What’s good? It’s Brandy again. In my first piece, I talked about what it was like to be a black woman entering the technology industry. In my second piece, I dove into diversity statistics (reminder: they aren’t good). In this final installment, I want to share some actionable steps we as developers and our organizations can do to improve diversity and inclusion in our community.
Have you ever suggested a legacy application team do an app-wide refactor? Ever seen the fear and chaos in their eyes at the mere thought of having to untangle the lines of code webbed throughout the system? The idea of introducing new bugs or completing breaking everything while trying to make it better is scary.
The idea of doing a complete refactor on our industry is overwhelming and terrifying. We could break it accidentally trying to fix it. That’s true. That’s actually why I think we should crash the whole system on purpose. And I know how that’s not likely to get buy-in. If we crash it, how will we put it back together again? That’s a lot of work! I know. I also know that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. So I decided to help everyone by creating user stories that can help us through this major overhaul.
1. Imagine the struggle of wanting to enter a field where no one else looks like you, and you’re told that the reason is that people who look like you must be the best in the field to enter. You’d automatically assume the first time your code fails to compile that it’s proof you don’t belong there. In the Detroit Labs Apprenticeship, the first thing we are taught is that the goal isn’t to write the best code. It’s to be our best selves. Our worth as developers wasn’t bound to our ability to write the highest quality code, but to our ability to learn and persevere. It allowed us the freedom and support to succeed through failure.
User Story
As a young black woman interested in tech, I want to kill the unicorn narrative so that I don’t have to feel like I have to be super special and different in order to enter the industry.
Desired Result
Young minorities who are interested in technology will be encouraged to enter the field, regardless of pre-existing skill level. Failures will be utilized as learning tools to help them progress, not discourage them from continuing. Tech will be promoted as a place where anyone can be successful.
2. It’s not enough to teach people that they have biases. Studies have proven that just teaching about unconscious biases can result in a feeling of resolving those biases since “everyone’s biased.” It doesn’t create drive to eliminate those biases, so it doesn’t solve our problem. Instead, organizations should focus on teaching employees how to identify their biases and how to reduce them. And by reduce I don’t mean move them to later in the hiring process. I mean that if you’re biased against black women and black women names bring negative connotations for you, then as a hiring manager you begin purposefully reading about the history of black names. You engage with the art of black women with black women names. You face this bias and challenge yourself to release it.
User Story
As an employee at an organization, I want to receive training to reduce my biases so that I can be a better, less biased human.
Desired Result
Organizations will organize and fund bias reduction training sessions for all staff which will lead to a more productively and inclusive work environment for all current and future staff.
3. Our organizations and conferences bring in speakers to teach us. Now, if those speakers always also look and sound a certain way, we could begin to falsely assume that the only individuals who have information that is useful to our professional careers look and sound that way. There are black and brown folks who are in the tech field that have things to share with us. There are LGBTQIA+ folks who are innovating. And currently, these folks are often relegated to speaking on panels about diversity in tech instead of their technological successes. There are people in this field who bring not only diverse experiences but the technological knowledge that we should be bringing in. This way, we combat the false narrative that tech thought leaders are only white cis heterosexual men.
User Story
As an employee, I want to have diverse speakers brought into the office so that I can learn from individuals who are different from myself.
Desired Result
Organizations will bring in diverse technical speakers to educate their technical staff which will broaden the staff’s perspectives on what a technical person looks like.
4. The narrowness of our understanding of other cultures is usually a direct result of our lack of engagement with these cultures and our lack of knowledge of them. When a new package or language comes out, we immediately begin reading up on it. We watch every tutorial/talk we can find. We seek out knowledge even if we don’t plan to use that knowledge in our daily professional lives because we at least want to speak to others with a minimum level of intelligence. We should treat other cultures the same way. We need to be reading stories written about places and people do not know normally engage with. Watching movies or listening to music that describe lives that are unlike our own. This not only reduces our ignorances but also our biases as we start to learn that differences do not denote lack of quality.
User Story
As an employee, I want to participate in an organizationally supported art/entertainment club that purposefully seeks out diverse art/entertainment so that I can expand my understanding of other cultures.
Desired Result
Organizations will organize and support employees engagement in diverse cultural explorations like trips to museums and book/music clubs.
5. Most organizations sponsor conferences or meetups. If organizations began investing in conferences or meetups that support and serve underrepresented groups, then relationships can form. This allows underrepresented/underserved individuals to learn more about our organizations and allows us to learn more about them. And keep in mind that this isn’t us helping them, but them helping us. This is these groups providing us the privilege to make their acquaintance. To introduce ourselves to them. To become involved in the great work they are already doing. We say we support diversity. This allows us to show our support.
User Story
As a manager, I want to invest in diverse organizations in the industry so that I can put my money where my mouth is.
Desired Result
Organizations will invest financially in existing technical groups of underserved/underrepresented groups.
6. Imagine knowing that a co-worker hates the wall color but knowing that, when asked, the co-worker will say “Oh, I love it.” Do you think you would feel comfortable talking about your difficulties within an organization that can’t be honest about paint? It’s vital that organizations encourage and engage in honesty and transparency so that as issues arise they can be voiced and solved. Employees should be able to say they hate the paint on the walls. Juniors should be able to say they need more professional support. Underrepresented individuals should be able to say they need more professional support. People need to be able to share their failures, struggles, and difficulties as well as their successes, triumphs, and accomplishments. Only in such transparent environments can we tackle our issues and not force our team members to hide from them.
User Story
As an employee, I want a high value placed on honesty and transparency so that I can feel comfortable in my workspace.
