The agile inclusion paradox: and lessons for building inclusive teams

Session type:

Workshop

Presented by:

Jo Stansfield

Inclusioneering Limited

Antony Quinn

The Communication Practice

Session time:

27 Sep 11:15 — 12:45

Session duration:

90 minutes

About the session

Agile methodologies appear to match many best practices for building inclusion. But despite growing recognition of the benefits of diverse, inclusive teams, women and people from minoritised ethnicities remain underrepresented in the technology industry.

We call this the “Agile Inclusion Paradox”.

In this workshop we share findings from our original research that examines why adopting Agile alone may not be enough. Together, we explore techniques to interrupt non-inclusive dynamics, purposefully to build inclusion in your team, and enable everyone to thrive.

Themes:
Inclusion, diversity, psychology, team performance.

About the speaker(s)

Jo Stansfield

Jo is Founder and Director of Inclusioneering, a social enterprise offering diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy in the technology and engineering domains.

Alongside this, Jo holds a number of voluntary positions. She is a member of Council for the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, co-chair of BCS Women, a member of the Industry Advisory Board for TechUp bootcamps, and Fellow of AI ethics and audit charity, ForHumanity.

Jo began her career as an engineer, developing enterprise software for global industry, spanning energy, automotive, aerospace and marine sectors. Having pivoted her focus from the technical to human dimensions of engineering, Jo now works as a Business Psychologist.

She holds an MSc in Organisational Psychology, with thesis research “Lessons for Gender and Racial Diversity within Technology”. She brings a deep understanding of the engineering culture, and lived experience as a woman within it, to her work in support of diversity and inclusion in tech.

Pronouns: She/Her

Antony Quinn

Antony is a co-founder of The Communication Practice, a drama-based training company specialising in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in the workplace.

The Communication Practice helps organisations build inclusive cultures that allow everyone to reach their full potential. Antony became a corporate role-play actor and facilitator in 2016 after a long career in software development, UX design and genomics.

He has run public workshops on interpersonal communication for The School of Life and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, and conference workshops for software teams at Agile Cambridge, UX Cambridge and Agile in the City.

He studied economics in France, computer science and interaction design in London, genetics in Cambridge, and improvised theatre with the legendary Keith Johnstone. Alongside his native English, he speaks French, Spanish and Italian.

Pronouns: He/Him