Autonomy, is that what we really want?

June 18, 2021 9:00 - 11:00 CEST

There has been a focus on autonomy in information technology; From autonomy in code, autonomy while coding, autonomous systems with microservices to autonomous high-performing teams. When you read Daniel Pink's research in the book Drive, it makes sense; autonomy is one of the three things that motivate us; it is the ability of the person to make his or her own decisions. However, often autonomy can lead to isolation and disconnect from the rest of the code, team, or organization. So how can we balance the individual needs while staying connected to the team/organization to stay autonomous?

Hosted by

Kenny Baas-Schwegler Socio-technical and Domain-Driven Design architect GoodHabitz / Xebia
Evelyn van Kelle Strategic Software Delivery Consultant Qxperts

Details

In this talk, we will go through all the levels we deal with in IT, from code to organization collaboration. We will go into autonomy at each level and explain how we often confuse autonomy with individual needs. These individual needs can turn into isolation and disconnect from the code, team, and organization. Through examples, we will show how our compulsiveness towards autonomy gives us both downsides of being isolated and coupled in the code, within the team and organization. You will leave the talk knowing how polarity management can help you manage this paradox between the individual and the team/organization and get the benefits from the whole and the individual to be balanced.

After the talk, you can join us for a hands-on polarity mapping session. This way, you can experience how it works yourselves and start using it straight after this hands-on part!

Target Audience

You are a software architect, lead developer, team manager, or software developer and are interested in how to stay autonomous and decoupled in your code, team, and organization.

Key takeaways

  • Examples of autonomy in code, the team, and the organization and how we lose it by focusing on the individual needs.
  • How our compulsiveness towards autonomy can give us both the downsides of being isolated and coupled in the code, within the team and organization.
  • Knowing how polarity management can help you manage this paradox between the individual and the team/organization and get the benefits from the whole and the individual to be balanced.
  • After the talk, you can join us for a hands-on polarity mapping session. This way, you can experience how it works yourselves and start using it straight after this hands-on part!