Keynote: People the Missing Ingredient

Joe O'Brien

Joe O'Brien

3 talks

#people-skills

#team-building

#communication

#emotional-intelligence

#remote-work

#developer-experience-dx

#agile

Keynote: People the Missing Ingredient

by Joe O'Brien

In the keynote speech titled "People the Missing Ingredient" delivered at LA RubyConf 2012, Joe O'Brien emphasizes the integral role of people in software development and success. He argues that while technology, processes, and metrics are often at the forefront of discussions, it is ultimately the people behind these initiatives that drive projects to success or failure. O'Brien abstracts his ideas into several key points:

Shift in Focus: O'Brien stresses the need to shift our focus from solely measuring success in terms of acquisitions and technology to considering the value of people and relationships built in the workplace. He reflects on his own experiences, where he finds personal satisfaction not from financial gains but from the positive feedback and sense of community fostered among his team at Edge Case.
Definition of Success: He critiques the common understanding of success tied to market validation (like acquisitions), arguing that true success comes from impacting lives and creating a fulfilling work environment. O'Brien cites examples of positive affirmations from employees as a profound measure of success.
Importance of Communication: He explores the significance of effective communication within teams, drawing from his experiences in various projects. O'Brien insists that many projects succeed or fail not due to technical aspects but because of the team's ability to work together and communicate effectively.
The Year of the People: In response to his insights, O'Brien declares 2012 as "the year of the people," proposing initiatives such as a People Conf and training sessions to enhance team dynamics and interpersonal relationships.
Connection and Confidence: He discusses the hurdles people face in connecting, especially in large gatherings, and reinforces the idea that most individuals desire to connect and share experiences. O'Brien encourages embracing discomfort and challenges social anxieties to promote genuine connections.
Emotional Intelligence in Tech: Additionally, he touches on the necessity of understanding psychology and emotional intelligence within technical careers, advocating that these skills are just as vital as technical prowess for a thriving work culture.

O'Brien concludes with a rallying call to prioritize people in programming environments, emphasizing that nurturing significant connections and collaboration can lead to improved productivity and satisfaction in workplaces. His insights inspire reflection on the human aspect of technology, encouraging a more inclusive, empathetic approach to work dynamics.

00:00:24.240 I met Joe — actually, I don't remember when — but we had our first real deep conversation at Ruby Hoedown in 2008. Later that year, I ended up bringing Edge Case on board to do some work at AT&T Interactive. Between their methodologies and other factors, Edge Case helped me develop software at two different companies. Many of you know Jim Weirich, who is the Chief Scientist of Edge Case. I can announce that Edge Case was recently acquired by a company called Digital Garage, which is the CTO of Digital Garage, Ivan McFarland, who used to be the CTO of Triple S. It's a big move for Edge Case, but we haven't resolved branding issues yet. We're all hoping it's Edge Case, a new context company, because we like the name. Joe has been involved in software development for many years and, before that, was involved in sales. So I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Joe, and we'll get this conference going. Thank you.

00:01:34.960 I love getting to know Kobe and JR; they really helped challenge a lot of the stereotypes I had regarding them, the guys at AT&T, and what I think of enterprises. It also changed my views on recruiters. I've had my biases, but I decided to keep an open mind. When Kobe first started the conference, he gave a talk at Mountain West. I walked in there, and he had all the cameras fixed and said, 'Alright, stand at the podium.' I told him that if I stood still, I would become a caged animal. Since then, I have tested his resolve to move the cameras. So thanks for having me here. This is my second keynote of my life — personal goals achieved!

00:02:29.920 What I want to talk about is people — what I like to call 'the missing ingredient.' So, what do I mean by that? There are a couple of reasons we need to start shifting our focus to talk about people. One of these reasons is our definition of success. As Kobe mentioned, we recently announced an acquisition — we've been acquired by Digital Garage to form the company New Context, which is doing a lot of what we do, but in better and bigger ways. There are some really great backers behind us and some exciting things ahead. I'm bringing this up because, since the announcement, I have received more phone calls than I can count. I've been contacted by people locally and nationally who I've been trying to connect with for years.

