Community is Just as Important as Code by Andrea Goulet

Nearly a decade ago, a small group of menders (and one maker) found community with each other at a conference and Legacy Code Rocks was born. Since then, the Legacy Code Rocks community has grown to over 1000 people, 150 podcast episodes, a weekly meetup and of course, MenderCon.

In this talk, Andrea Goulet, the maker who kindled the spark, will take us back to those early days and reflect on how the bedrock of the Legacy Code Rocks community has always been creating a sense of belonging. Compassion and empathy are at the core of being a mender. Mending is caring deeply, seeing potential, and being willing to work through the frustration of making things better one small step at a time. This commitment to helping others feel seen instead of shame is why the Legacy Code Rocks community is so special — and it’s exactly why having the heart of the mender is what our world needs now more than ever.

1. ©2024 Andrea Goulet. All Rights Reserved.
Community Is Just as
Important as Code
MenderCon 2024
PRESENTED BY: ANDREA GOULET

MAY 16, 2024

2. ©2024 Andrea Goulet. All Rights Reserved.

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INDIVIDUALS INTERACTIONS PURPOSE

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INDIVIDUALS

●Who belongs?
●How is
membership
determined?
●Where are they?
●What other
communities
overlap?
●What do they
value/need?
INTERACTIONS

●What
communication
infrastructure
will be most
supportive?
●How can we
make
interactions
meaningful?
●What culture do
we have?
PURPOSE

●What goal are
we trying to
achieve?
●How do we know
if the community
is healthy?
●Why do we
exist?
●What resources
do we need?

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Origin Story

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Computer
Science
Business &
Marketing
1999 - 2009

●Good friends
since age 11
●Same classes,
teachers &
activities
●Nerd out about
tech at lunch
●Went separate
ways after HS
graduation

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2009 - 2015

●Reconnected at 10
year reunion
●Scott invited Andrea
to be CEO of
Corgibytes
●Figured out business
model (modernizing
legacy code)
●Got married
●Started a family

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Image Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/mediaviewer/rm3277810944
Milton Waddams
Office Space (1999)

●Invisible
●Shamed
●Not Listened to
●Undervalued
●Snubbed
●Ignored
●Quiet Frustration
●Brewing Resentment

9. ©2024 Andrea Goulet. All Rights Reserved. Image source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/atlanta-postmasters-house

●Values history
●Integrates old & new
●Understands owners’ needs
●Mastery of a craft
●Long-term considerations
●Manages budget effectively
●Low drama
●Preserves practically
●Knowledge sharing
●Collaboration & communication
●Collective pride

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Where’s my
table?

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Makers &
Menders!

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YES! Here’s
where I
belong!

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2015 - 2020

●Began speaking at
conferences
●Presented
maker/mender models
●It resonated deeply
with lots of people
●Started Legacy Code
Rocks as slack channel,
podcast, github &
meetup

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2020 - present

●Launched MenderCon
●Andrea had to step
back from participating
●Amazing people came
together to organize
●Celebration of software
maintenance
●Meaningful impact &
fantastic feedback

Scott Chris Darcee Sujith
Ray Nicholas Mike

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INDIVIDUALS

●Menders
●People who
value software
maintenance
INTERACTIONS

●Slack, github,
podcast, weekly
meetup
●MenderCon
PURPOSE

●Sense of
belonging
●Turning shame
into celebration
FOUR FACTORS OF BELONGING

1.Feeling Understood
2.Quality Interactions
3.Finding Value
4.Interpreting Signals

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I’m not alone.
4 Factors of Belonging:

●Feeling Understood
●Interacting with Others
●Finding Value
●Interpreting Signals

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Feeling
Understood

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Affinity vs. Empathy
●Experience - having different backgrounds and encounters
●Knowledge - operating from different domain specializations
●Processing - interpreting information in different ways
●Value - considering different things to be important
●Motivation - using different incentives to drive behavior
●Sensitivity - noticing and being affected by different details
●Power - being able to initiate and influence change differently
●Regulation - modulating stress responses in different ways
●Access - leveraging different types and levels of resources

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Intergroup Empathy Bias
Strong affinity can
lead to muting
empathy for members
of rival groups.
Bruneau, Emile G., Mina Cikara, and Rebecca Saxe. “Minding the Gap: Narrative Descriptions about Mental States Attenuate Parochial
Empathy.” PLOS ONE 10, no. 10 (October 27, 2015): e0140838. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140838.

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Makers and menders are not
rivals. Business and software are
not rivals. We need each other.

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New Models of Empathy
Make it a habit to
pause and reflect.
Reappraisal Ruleset
1.Collect
2.Connect
3.Communicate

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Affinity can build capacity but its
cohesion can limit collaboration.
Overcome differences with
compassion and empathy.

