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Your Team, as Saga by Betsy Haibel Software systems are made of code, and the people who work on them. But most of all, they're made of the stories those people tell. Heroic legends of shipping to deadline, spooky ghost stories of refactors gone bad... and a lot of sci-fi, projecting out into a utopian (or dystopian) future. How can you edit this story to make it go right? In this talk, we'll apply fiction-writing tricks to the art of engineering roadmapping. We'll learn how to build narratives, develop our characters, and world-build our way to healthier teams and healthier code.
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In her talk titled "Your Team, as Saga," presented at RubyConf 2021, Betsy Haibel discusses the use of narrative structures in software teams, proposing that storytelling techniques from fiction can improve team dynamics and software engineering practices. Haibel begins by emphasizing the role of narrative in helping humans make sense of their experiences, particularly in chaotic environments like software development. She explains how the stories team members tell themselves can shape their perspectives on code quality, testing, and team morale, creating feedback loops that either encourage a healthy team dynamic or lead to detrimental behaviors. **Key Points Discussed:** - **Team Narratives:** Haibel illustrates how team narratives influence behavior, using the metaphor of a "bug smash" to highlight how a failure to maintain reliable tests can lead to a culture of distrust and tech debt. If the narrative is positive, teams feel capable of fixing problems, while a negative narrative can paralyze them. - **Feedback Loops:** She stresses the importance of establishing constructive feedback loops to shift the team’s momentum positively. Teams need to understand capabilities beyond just delivering features, focusing on enhancing their skill to meet current and future user needs. - **World-Building in Development:** Drawing parallels to fiction, Haibel argues that proper world-building in software involves envisioning the bigger picture rather than merely constructing tasks without context. Engaging developers in creating comprehensive narratives helps in building a coherent product vision. - **Conflict in Projects:** The concept of conflict, particularly "person versus environment" (the coding challenges teams face), is explored through the 'MICE' system (Milieu, Inquiry, Character, Event), offering a framework to classify the various conflicts that arise during software development and how to resolve them. - **Character Development:** Unlike individualistic models, Haibel proposes viewing team dynamics more similarly to character development in romance novels, where collective growth and knowledge sharing take precedence over individual accolades. - **Editing and Refinement:** The final section of her talk focuses on the need for consistent editing—ensuring that every project advances the team’s capacity in multiple ways, akin to enhancing a narrative structure in writing. Haibel concludes by stating that fostering an environment where team capacity is always growing leads to overall improvement, regardless of individual team member backgrounds. The ultimate takeaway is that effective narratives can transform both team operations and outcomes in software development, ultimately creating a thriving and collaborative work environment.
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