like to Collaboratve A LOT. Practically all the time.
and I get exhausted. I run out of spoons.
Which felt a bit like the supportive version of a double dare you
The cukes like to Collaboratve A LOT. Practically all the time.
and I get exhausted. I run out of spoons.
Sometimes I get a sudden urge to do something random solitary activity
Like (in the few weeks) bake bread
or crochet one of my sons a crazy hat
Or do a 1,000 dot-to-dot
Or (this week) make a triflexahexagons.
And I kind of have to do it or I can’t focus.
And I can get immersed in these things.
And to the naked eye it seems like that’s not “working”, but it is.
I’m thinking all the time, unravelling messiness in my head, having ideas.
Making random connections.
PhD other people in my lab doing cog sci and creativity so I picked up a few bits about that from them.
Creative process as described by Wallas in 1926 – Incubation.
Sometimes I do my very best thinking when I am doing something repetitive away from other people.
Personal puzzle – how to get the commercial world that we live to believe that.
Kind of like when you say that science shows having a nap is a good thing, and we know that’s true, but your boss still doesn’t want to see you having a lovely sleep under your desk.
I’m pretty sure my team will be fine, when I find the right moment to talk to them about it.
(Can’t believe I thought I’d trial this conversation on a room full of strangers first!)
Despite the fact it’s not perfect, and we still have some stuff to work out, it is still the most authentic and personally supportive way of working I have found.
I hope it inspired some of you a tiny bit….
…..especially if you aren’t in a technical role at the moment but would like to be / or like to try.
…..especially if you have taken a career break
…..especially if you are a parent
…..especially if you are a female
…..especially if you are autistic
it’s possible to jump back into the code, you just have to be willing to take the leap.
Thank you
