Mind the gender gap

Agile Practitioners 2016 #APIL161

Image: 4pt5.com

Maryse 2

Lean and agile addict

In IT since 2007

Architect (agile)

Coach / Manager (agile, or course)

Advocate of craftmanship

Learning to code

Working at a company with a slogan

meaning as much as “for people”

Mother to a splendid 4 year old

@lean_architect

Join conversation #apil16

So…What is this gender gap? 3

In tech… ouch! 4

And what about management…? 5

Gender gap @ work… 6

Image: computerweekly.com

Huge (long term) gap – we’re not hanging around 7

Image: Jayde Lovell (diversity in science journalism)

We leave because… 8

So what. There is a gender gap. Does it matter? 9

Image: jobisjob.co.uk

10It would be a waste to leave women out…

Image: womenrockscience.tumblr.com

Made with code… IT is all around us – we should care 11

Made with code from youtube

Women aren’t abundant in IT – why?

Women don’t want to work in IT or they leave because of:

Hostile, macho workplace culture

(perceived) unsustainable pace

Diminshed sense of purpose

Feelings of isolation (perception: typing away at your

computer all alone)

Lack of peers and mentors

Feeling “stalled” or “stuck” at career path

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Well… How does agile help? 13

Great picture by Lynne Cazaly

Agile: a key, a secret

Agile Software Development is founded upon values that

challenge such dysfunctions in order to build self-

organizing, collaborative and highly productive teams. In a

high functioning Agile practice, developers engage each

other, product owners and sponsors in a shared concern for

quality, predictability and meeting the needs of end users.

Ken Judy, Agile Values, Innovation and the Shortage of Women Software

Developers (2012)

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So what can a company do…

Be agile

Adopt agile (or lean) as a company philosophy

Facilitate your agile teams

Position your company as an agile company

Agile recruitment

Agile role models

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What else…

Womens network within your company

Mentors, peers

Have female managers

Mind your recruitment, your job adverts

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When it comes to management… 17

Recruit young women

Foster mentorship and support

Establish hiring policies

Provide training, esp. to reach the top

What can women do… 18

Network (within AND outside companies)

Speak up

Step up too (don’t step away, don’t leave

before you go)

Get a tech degree

Learn your girls how to code

Be a role model and show yourself

What can men do… esp. In agile teams!

Listen! More closely and more often, and be patient

Don’t interrupt

Don’t step in to explain

Be supportive and encouraging, not domineering

Watch your body language

Be a mentor

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What we can all do together

Educate(young) girls on a STEM a possible career

path and on agile / lean values – like @VHTO (in

the Netherlands)

Learn to code, early on in life

Don’t be a jerk, be nice

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Together… let’s make it so! 21

Summary – to watch at home one day 22

Questions? Now, later, anytime!23

Image: washingtonpost.com@Lean_architect

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