ConfPad

Have you ever had troubles understanding a comment in a code review? Made a joke, and it fell flat with half of your teammates? Tried to write a document, and run into issues with wording it clearly? Struggled to get a clear response from a teammate who’s three floors down, or on the other side of the planet? Run into a fundamental misunderstanding? Communication is the foundation of how we all work together. Every day, we go through pull requests, pairing sessions, meetings, calls, chats, emails, and conversations by the water cooler, in person or online. We navigate various communication channels and modes, and try to communicate well with people with different roles, experience levels, cultural and professional backgrounds, and time zones. The way we communicate has enormous impact on each of us individually, for teams and organisations. But communicating well is incredibly hard—for all of us. The great news is that communication is something all of us can always get better at, so let’s learn together, and from each other. Based on learnings from work with different engineering teams, this talk aims to inspire you to be more deliberate in how you communicate, and find better ways to hear others, and be heard. Leave this talk knowing the golden rules of emoji use, why every team should have communication guidelines, and what steps you can take to communicate more inclusively, empathically, and effectively with your teammates—and about the great effects it can have on you and your team.