00:03:31.200 I find it fascinating because our definition of success is often tied to being acquired. There’s a sense of market validation to what you've done. Personally, I find this to be one of the most insulting things you can say. I've spent five years building a company, not because I want to be acquired, but for various reasons. When you tell me that I'm successful because someone gave me money, I shake my head. My success comes from a few different places. I constantly ask myself two questions. First of all, I reflect upon my situation with a mirror. When I first started Edge Case, I was working for a company I loved, but I had to get on a plane every Monday morning and get off every Thursday. I decided that I wanted to stop traveling; I wanted to be a father more than I wanted to work for that company.

00:04:50.879 Ironically, I told that story three times last year in different countries. I love to travel, I like to teach, and I enjoy talking to and meeting people. This is my passion; I'd rather do this than travel. The idea of cramming myself into a conference room while working at 60-70% of my capacity because I’m blurry from travel doesn’t appeal to me. I felt that we could do remote work well: be on-site when necessary and off-site when we really needed to focus and get stuff done. I also looked around Columbus, Ohio, and maybe this will surprise you, but it isn’t the most attractive place to look at. It’s not Boulder or Austin, right? But we found that we have an incredibly vibrant city.

00:05:42.240 Many people there love living there for one of two reasons — either they met someone or their family is there and they aren’t moving. I was an Army brat who moved all the time, but my wife is from there, and she isn’t leaving her family — no big deal. So I thought, let’s create what we want. I've learned a lot of lessons on what not to do and what I liked, and I ask myself all the time, 'How do I get a job that I still desperately want to work at?' This question could be controversial, but as a consulting company owner, it’s easy to cross lines. I also question whether I feel like I’m giving value back to the company rather than just extracting value from the people. It’s a harder question to address, but as long as I get the answer I want, I’m content.

00:06:40.240 I also have another measure of success, and that’s Twitter. I constantly see tweets that make me feel great, like Scott Walker stating that, two months in, he feels lucky every day to work with amazing folks at Edge Case. It's similar with Matt Darby saying he can’t believe he gets paid to hang out and have fun. Justine, our designer, also expresses great sentiments. I genuinely feel bad for people who don’t work for us. These unsolicited comments are my measures of success — they're about people, not money.

00:07:17.680 Aaron Murdoch, a really close friend of mine now living in L.A., worked with us and came out to L.A. on contract. He saw the beach and fell in love, which unfortunately led him to leave us. However, when I talked to him yesterday, he mentioned several times that he still tells people that his current job is the second-best job he’s ever had, alluding to the fact he still loves us and sends people our way all the time. That impact lasts a lifetime, and that is a measure of success. But that’s because we focus on people. If you ask someone what you need to start a successful technical company or manage a successful software project, they will talk about the triangle of people, process, and technology. So why is it that every conference I attend tends to focus more on the latter two?

00:08:10.079 Why is it that the talks you sign up for fall into two main categories? This is worrisome. We often realize that we’re not focusing on the right things. I had a revelation recently. I’ve been on a lot of projects from the companies I worked with before Edge Case. I’ve noticed that I’ve never seen a project succeed for technical reasons, nor have I seen a project fail for technical reasons. Not once. It was never about whether we used a SQL database or a document database; it was never about whether we used a dynamic language versus a static one.

00:08:49.440 I was discussing this with a close friend and mentor, Glenn Vandenberg, who said he had never seen a project succeed for technical reasons either. This led me to think back on some of the most successful projects I’ve been a part of, including one at my last company, OnStar. I had been in Ruby for a while, but we were working on a Java platform in a corporate environment that felt like an act of God and a hand grenade was required to deploy anything. You had to threaten vice presidents and buy people coffee just to get anything done. But I worked with the most amazing team I had met in my life during that time.

00:09:35.039 So up to that point, I had colleagues who would take me aside and say things like, 'Look, I see a personality conflict here; here’s what I’m noticing — are you seeing this too?' I learned a ton from that project, and none of it had to do with technology. I hated the technologies we utilized and was using Eclipse every day for Java. We once spent two hours in a discussion about whether curly braces should go on the same line or the next line. We were really debating over such trivial matters. At some point, one person suggested we get a tool to pre-process the code so that we could style it however we wanted. Technically, the project was terrible, but it was the most successful project I have been on to date.

00:10:18.400 It was great because we could communicate openly when issues arose, and we knew we could express our problems without hurting feelings. Everyone was committed to doing their best and improving. So I’m on a new mission for 2012 — I want this to be the year of the people. We’re going to be putting on what I call People Conf, which is coming up in the fall. I’ll delve into this much more, and we’ll start offering training sessions on how to be an effective team member.

