Ernie Miller
Humane Development
#agile
#empathy
#humane-development
#team-culture
#software-development
#leadership
#workplace-culture
Summarized using AI
Humane Development
by Ernie MillerThe video 'Humane Development' by Ernie Miller, presented at RailsConf 2015, addresses the intersection of human elements and software development methodologies. It emphasizes the messiness of human interaction within technical processes and the pitfalls of dehumanizing team members in pursuit of predictable outcomes.
Key points discussed include:
- Responsibility and Accountability: Ernie Miller, as the Director of Engineering at Invisium, shares the pressure and accountability he feels in his role, acknowledging that workplace issues often lead to employee turnover.
- Humanizing Software Development: The speaker stresses that developers and teams are not just resources or abstractions; they are humans contributing to a collaborative environment. He coined the term 'humane development' to encapsulate the idea that software development should prioritize compassion and understanding.
- Agile Methodology Critique: Miller critiques the common adoption of agile practices without their foundational principles, noting how organizations often revert to old processes despite the agile mindset emphasizing individual interactions over rigid procedures.
- Culture of Urgency: He conveys the dangers of working under constant urgency, urging teams to evaluate the actual importance of deadlines and the potential damage of hurried decision-making.
- Importance of Environment and Autonomy: Stressing the need for a work environment that fosters autonomy, Miller highlights how organizations should trust and empower their teams instead of creating constraints.
Miller's insights are grounded in personal anecdotes about experiences that illustrate the emotional dynamics at play within teams. A significant moment involves a previous CEO’s reductive view of team members as mere resources, highlighting the detrimental effects of such an approach. He underlines the importance of connection, empathy, and dialogue to build a healthier workplace culture.
In conclusion, Miller calls for a reconsideration of methodologies that prioritize human factors, advocating for transparency and trust in teams. He suggests that recognizing our shared humanity can lead to healthier environments conducive to innovation and productivity. The discussion resonates with industry trends where employee well-being is integral to long-term success, urging collective action towards a humane approach in software development.
00:00:12.160
My name is Ernie Miller, and I'm on Twitter at @erniemiller. You probably shouldn't follow me unless you'd like to see my most popular tweet.
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Feel free to look it up.
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If you enjoy things like that, go ahead and follow me.
00:00:35.360
I work for a company called Invisium, which is an application security consultancy. I’m the director of engineering there.
00:00:42.000
However, this role does not come with an awesome chair or a megaphone.
00:00:48.000
Instead, it comes with a crippling sense of responsibility.
00:00:54.239
In my previous jobs, I often had a great excuse if I was disappointed in how things worked out.
00:01:00.800
If I felt let down by my managers, I could always say, 'Well, it’s not my fault.'
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If I wasn’t given free reign, might it be their responsibility?
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It’s not exactly a proud moment to admit such feelings, but it’s the truth.
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I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment.
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In fact, let’s see a show of hands. How many of you have been at your current job for less than a year? Keep your hands up.
00:01:31.600
Now, if you’ve been in your job for less than two years, raise your hands.
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Look around the room, and realize that half the people here have not been in their jobs for two years.
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Thank you, you can put your hands down now.
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When we leave jobs, we take ourselves with us. Most likely, none of us thought we were the problem, right?
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Sometimes it feels impossible to fix issues at work, and it becomes easier to simply move on.
00:02:03.680
Now, the problem for me as the director of engineering is that I am responsible for the software, the team, and the culture.
00:02:10.399
So it all ultimately comes down to it being my fault if something goes wrong.
00:02:16.400
This is a lot of pressure, so I began to think about what truly makes me happy in a job.
00:02:22.480
What keeps me around, and conversely, what makes me want to leave?
00:02:28.640
Allow me to share a true story, although the specific employer isn’t important.
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They may not even still operate that way, or if they do, they won't be around much longer.
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I was brought on to lead a team of technical folks reporting to a CEO.
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Initially, I was concerned that I'd just end up managing people without writing code.
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I really feared that would make me unhappy, so I raised my concerns.
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Fortunately, I was assured that wouldn’t happen.
00:03:03.599
Fast forward about six months, and sure enough, I wasn’t spending much time writing code.
00:03:09.680
In fact, I was triaging a Kanban board full of more urgent tasks than we had people to handle them.
00:03:16.400
This is a glimpse at my actual Kanban board—I'll admit I wasn't very good at it.
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I was trying my best to shelter my team from the wrath of our formerly jovial CEO.
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I approached the CEO to share my concerns and said, 'This isn't what I signed up for.'
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My team is stressed, I'm not writing code, and this isn't the engineering role I expected.
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To which he replied, 'You're thinking of this all wrong.'
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He suggested viewing it as just another development task—my team members were objects in the system.
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He encouraged me to approach this like traditional engineering.