Desired Result
Organizations will demonstrate a high value on honesty and transparency by encouraging hard conversations as well as implementing multiple avenues for everyone’s voice to be heard.
7. Leadership matters. If an organization says they support diversity but no manager or leaders ever show up for diversity-related events, it says the organization is lying. Team members will see this and determine that diversity isn’t something that’s truly valued and likely choose not to invest in it themselves since there’s not likely to be a return on their investment. It’s important that organizations that are serious about diversity and inclusion have the leaders out front and engaged in any initiatives and efforts. This demonstrates to all other team members that these efforts are more than soundbites but an example of organizational values worthy of everyone’s investment.
User Story
As an employee, I want to see my managers/organizational leaders demonstrate their investment in diversity through their actions so that it sets a standard within the organization.
Desired Result
Leadership will not only be in attendance of diversity-related events, but engage in organization of such events and actively participate.
8. Do not have a conversation about how to better support the women of your organization without asking the women currently within your organization what should be done to support them. This goes for any underserved group. Making policies without seeking out their input will result in failure. It will make those you’re trying to support feel as if what is being implemented isn’t for them. If you want to serve someone better, you have to ask them how you can serve them better.
User Story
As an underrepresented/underserved employee, I want my organization to reach out to me specifically to ensure that the policies meet my needs so that I can feel supported.
Desired Result
Prior to implementation of policies that directly affect any group within an organization, leadership will organize listening sessions/implement avenues to collect information from individuals within those groups.
9. Vagueness is disinterest. We like our goals to be SMART. So should our values. If improving company culture to be more inclusive and better support diversity is a value, then we have to treat it with the same respect we treat other goals. You can start by using some of these user stories. Turn them into action items. Assign them to someone (or everyone!). Track them. Only that way can you truly measure your progress and see what worked and what did not.
User Story
As an organization, I want to create action items that will improve the company culture so that I can create measurable data.
Desired Result
Organizations will create action items and assign them to individuals to drive and those items will be tracked along with any other goals.
10. Do not make your underrepresented/underserved employees de facto spokespeople for their identity groups. Do not make them proof of your diversity success. Do not make them shoulder the burden of all your diversity initiatives. First and foremost, they are people and deserve to be valued as whole and not some chip for you to cash in. Second, if the only way diversity initiatives will happen at your organization is if there is an underrepresented/underserved individual spearheading them, it’s proof that your organization really doesn’t value diversity. If it was a value, these things would happen regardless.
User Story
As an organization, I want to make sure underrepresented/underserved employees feel welcome to the table but not tokenized nor forced to take the lead so that they feel seen, heard, and valued.
Desired Result
Organizations will regularly monitor their diversity initiatives to ensure that those initiatives are not only the work of those underrepresented/underserved employees nor shallow photo ops.
11. By now, everyone has heard of Employee Resource Groups, but often these groups are not only employee-led but employee-funded. This lack of support from the organization feels shallow. Detroit Labs has a Women in Tech group. This group meets and receives workshops/training that are tailored to the particular needs of the group. It is fully supported, including financially, by the organization. Support groups like this show that an organization really values not only diversity but respects that some groups may have challenges that differ from others and is invested in supporting those groups when they create and financially support systems that see to their employees’ needs.
User Story
As an organization, I want to create and support a support system for my diverse staff so that they feel supported in the office.
Desired Result
Organizations, after investigating what needs diverse groups have, will develop and support systems/groups for their diverse staff.
12. Have you heard of the saying “meet people where they are?” Well, you should. Organizations who really want to bridge the tech gap need to get in the trenches. If your program wants to serve rural communities, for example, then you have to put your program within a rural community. Your organization should have thoroughly researched what is needed and where, and created a targeted plan to provide what you can where the youth are. It’s illogical to think that youth can travel 50-plus miles to attend your program every week. Detroit Labs is in Detroit city and engages with youth within those city limits. We looked into what was needed, where it was needed, and compared it to what we could provide. There really should be a coding class in every Detroit school for every Detroit student. DL couldn’t fulfill that, so we created a plan to provide what we could and took that to where the students were.
User Story
As an organization, I want to engage with underserved youth and invest in youth engagement in underserved areas/locations so that I can ensure the resources I am delivering are being received by the groups I said I wanted to encourage.
Desired Result
Organizations will work with the communities they desire to serve to develop a plan of action and deliver the services they can within the physical boundaries of that community.
13. If we don’t meet our release date, there are consequences. If we don’t complete our feature sets, there are consequences. If we don’t make our revenue goals for the year, there are consequences. Our policies and goals regarding diversity and inclusion should have consequences. If diversity and inclusion is a value to our business, we have to treat it as an important aspect of our organizational success.
User Story
As an organization, I want to implement explicit policies and goals regarding diversity and inclusion with clear consequences for failure so that I can hold myself accountable.
Desired Result
Organizations will publish their policies/goals along with a plan of action if these are not met.
We know we have a problem. We know that our hotfixes have failed to fix it. We know that we need to do more. I think we know we need to crash it. And I know that it’s hard. Change is hard. Hard changes feel impossible. But they aren’t. And when the changes are so vital to our industry’s success as a whole, they are worth it.
These 13 user stories aren’t all that needs to happen, but they are a great start. They are all very doable. And hopefully it makes the hard changes feel more accessible. But regardless, we have to do this. Our future called and it says that there will be millions of positions that will need to be filled to keep our nation’s many industries operational and our economy afloat.
And, for real, even if this is the hardest thing we ever do… I promise you it’s easier than being discriminated against.