Stories, tips and advice on working well with others; taking advantage of diversity, giving and receiving better feedback, remote working, advice for designers working with engineers and vice versa, practical tips, tools and resources.

1. Talk/Listen: Working
Better Together
D. Keith Robinson
!
http://www.slideshare.net/dkeithrobinson/talklisten-awdg-may-2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
AWDG

2. !
D. Keith Robinson
Principal Product Designer, Salesforce
@dkr / dkeithrobinson.com / dangerismyfristname.com

3. TALKING. LISTENING.
THE BEST TOOLS.

4. “Sometimes the most appropriate
technological solution is a person
talking to another person.”
- Robert Hoekman Jr
The Tweet from @rhjr: https://twitter.com/rhjr/status/464129645688799233

5. “Staying on top of the hard skills needed is a
necessity in the short term, but one of the best
ways to position yourself for success in the long
term is to focus on the soft skills needed no matter
what technology you are working with.”
- Sean Blanda
From: http://99u.com/articles/20696/you-dont-need-to-learn-to-code-other-truths-about-the-future-of-careers

6. “Getting the right people and the
right chemistry is more important
than getting the right idea.”
- Creativity, Inc.
From Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull (co-founder of Pixar) and Amay Wallace

7. “Infinite diversity in infinite
combinations...symbolizing
the elements that create
truth and beauty.”
- Commander Spock

8. THINGS TO PRACTICE

9. ASKING QUESTIONS

11. “Asking questions is at the heart of collaboration,
more so than any project management software or
process. And if you want to truly collaborate, I’ve
found you need to allow yourself to be someone
without the answers.”
- Jason Santa Maria
From: https://the-pastry-box-project.net/jason-santa-maria/2014-march-15

12. BEING PRESENT

13. ACTIVE LISTENING

14. “Don't talk a lot if you have high status.
People will assume you're competent
and when you talk, they will listen to you.”
- Marshall Scott Poole
Related: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304017604579445140870078088

15. BEING OK WITH NOT
KNOWING

16. “I’ll think about it and
get back to you.”

17. BEING BLUNT(-ish)

18. POSITIVE
REINFORCEMENT &
BRUTAL HONESTY

20. Being, explicitly,
The Devil’s Advocate.
Related: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304017604579445140870078088

21. Open Skepticism
An idea I got from Carl Sagan.
“It seems to me what is called for is an
exquisite balance between two conflicting
needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all
hypotheses that are served up to us and at
the same time a great openness to new
ideas … If you are only skeptical, then no
new ideas make it through to you … On the
other hand, if you are open to the point of
gullibility and have not an ounce of
skeptical sense in you, then you cannot
distinguish the useful ideas from the
worthless ones.”
Related: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/23/carl-sagan-the-burden-of-skepticism/

22. TEAM BUILDING &
RELATIONSHIPS

23. EXPERIMENTAL
ATTITUDE

24. OFFER TO HELP

25. PRACTICE SAYING
THANK YOU

26. THE YaYY! METHOD
or
Join, Invite & Wander
Related: https://yesand.squarespace.com/blog/2014/3/18/how-to-say-yes

27. MAKE TIME FOR THE
1-ON-1

28. THE WALK AND TALK

29. OFF SITES

30. PAIRING & SHARING
More: On Pairing

31. Some things to watch
out for…in yourself.

32. BIKESHEDDING
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law_of_Triviality

33. ASSERTING OPINIONS AS
INARGUABLE FACTS

34. DISCREDITING CRITICISM

35. SCOFFIN’

36. “Picard
management tip:
Don't scoff at
anything. You don't
know as much as
you think.”
!
- @PicardTips

37. SEAGULL FEEDBACK

38. “If you’re not in the arena, also
getting your ass kicked, I’m not
interested in getting your feedback.”
- Brené Brown
From: Brené Brown: Why Your Critics Aren't The Ones Who Count

39. ONE LAST THOUGHT.

40. Shoshin
(BEGINNER’S MIND)
More: Beginner's Mind

41. “Asking questions is at the heart of collaboration,
more so than any project management software or
process. And if you want to truly collaborate, I’ve
found you need to allow yourself to be someone
without the answers.”
- Jason Santa Maria
From: https://the-pastry-box-project.net/jason-santa-maria/2014-march-15

42. “In the beginner’s mind there are
many possibilities, in the expert’s
mind there are few.”
- Shunryu Suzuki
From: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

43. THANK YOU
D. Keith Robinson / @dkr
dkeithrobinson.com / dangerismyfirstname.com
!
http://www.slideshare.net/dkeithrobinson/talklisten-awdg-may-2014