00:03:59.280
But instead of aligning with his point of view, I realized exactly why I was unhappy.
00:04:05.760
The issue stemmed from my boss being a former engineer himself.
00:04:11.040
He wanted to run the company as if it were software, ignoring the human element.
00:04:17.840
But in reality, the truth is: people are not objects.
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This realization brought clarity to my misery; I was dehumanizing my employees.
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People were overwhelmed, which led to stress and attrition.
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We were overworked, and hiring new employees became impossible due to boundaries being violated.
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I felt like I was the only one who recognized this dysfunction.
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It felt as if my CEO had a distortion field affecting his perception.
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Of course, I might be a bit more sensitive to these issues.
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I've been involved in volunteer counseling for six years.
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Even prior to that, I've always been a sensitive person.
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This experience was excruciating.
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I repeatedly tried to counsel my CEO about my concerns.
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What I wanted to say was, 'People aren't objects; they are humans.'
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Ultimately, I chose to walk away.
00:05:40.800
You might consider my example extreme—and it was.
00:05:47.040
But I don't think it's unique. I've seen this pattern before.
00:05:53.440
Business values often conflict with what we value.
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It values predictability and measurability, often viewing control as the means to achieve predictability.
00:06:05.919
I understand this, as businesses must be able to keep promises.
00:06:12.480
Companies often desire things to be neat and organized, and that’s understandable.
00:06:19.120
But people are messy, and companies are made of people. This does not diminish their beauty.
00:06:26.639
So, how does a company deal with this messy reality? It does so with abstraction layers.
00:06:34.080
They abstract away the human part to shape the outcomes they desire.
00:06:41.440
Humans are reduced to mere resources, metered and applied to problems.
00:06:48.320
For instance, we need a certain number of resources, for a set number of hours, to produce a product.
00:06:54.239
Corporations treat humans as resources, even though the essence of a corporation lies within its people.
00:07:01.120
This reduction of humans to mere values is problematic.
00:07:07.680
In response, I aimed to establish a guiding philosophy for my team.
00:07:13.920
It should acknowledge that we are humans working with humans to develop software for the benefit of humans.
00:07:19.839
This idea may sound simple, but it's profoundly deep.
00:07:25.440
I don’t suggest this is a groundbreaking revelation.
00:07:30.720
However, certain implications naturally arise from acknowledging this fact.
00:07:36.160
I coined the term 'humane development' to encapsulate these concepts.
00:07:41.600
The term 'humane' is defined as having or showing compassion or benevolence.
00:07:48.320
It also means inflicting the minimum of pain, which I aspire to see in my workplace.
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This may sometimes conflict with our current methodologies.
00:08:01.760
How many of you practice agile methodologies today?
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Great, let’s see how many of you are truly agile.
00:08:13.440
There’s a talk by Uncle Bob titled 'The Land That Scrum Forgot', which offers interesting insights.
00:08:19.680
He shared a bit of history on the term 'agile' and why it resonates.
00:08:25.680
During a meeting with Martin Fowler, they aimed to establish an organization.
00:08:30.880
From their discussions, they coined the term 'agile'.
00:08:37.440
The idea was to articulate their values without disparaging the old ways.
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They embraced the Agile Manifesto, which many of you might be familiar with.
00:08:49.679
It emphasizes individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
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And working software over comprehensive documentation, among other priorities.
00:09:02.720
Kent Beck mentioned that if we are to regard this agile methodology as such, it should bridge the gap.
00:09:09.440
A connection between business and development should be a goal.
00:09:16.640
Shortly thereafter, Ken Schwaber formed the Scrum Alliance.
00:09:23.040
He began offering certified scrum master courses, which became quite popular.
00:09:29.760
However, it was noted that many attendees were not developers.
00:09:36.480
He felt it was silly for project managers to take these courses—just to add 'scrum master' to their LinkedIn profiles.
00:09:42.560
These project managers were not truly fulfilling the role of a scrum master.
00:09:48.160
The idea was meant to evolve beyond needing a scrum master at all.
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The approach should promote rotating the role among team members.
00:10:00.960
What happened was that companies embraced the agile concept but reverted to old habits.
00:10:06.720
Things gradually shifted back in favor of old methodologies.
00:10:13.200
The focused values of agility became diluted.
00:10:19.520
Many organizations appreciate the term 'agile' because it connotes speed.
00:10:26.080
Speed sounds great, and it’s often associated with the concept of hustle.
00:10:32.960
However, I don't particularly enjoy the term 'hustle.'
00:10:39.920
It's often connected to the idea of frantically working toward success.
00:10:46.400
But let’s entertain a different perspective about what hustle truly means.
00:10:52.480
For one, it implies forcing someone to work hurriedly, which isn't admirable.
