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Your team functions. The software gets tested. Bugs get filed and fixed. You ship something that resembles what the customer wanted on a date that resembles the schedule. Yet you can't shake the feeling that you could have done better. What if the developers hadn't wasted three days bouncing that bug around in Jira? What if the product owner truly understood the cost of bolting that one feature on at the last minute? What if people were more invested in the user experience?

You have the power to break out of this rut. In fact, the solution lies in your own mind, buried just beneath the surface. As Gerald Weinberg observed from software projects in general, it's a people problem." Despite the delusions of supreme rationality that we constantly spin for ourselves, we retain a core of reptile instincts highly attuned to food, sex, and most importantly danger.

Members of a high-performing team don't suppress the lizard brain. They manage it to the team's advantage. This session will help you recognize reptilian influence over yourself and your teammates and equip you with specific strategies to create a safe environment where everyone can excel.


Intended audience: team leaders and anyone who wants to be a good team member

- Most outcomes (good or bad) can be traced to team dynamics.
- Teams are composed of humans and humans are complex animals with lizard brains.
- Lizards are concerned mainly with safety. In the world of software projects, this translates to physical and financial security as well as psychological safety. Neglect those needs and expect apparently irrational behavior from the humans.
- Take good care of the lizard brains and dynamics will improve. Outcomes will follow.