Ben Friedberg
Engineering Manager, Sales AI
Warsaw, Indiana, United States
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Ben Friedberg is an Engineering Manager for SalesAI. A 20-year veteran of the software consulting industry, he has worked for a wide range of customers on projects running the gamut from vehicle inspections to x-ray gun controllers. Ben's goal is to elevate the importance of emotional intelligence and a growth mindset in all of his teams. If experience has taught him one thing, it's that you always have time to listen.
Area of Expertise
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Big Lessons from Big Failures: 20 Years of Consulting in Retrospect
Mistakes are inevitable. Believe me, at this point in my consulting career, I've made my fair share. On the bright side, you don't need to make the same ones! Join me for an interactive story session and learn my lessons! Find out why leaving your API keys in the environment can lead to unintended Crypto Farms! Hear about the crazy things that can happen when Wi-Fi enabling an X-Ray gun! Climb into a coal mine to understand your user's problems!
Learning Objectives:
* Classify the unintended effects to watch out for when your project is in the wild
* Identify five smells of failure
* Right the ship by using the power of transparency and truth!
* Earn a spot on the Failure Wall of Fame with your best failure stories!
The Art of Software Estimation
As software developers, we find ourselves fielding the same time-oriented questions:
“Can I have this feature done this quarter?”
“When can I release this to customers?”
“I have a new idea. Can you do that too?”
Answering these questions can be stressful! You don't want to overcommit your team or disappoint stakeholders. Your customer can't afford to misunderstand how far you've progressed (or how far you have to go).
Come learn a proven way to understand how long your work will take. Answer those questions with confidence!
Learning Objectives:
* Understand the three parts of the user story sentence
* Adjust your understanding of the relationship between story points and time
* Deliver consistent, accurate estimates to your stakeholders on demand
Better Remote Teamwork through Emotional Intelligence
Does it feel like something is... missing... with your remote team's communication? Are you tired of talking to a sea of inactive webcam windows? Have interruptions become the rule rather than the exception? Do you have that nagging feeling of disconnection but can't nail down where it comes from?
This session is for people on teams with any number of remote coworkers. We explore how using simple tools and emotional intelligence can solve remote fatigue. Use the power of remote work to draw your team closer together! Come learn the five pillars for making remote working work for you!
Learning Objectives:
* Define the 5 pillars for great remote teamwork
* Improve the emotional intelligence of your team!
* Conduct better meetings with remote working agreements!
* Ensure that your entire team HEARS each other through active listening!
Mad Scientists, Saboteurs, and Con Artists: Seven Agile Habits of Highly Effective Supervillains
Why is a supervillain different from any old criminal with a bad haircut and a penchant for capes? How did they get so far in their nefarious career? In this talk, we explore the supervillain toolbox and how to reuse their techniques for good. Build up the skills and confidence of the team around you! Create lasting trust with your customers! Spot acts of sabotage before the wheels fall off of your project! Twirl your handlebar mustache! Cackle maniacally as your team succeeds in pulling off the caper of the century. Or maybe just the current sprint...
Learning Objectives:
* Identify the classic signs of team sabotage and how to counteract them!
* Leverage the Con Artist's playbook for building customer confidence and lasting change
* Explain how approaching failure like a mad scientist can lead to greater success
Presentation details and speaker notes:
This presentation is designed to playfully identify some similarities between being a good agile coach / change agent and techniques that are sometimes attributed to supervillains. For instance, a con artist spends a great deal of time listening to their customer and creating an environment of trust. The big difference between them and good a consultant is that the consultant EARNS the trust and sticks around for delivery. As another example, I walk through the CIA's handbook for citizen saboteurs in WWII Europe and how those techniques correlate to some of the 'smells' that we see in businesses and organizations, today.
The target audiences are primarily leaders, consultants, and coaches
I have a background in theater and improv comedy which I leverage in this high-energy, entertaining session. I use costumes and props to solidify my points, but don't require anything other than a standard projector hookup.
Two Boxes and a Line: Bridging the technical communication gap
Should you need a computer science degree to understand how 'technical' solutions work? Does your team wait to discuss the gory details until the Product Owner and Scrum Master leave? Do you wish you had more insight into why development choices were being made?
This session explores how to include ALL team members in the conversation. We will learn and practice techniques for unifying team understanding. Keep your whole team on the same page with powerful diagramming! Drive quality by celebrating the diversity of perspectives in your team!
Learning Objectives:
* Recognize how non-technical team members can contribute to technical conversations
* Empower your entire team to be able to reduce complex concepts into simple diagrams
* Increase team cohesion by sharing technical knowledge
Code Code Code Code Agility Code Code Code
Agile software development is more than just a process, it's a powerful tool against waste. In this presentation, I discuss practical strategies for injecting agility into day-to-day programming. We'll learn agility's impact on creating the right thing at the right time for the right reasons. Explore how to wield agility as a weapon against re-work! Find out how an agile focus can foster a leaner and more impactful development lifecycle.
Learning Objectives:
* Revisit the creation of the agile manifesto as a guide FOR engineers BY engineers
* Reduce development rework and technical debt by applying agile principles to software design
* Increase development team buy-in for process improvement as they realize productivity gains
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