00:10:59.440
This should not be a virtue, but in startup culture, it often is.
00:11:06.080
The motto 'move fast and break things' is commonly embraced.
00:11:11.680
It's important to note that this phrase originated from Facebook.
00:11:17.840
However, I argue that this philosophy leads to negative outcomes.
00:11:24.320
We've transformed hustle into a virtue, but it is a damaging meme in today’s software development.
00:11:31.200
We use estimating points to showcase velocity because we embrace hopping from one sprint to another.
00:11:38.720
After each sprint, we take time to rest and recover.
00:11:45.360
While I may not be an avid sprinter, I often engage in high-intensity interval training.
00:11:52.320
This method uses short bursts of intense effort followed by brief recovery.
00:11:58.960
However, sprinting is not designed for sustainability.
00:12:05.280
Instead, marathons focus on maintaining a steady, sustainable pace.
00:12:12.000
In a marathon, the finish line is an abstract concept for a long time.
00:12:19.039
The key is to keep moving sustainably.
00:12:26.720
Rushing toward a finish line can jeopardize future races.
00:12:32.960
It's vital to share the big picture with coworkers.
00:12:40.160
Understanding our shared goals allows for sustainable pacing.
00:12:46.960
A focus only on immediate goals may lead to overexertion.
00:12:53.040
How can we plan for sustainability without a clear idea of the end goal?
00:12:59.520
This brings us to the importance of estimates.
00:13:06.240
A recent snowstorm provided a perfect metaphor.
00:13:12.720
I estimated shoveling my driveway would take about an hour.
00:13:19.200
However, after two and a half hours, I realized my estimate was significantly off.
00:13:25.440
If I can't accurately estimate something familiar like snow shoveling, how can I estimate abstract software projects?
00:13:31.680
Most deadlines are essentially lies too.
00:13:38.560
If we miss an estimate, we just move the deadline.
00:13:44.639
So, why establish a deadline if we keep changing it?
00:13:51.040
Most urgent tasks aren't really urgent, which leads to a critical question: why?
00:13:57.760
The simple question 'why?' can transform requirements into meaningful rationale.
00:14:03.680
It's essential to challenge urgency.
00:14:11.200
When something is urgent, understanding the underlying reason is needed.
00:14:17.040
Urgency shouldn't lead us to overlook our responsibilities.
00:14:24.320
While down systems generate urgency, it’s vital to assess the risks associated with it.
00:14:30.959
Understanding what value is lost is crucial.
00:14:37.040
You may remember from a previous talk how sharing stories about personal experiences enhances learning.
00:14:43.440
While working as a sysadmin, I made a catastrophic mistake due to urgency.
00:14:50.080
In an effort to resolve an email issue, I mistakenly deleted critical directories.
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I learned that haste often results in irreversible consequences.
00:15:02.960
It’s essential to assess and mitigate impacts when acting with urgency.
00:15:08.880
Moving towards deadlines can produce cascading failures.
00:15:15.040
Nonetheless, defining effective deadlines is crucial.
00:15:22.080
Noting that urgency can lead to unclear tasks is vital.
00:15:30.240
Consequently, we need to interrogate urgency and deadlines.
00:15:38.240
Understand that success cannot be solely measured by progress.
00:15:45.600
Remember, a divide exists—a lie we create; it's crucial we recognize it.
00:15:54.080
This recognition fosters empathy towards coworkers and stakeholders.
00:16:02.239
True understanding requires connection with both business and programming.
00:16:08.240
Openness and visibility lead to pathways for creating a shared understanding.
00:16:15.439
Defining that bridge helps avoid arbitrary deadlines.
00:16:22.080
Investing emotionally and professionally in team dynamics yields important results.
00:16:29.120
When asking why, we should expect rigorous and genuine responses.
00:16:36.960
This honesty encourages equitable decision-making among teams.
00:16:43.520
Creating honest situations fosters better systems and processes.
00:16:49.360
Adhering to dubious deadlines promotes smoke and mirrors implementations.
00:16:56.160
These result in unmet expectations, even if we hit our milestones.
00:17:03.440
Many companies might ultimately fail if they don't recognize and embrace these realities.
00:17:09.760
Furthermore, companies often resort to crunch modes.
00:17:15.679
Employees cram all necessary work into shorter time frames—it’s a reaction to high pressure.
00:17:22.080
However, this should be considered an exceptional measure, not the standard.
00:17:30.080
Much like how we handle code exceptions, we need to analyze the aftermath of crunch times.
00:17:36.960
We don't want to rely on heroes in our teams; we should target prevention.
00:17:44.000
I want to showcase my best code ever, and I’m quite proud of it.
00:17:51.200
It's the kind of code that has 100% test coverage and requires no maintenance.
00:17:56.320
Yet we laugh about it because we understand that not writing code can be the best scenario.