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Quality
Interactions

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Communication Infrastructure
Create Engagement
Opportunities
•Frequency
•Channel
•Duration
•Direction
•Purpose

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Culture
Collection of all the shared values, beliefs, priorities, and
behavioral norms that help individuals within a group
navigate situations and solve problems.
Some Inherited Values
(Conway’s Law)
•Act with Empathy
•Adopt a Growth Mindset
•Communication is Just as Important as Code
•Craft in Context
•Calm the Chaos
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. Fifth Edition. Hoboken: Wiley, 2017.
What defines the
Legacy Code
Rocks culture?

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Without interactions, we don’t
have a community. We have a
collection of similar individuals.

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Finding
Value

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Member Autonomy
•Participation is constantly in flux
•Honor changes in people’s lives
•Work to ensure expectations
match experience
•Make it easy to enter and exit

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Motivation - WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?)
APPROACH
•Inspiration
•Making friends
•Jobs / Clients
•Learning
•Sharing Experiences
•Problem Solving
AVOID
•Shame
•Loneliness
•Frustration
•Stagnation
•Miscommunication
•Creating Problems

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What value do you get from our
community? What are your
avoid/approach patterns?

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Interpreting
Signals

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Perceived Justice
●Expectations are Explicit
(ex: Codes of Conduct)
●Consequences are Applied
Fairly (ex: Moderation)
●Contributions are
Recognized (ex: Thanks to all
our organizers!)
●Group & Individual Needs
are Balanced (ex: Picking a
time for the conference)

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Ambient Belonging
Our sense of future fit in a social group “can be ascertained
rapidly, even from a cursory glance at a few objects.”
Cheryan, Sapna, Victoria Plaut, Paul Davies, and Claude Steele. “Ambient Belonging: How Stereotypical Cues Impact Gender Participation in Computer Science.” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 97 (December 1, 2009): 1045–60. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016239.

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Belonging
Improves Code
Quality

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“Learning culture and belonging
on software teams predicted a
decrease in AI Skill Threat & an
increase in both individual
developer productivity and
overall team effectiveness.”
Developer Success Lab
Hicks, Catherine M., Carol Lee, and Kristen Foster-Marks. “The New Developer: AI Skill
Threat, Identity Change & Developer Thriving in the Transition to AI-Assisted Software
Development,” April 20, 2024. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2gej5.

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Feeling Understood
•Code Legibility
•Domain-Driven Design
•Code Reviews
•Onboarding
•Negotiating Scope, Budget, Prioritization, etc.
•Understanding Customers
•Moving from Confrontation to Collaboration

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Quality Interactions
•Remote vs. On-Site
•Transparency vs. Privacy
•One-to-One vs. One-to Many
•Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
•Adapting Messages to Different Groups
•Influencing Culture
•AI vs. Human Tasks

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Finding Value
•Recruitment & Retention
•Refactoring Motivation
•Shipping Early & Often
•Balancing Maker/Mender Strengths
•Contributing to Open Source
•Collective Ownership
•Shared Purpose
•Productivity

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Interpreting Signals
•Recruiting/Retention
•Inclusion vs. Exclusion
•Affinity Signals May Alienate (ex: inside
jokes/sarcasm, jargon, identity references)
•Explicit Expectations
•Fair Consequences
•Past/Future Interpretations
•Being Kind to Your Future Self

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Key Takeaways

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Key Takeaways
1.Legacy Code Rocks is an amazing community. Thanks
to all of you for being part of it.
2.Belonging is the DNA of Legacy Code Rocks. Use it as
a model for your teams.
3.Four Factors of Belonging: Feeling Understood,
Quality Interactions, Finding Value, and Interpreting
Signals
4.Belonging improves code quality.

42. ©2024 Andrea Goulet. All Rights Reserved.
“We don’t code for the compiler
— we code for people. All code
is communication and empathy
is a technical skill.”
Andrea Goulet

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Thank You!

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About the Presenter
Andrea Goulet is on a mission to embed empathy into the
software industry to help humanity collaborate on the
complex problems we face today. She is a sought-after
international keynote speaker, experienced software
entrepreneur, and award-winning industry leader. Her
expertise centers on applying empathy as a technical skill
to improve organizational effectiveness and modernize
legacy and mission-critical software systems.
Through her online courses, Andrea has taught over
75,000 students how to level up their empathy and
communication skills to create better software. She is the
author of the forthcoming book, Empathy-Driven Software
Development, and the founder of Empathy in Tech and
Legacy Code Rocks, two an online communities where
code and compassion connect.
●LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamgoulet
●Email: [email protected]
●Website: https://www.andreagoulet.com