Jocelyn James
Senior Engineering Manager at Bitly
New York City, New York, United States
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Jocelyn is an engineering manager whose previous careers have included teaching, refugee services, and mental health research. As a disabled woman with a background in human rights, Jocelyn is passionate about inclusivity in engineering and ensuring that those who are underrepresented in the field are not only included but celebrated.
Jocelyn lives in Manhattan with her 2-year-old Italian greyhound Vivienne Westwood, who rules the household despite not contributing to the mortgage.
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Leading Through Chaos: Creating psychological safety on your team
This talk will discuss why psychological safety matters and outline strategies that engineering leaders can utilize to create a healthy and inclusive environment in the midst of uncertainty and change.
We exist in a time of rapid change in both our industry and the wider world. Given this, it is imperative that we as leaders understand how to create psychological safety and stability on our teams even in the midst of chaos. This talk will consist of four main sections:
1. Psychological safety: What it is and why it matters. This will include a brief introduction to the concept of psychological safety and how it relates to inclusion and overall job satisfaction
2. How to establish a baseline of psychological safety. Here we will cover strategies like setting company and team values, creating working agreements, and conducting regular 1:1s that allow space for team members to share concerns and ideas
3. Maintaining psychological safety during times of chaos. This section will build upon the previous section, giving further strategies specifically for when there may be changes in a team or organization
4. Key actions & behaviors. This will cover some specifics that I have found particularly useful including:
-Acknowledge the uncertainty
-Be as transparent as possible
-Give space to ask questions, voice concerns, & express feelings
-Pass along feedback & concerns where applicable
-Check in consistently
-Ask people what they need
Change *who* you hire by changing *how* you hire: Creating a more inclusive engineering environment
While many in the industry have yet to acknowledge it, the interview & hiring process in tech is broken. Many companies will profess diversity, equity, and inclusion as important values but fail to see how many of the current practices in engineering hiring are inherently biased and therefore lead to biased outcomes. As an engineering leader with a background in human rights and gender equality, I have had the opportunity to create and implement interview & hiring policies that truly foster a diverse, inclusive environment. I am excited to share these best practices with other engineering leaders in order to effect wider change in making tech a sector where individuals from all backgrounds can thrive.
Jocelyn James
Senior Engineering Manager at Bitly
New York City, New York, United States
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