00:18:04.960
Processes, by nature, have maintenance requirements too.
00:18:11.760
We need to be skeptical of our processes as we would with someone else’s code.
00:18:18.320
Adapting processes means ensuring they fit well without overwhelming the team.
00:18:24.800
Processes should never replace trust; they should enhance collaboration.
00:18:31.200
It's crucial to analyze mistakes and address their root causes.
00:18:37.680
Defining a process becomes a last resort.
00:18:44.240
Abandoning processes just because someone made a mistake isn't productive.
00:18:50.960
Processes may become legacy traps, distorting definitions over time.
00:18:59.040
In programming, legacy code often is maintained without questioning why it exists.
00:19:06.960
Although we can rationalize our methodologies, they’re often set without context.
00:19:13.440
What I’m calling process meta programming can help here.
00:19:19.680
My friend, Glenn Vanderburgh, illustrated this ideology with a remarkable analogy.
00:19:25.679
He recounted how his father taught him driving from a handbook.
00:19:31.840
The key takeaway was to drive in such a way that everyone understood your next move.
00:19:37.440
Emphasizing rationale helps elucidate the minutiae and guidelines.
00:19:43.600
If organizations drown in formalized processes, they drown in complexity.
00:19:50.560
This leads to tool development to follow said processes.
00:19:56.320
These tools often shift from reflecting processes to defining them.
00:20:02.720
When new hires enter the organization, they learn the wrongly defined processes.
00:20:09.280
As a consequence, any alteration in processes must begin with tool revisions.
00:20:16.320
Tools should serve as useful instruments and not define the team's future.
00:20:23.040
Small tools allow us the flexibility to adapt without overwhelming the organization.
00:20:29.600
It's integral to empower team members with options.
00:20:37.280
Dr. Martin Seligman—the father of positive psychology—conducted studies on happiness.
00:20:44.320
He demonstrated how people thrive when given choices.
00:20:50.400
However, some environments stripped them of autonomy, often leading to despair.
00:20:57.440
People in power tend to impose restrictions, assuming everyone's fine with that.
00:21:05.920
But autonomy is vital—not merely under the threat of leaving.
00:21:13.680
I’ve seen financial and emotional barriers prevent many from leaving toxic situations.
00:21:22.160
Thus, optionality is essential for individual contentment.
00:21:29.840
When I had to leave, it felt like I was abandoning close relationships.
00:21:37.840
Regrettably, my CEO made me feel guilty for my departure.
00:21:45.920
Often, it’s sad to witness coworkers in distress due to overbearing management.
00:21:53.840
Developers have the potential for flexibility, working in various formats and patterns.
00:22:01.680
The truth is that empathy, honesty, and trust are interrelated.
00:22:08.480
Each one leads us towards greater autonomy.
00:22:14.560
Ultimately, autonomy cultivates the environment for thriving developers.
00:22:20.959
Object-oriented programming emphasizes communication; processes need to encourage efficiency.
00:22:27.760
It’s paramount to lift programmers’ spirits rather than constrain with geographical demands.
00:22:35.840
Increased communication enhances collaborative capabilities, even from a distance.
00:22:42.480
If we can communicate effectively, we can fix shared misunderstandings.
00:22:48.800
And ultimately, if miscommunication persists, coding becomes convoluted.
00:22:55.920
Being transparent leads to successful outcomes and fosters healthier environments.
00:23:02.400
You will observe burnout among those always on call, fearing to miss messages.
00:23:09.920
So keeping boundaries clear helps in preserving mental stamina.
00:23:15.840
Most heroes arise from negative organizational environments.
00:23:22.240
Consider the reality: we need to experience pain in order to change.
00:23:30.400
People should confront the discomfort that pushes change.
00:23:37.680
It’s crucial to embrace challenges with foresight.
00:23:43.600
Yet, we risk falling back into old habits.
00:23:51.040
Evaluating our work methods leads to a thoughtful investigation.
00:23:57.920
Ultimately, we excel when we lean into constructive feedback.
00:24:05.440
Reinforcing trust within teams counters misunderstandings.
00:24:13.360
We have the responsibility to create suitable work-life balances.
00:24:20.720
When we effectively manage dynamics, we improve overall productivity.
00:24:27.760
Encouraging team autonomy is essential for a thriving environment.
00:24:34.560
With this insight in mind, let’s encourage dialogue on humane development.
00:24:42.080
This is about fostering healthy environments where people flourish.
00:24:50.080
I believe we can pursue these objectives collaboratively.
00:24:57.120
Thank you all for your time, and if you’re interested, I have stickers.
00:25:04.160
Feel free to come up for a humane development sticker or any other questions.
00:25:11.600
Just remember, our industry thrives when we remember the values of humanity.
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