00:10:32.079 We'll also discuss why people often dislike pairing — it often comes down to not having the right tools to be successful. Pairing is not about TDD, it’s not about whether you have one monitor or two, or one keyboard or two. It’s about the people involved. When you’re in a pressure-cooker situation, everything that can go wrong often does, which contributes to the disdain people have around it. That's why people often can’t achieve success with it; they lack the necessary tools. Dave Thomas famously stated that he wants you to learn a new programming language every year. I’m saying this year, instead, I want you to learn psychology.

00:11:15.119 I want you to focus on your surroundings and the things happening around you. There are countless books and resources out there, and it’s genuinely fascinating. We are often considered the generation that our parents disliked because every time they tried to use the computer, the game was broken. Half of us tried to convince our spouses to use Linux at some point, and I'm trying to figure it out while still being married. I’ve wanted to write a book for years but didn’t know how to present the information. I had a moment of epiphany about four months ago about how to present it — through people patterns.

00:11:58.880 We know patterns and understand how to digest them. Looking back at where I am now, all my success has not been dependent on being technical. I’m the farthest thing from an engineer you'll ever find, but I have enough people skills to ask the right questions of the right people at the right time. I talk to people, get to know them, digest information, and listen. What I didn’t realize until much later is that I was given tools explicitly and subtly to help me manage this. Growing up as an Army brat, I moved about every five years, teaching myself to dismantle the walls I put up and therefore renew myself and change.

00:12:50.200 With each move, I received a new chance at rebuilding myself. In high school and middle school, people begin to define their personalities in ways that don't allow for change. But that's not true; you can change. I returned to my school in Cincinnati, Ohio, for my senior year. I transitioned from a school of 367 students to a civilian school with 584 seniors participating in my first class meeting. It was quite a cultural shock. I've also lived in other countries for nine years and learned about cultures, leading me to understand that even within the same country, different cultures exist.

00:13:39.360 When they didn’t understand my perspective, I began to see why. This enabled me to step back and evaluate situations differently. I took competitive speech and debate in my senior year, initially thinking it was merely a theater-type class; I didn’t realize that we would compete and engage in these activities. As I got more involved, I realized I was learning how to communicate effectively, keep arguments flowing, and get points across. I learned so many tools to deal with people in that class.

00:14:23.279 After college, I found myself working in a tech job as a secretary in a hotel. One day, my boss came to me and said that they loved me, but I had to either be promoted or they’d have to fire me because I struggled with being a secretary, but I thrived on dealing with people. So they created a new role for me as a junior salesperson. Getting promoted brought new challenges; a suit doesn’t instantly make someone productive. I learned a lot as I went through this process; I’m now trying to distill those experiences, but right now they aren’t documented. I'm going to start talking more because this is about bringing people together.

00:15:13.920 I understand there could be psychology enthusiasts, and I’m aware that when I start speaking, someone may argue about specific cases. However, my aim is to discuss broad concepts that can impact many people. Just as a fair warning, the first point is the idea of a conversation rolodex. While I was going to Ruby Midwest, I came across a tweet from a girl in Ohio who expressed anxiety about being around a bunch of strangers, which baffled me because I often feel more alone in my hometown than I do in larger gatherings. At these events, I’m surrounded by people with similar interests. Therefore, I realized that we've ingrained the mindset of being introverts, which might be true partly. But I believe the reason we get our energy from being alone stems from experiences of high school interactions.

00:16:00.959 In those settings, we often felt like we were the only ones who understood what was being discussed. If I were to walk up to someone and say that I’d love to meet them, I might feel awkward. So, there’s this interesting aspect where many people attending would like to forge new connections. Conversations begin awkwardly, but it’s essential to find prompts or topics that can effectively guide interactions. I realized too that communication can often come with an agenda, especially when I started in sales where self-defense mechanisms would play a role in protecting ourselves from rejection.

00:16:52.480 These voices in your head from social fears push you to feel out of place, highlighting how building in defenses leads to a lack of genuine interaction. These thoughts can be more of self-intimidation than actual concerns. Once you recognize their presence, you become more comfortable navigating interactions and the growing realization of likability arises; people would rather exchange stories and meet someone new. For example, during my first networking event, I felt inadequate observing people chatting comfortably in groups, reinforcing my self-doubts.

