High-Performance Teams are the backbone of excellent software delivery. They build trust, adapt rapidly, and collaborate seamlessly—qualities that directly impact cycle times, code quality, incident response, and product success. But how do we create and sustain such teams in the fast-paced world of modern software development?

In this session, I’ll share my personal journey of rediscovering what makes teams thrive, using an unexpected but powerful analogy: a bustling Italian restaurant. Through the eyes of “Mark,” a fictional version of myself, I explore lessons drawn from an Italian restaurant. Italians are famously passionate about food, just as I—and many of us—are passionate about quality software engineering. The analogy will reshape your view on collaboration, technical delivery, and leadership. From how a head chef orchestrates the kitchen to how waitstaff handle chaos with grace, each moment maps back to real challenges like DevOps bottlenecks, sprint planning confusion, and cross-team misalignment.

I’ll also share insights not only from my own career but from colleagues who’ve experienced the highs and lows of building high-performance teams in fast-moving organizations.

You’ll walk away from this session with practical, actionable strategies—no matter your role. If you’re part of an organization that builds software, you’ll find insights you can apply the very next day to improve how your team collaborates and delivers. Just like in a great restaurant, every role contributes to the overall experience:
• Scrum Masters will learn to run stand-ups and retrospectives with the precision and timing of a well-coordinated kitchen.
• Product Owners will discover how to prioritize backlogs like a chef balancing quality, speed, and customer expectations under pressure.
• Engineers will see how shared ownership and accountability can elevate not just code quality, but team pride.
• Project Managers will take away lessons in creating smooth cross-functional flow, inspired by the way a maître d’ keeps the entire restaurant humming.

Key takeaways include:
• Simplify Collaboration: Clarify roles like kitchen stations to reduce confusion and handoff friction.
• Boost Agility: Use feedback loops (your “order check”) to adapt plans mid-sprint.
• Pursue Excellence: Apply continuous improvement the way chefs refine recipes every day.

This talk offers a unique, relatable lens on technical teamwork. By connecting kitchen wisdom to CI/CD pipelines, backlog prioritization, and cross-functional delivery, you’ll discover a practical, human-centered recipe for building better software—one delicious lesson at a time.