Thread by @RohanIrvine

Day 2 UX Australia!

ARE YOU READY TO LEARNNNNN?

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Farai begins with a story about a Johannesburg musician who passed away in February. A hero of Farai's this talk will be a eulogy.

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Hugh grew up in Apartheid South Africa and would break rules, cross train lines to visit his white friends who had jazz record collections.

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Louis Armstrong sent Hugh on of his trumpet.

Dizzy Gillespie was one of the artists at the forefront of music. The musicians had to make mainstream sellable music and they were not being fulfilled by it.

The created bebop that they played between recording sessions.

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Hugh formed a band with his school mates and recorded the first jazz record in South Africa, started playing sell out shows, played political rallies at ANC rallies.

Then in the 1960's at a protest against the SA police opened fire on protesters killing women and children
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The government implemented a curfew and Hugh was targeted as a political activists and had to go underground.

He took a scholarship in London to escape the persecution but he wasn't in love, he gets told to come to NYC because this is where Jazz was evolving.

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On the day he arrived in NYC Dizzy Gillespie invited him out to come hang with all his Jazz idols.

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The aspirations of Jazz musicians of the time was how to make it into the big name bands, he was invited to do recordings but couldn't break in.

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He couldn't figure out why he wasn't able to break in, but that all changed when Miles Davis heard about him.

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Miles said 'why is that you've travelled so far from Africa and trying to play the styles of NYC, where you're from in Africa you sing songs differently and if you can harness that and put it in the NYC you will left the entire Jazz community".

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Miles actually said
Take your shit from home
Put it in the shit from here

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Smart folks know that diversity is the key to building innovative teams.

They're more to UST and adapt to change faster.

True excellence requires true diversity in our teams

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In western culture we believe we can get the perspectives and then we're okay but Farai argues that's not the case.

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Farai's says diverse teams have a higher chance of failing.

Here are the 5 dysfunctions of a team from Patrick (someone)

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In the absence of trust people aren't able to be vulnerable.

If you have trust and vulnerability you encourage healthy conflicts where everyone can be heard.

When everyone is heard we commit to the decisions we make.

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The commitment creates accountability and we hold each other to account.

Then we focus on the results.

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These are the dysfunctions we deal with in homogenous teams and when we bring in diversity we often amplify these.

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Farai grew up in Zimbabwe, moved to study medicine, didn't get the grades so became a designer.

When he was working on his first products he could see scope creep and not meeting targets and the whole project falling over.

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He looked for the perfect opportunity to raise the issues with his boss but the time went on and the client called to say the project was running terribly.

The company lost the project, lost client and Farai lost his job because 'he didn't do enough to save the client'
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He thought he knew what he needed to do.

In the time after being fired he read a book that explored High Power Indexes.

What is the seniority of the person your connecting with?

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The book explored plane crashes where the co-pilot felt they couldn't raise issues when they were urgent.

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In the culture Farai is from there is a high power index, he grew up not being able to have conversations direct with some relationships.

He found it was coming up at work, and this culture was affecting his ability to perform and build trust.

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In every country there is a group who holds power and the way that shows up in teams is different.

Here's the research findings.

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Dr Erin Myer took this research and explored it further in her book Culture Mapping.

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Deciding.

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America is a very top down culture

Sweden and Japan there is more focus on hearing opinions and coming to consensus.

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Decision making is a skill and what needs to happen is that your team agrees on how you make decisions.

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Persuading.
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Principles first
Start with the theory or concept. Then present the facts to back it up

Application first
Start with the facts. Then share the theory that leads to the facts

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How do different culture understand argument and what the best way to present them.

What's the best way to LISTEN to arguments.

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Communicating
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Low context
Good communication is precise, some and clear. Repetition is used to clarify

High context
Good communication is nuanced and layered. Speak and read between the lines.

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If you're working in diverse teams, use low context communication so it's clear among all the groups know what's going on.

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Flowing communication Vs Paused conversations

Some cultures overlap, some give room for other to speak.

It's important to be aware of the cultural communication norms of your diverse teams.

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Disagreeing.
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Some cultures want you to challenge their decisions, question their strategies.

Others will look at disagreeing as creating disharmony in a group.

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Sachlichkeit
The thing about the thing

We can debate the rhing without debating the person.

Being objective is critical

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Evaluating
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Cultures are relative, we have to recognise that groups are complex and these scales are not representations of every person. You must take the context of the person you're with into consideration.

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Direct feedback
Feedback is frank, blunt, and honest at all times, even in front of the team

Indirect feedback
Feedback is soft, subtle, and diplomatic and only given in private

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I'm diverse teams, skill up your team in the method of critique you want the team to use.

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Leading.
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Trusting.
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Breaking bread is a great way to build trust.

Avoid drinking as it excludes a lot of people.

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Scheduling
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What's right for our project, our team, this time.

We need to agree on scheduling so everyone on the team is in alignment.

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These lessons helped Farai understand how he shows up to work, and how other show up to work.

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If you think that diversity is just about shades of brown then you are not living up the expectations of what our industry says it offers.

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Your culture influences how you behave and you can't see that.

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It's important to understand where you come from.

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'and that's gonna be a motherfucker'

Fantastic presentation from @farai_uxguy!

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