00:17:38.439 I realized that the moment I stepped out of my comfort zone, I could engage positively. But again, those inner voices often dominated my mindset, and I learned to quiet them down. I have noticed that the most successful people, despite seeming like natural extroverts, are often introverts who engage well with others. They offer a chance to learn how to be receptive, and by having an open-minded approach, they can create room to express ideas comfortably. One illustration of this is when you’re in an environment requiring teamwork, focusing on the people around you can turn a project to success.

00:18:25.440 In one of my experiences during a significant business meeting, we had a client who appeared engaging, allowing interaction with multiple team members. However, it shifted when one of the developers lost focus by not visibly participating; the client felt disregarded, attributing this disinterest to their lack of effort. Thus, it’s vital to comprehend how you convey your attentiveness visually, as the client might interpret the lack of connection negatively. If we operate assuming our intent is clear, without accounting for how it’s perceived, we miss opportunities for effective communication. Therefore, being consistently mindful of cues from others in your interactions is paramount.

00:20:01.680 People frequently ask me about the business value behind choosing specific technologies like Ruby, especially when their bosses are resistant. It often comes down to how they communicated the benefits. I once encountered a brilliant developer who simply failed to articulate his value because of how he presented himself. The key involves listening actively, particularly in situations where a misunderstanding exists because assumptions cloud judgment. Thus, understanding the motivations driving conversations or inquiries can shift dynamics significantly.

00:20:52.239 Listening between the lines is beneficial, and nobody expects you to be perfect. The act of recognizing that all parties in the conversation will come from different perspectives is essential. I remember discussing a colleague’s performance with a client; rather than providing my thoughts directly, I realized I needed to hear their perspective first. By doing that, it opened the dialogue for genuine feedback rather than defensive responses. This understanding lays the groundwork for positive, constructive communication that leads to effective resolutions in various contexts.

00:21:30.639 When delivering feedback, it's essential to ensure you're providing it clearly and supportively rather than in a vague or critical manner. I often ask my colleagues how I performed in my presentations, understanding they'll give me honest input. It's incredibly beneficial to learn from such experiences, which can be helpful as you continuously strive to improve your delivery and subject matter. This attitude encourages frankness and allows open conversations about performance without individuals feeling defensive, ultimately leading to collective growth.

00:22:09.920 Reflecting on my journey, I have often highlighted the importance of handling bad news quickly. It’s often tough to deliver negative feedback or admit mistakes immediately, creating an environment where everyone feels uncomfortable. When you come across issues, revealing them early can prevent prolonged discomfort and help you develop correction strategies promptly. Transparency builds trust, enabling teams to vocalize concerns and work collectively toward solutions rather than succumbing to frustration.

00:22:55.360 The idea is that people want you to take actionable steps and timely responses to resolve what’s wrong. Being open about challenges creates an atmosphere of accountability and comfort, fostering positive relationships with clients and coworkers alike. When things go wrong, remember that you’re not obligated to present a perfect image. Instead, show your worth by being forthcoming about mistakes or difficulties; it works wonders in providing solutions and shifts perceptions toward positivity among your peers.

00:23:48.479 In overcoming negativity, it's about recognizing moments where assumption influences judgments. We are often apprehensive when we encounter new ideas or proposals, leading us to form defensive stances against them. Rather than dismissing novel suggestions outright, maintaining an open-minded approach fosters collaboration. Once we open ourselves up to all ideas without bias, we form an environment where dialogue flourishes, leading to inclusive discussions free of criticism that revolves around individual viewpoints.

00:24:39.039 This idea of 'yes, and' in improvised theater signifies the importance of acceptance. Accepting each other's ideas without immediately attempting to counter them cultivates a richer discourse. With this approach, we can brainstorm more effectively, finding solutions together. By saying yes, we affirm one another’s creativity, and the 'and' encourages the continuation of our thoughts and ideas, creating a positive atmosphere for growth and collaboration. Cultivating this habit can yield invaluable communal experiences.

00:25:48.560 As a synthesis of everything we've discussed, I want to make 2012 the year of the people. We will begin actively engaging in conversations around these topics and focus on how to encourage those around us to embrace a mindset suitable for collaboration. For conference organizers, it’s crucial to accentuate the significance of people in work environments and evaluate the problem areas that stem from interpersonal relationships instead of merely analyzing technical issues. Let’s concentrate on enhancing our professional environments through fostering these vital connections.

00:26:52.160 Thank you for having me, and I look forward to discussing these ideas further with all of you, as you explore what it truly means to prioritize people in our workspaces.

LA RubyConf 2012