![Cover image for [Keynote] Musical Lessons for Engineering Teams: Developing a Culture of Feedback Cycles](https://community.codenewbie.org/images/cjfrqWcpy5mnREohuEKOy2nQouXFrI47nWPzjBdwyII/rs:fill:1000:420/g:sm/mb:500000/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9jb21t/dW5pdHkuY29kZW5l/d2JpZS5vcmcvcmVt/b3RlaW1hZ2VzL3Vw/bG9hZHMvYXJ0aWNs/ZXMvYWoxaHltYTV4/cmdhbngxajNvOGgu/cG5n)
About This Keynote
In this talk, I relate the practice of masterclasses in music to feedback cycles and how we can apply that to software engineering and development.
Takeaways
- Explanation of some musical concepts
- An exploration of the components of feedback
- Practical things you can do to get better at feedback
- Live music!
Slides
🌈 After I present, please leave your thoughts, comments, and questions about my keynote in the comments below!
About Helen Hou-Sandí
Helen Hou-Sandí is the Director of Open Source Initiatives at 10up and a Lead Developer for the WordPress open source software project, now powering more than 40% of the web. From her start as a PHP/MySQL applications developer to focusing on "the front-end of the back-end" from both the development and UX perspectives, she has a knack for figuring out what people need to get things done on their websites, including most recently on the relaunch of WhiteHouse.gov for the Biden-Harris Administration.
This keynote will be presented as part of CodeLand 2021 on September 23. After the talk is streamed as part of the conference, it will be added to this post as a recorded video along with the slides.
Latest comments (110)
Fabulous x 10
Hi! @helen thanks for posting
I loved your talk so much! I'm also a piano major -> software developer and it was really awesome seeing how you made the connections. And so cool to incorporate actual playing during a talk! Also, I just moved to Rochester so hearing that you studied in Eastman made me really happy :)
I always feel sad we didn't link up to play together while I was still in NJ! I've heard Rochester has changed a lot especially downtown, while the snow was rough for me it did have its great things and of course the music scene is amazing. I hope you enjoy :)
I know! With two kids, I'm shocked you were even entertaining the idea. I now have a 4-month old and I feel like I have zero time to do anything, nevertheless commit to plans with people! Hope all is well.
I am passionate about music - particularly, singing as a tenor/bass. I remember how my fellow musicians in the church music group I used to belong give feedback to one another on the fly during practice. I just did not realize until now that such feedback loop applies in software development as well.
As I said in my intro to the community. I used to work in the “old era” of software development where I saw none of this at all.
I remember more a game of one-up-manship, whack-a-mole, or hide-under-the-rag approaches. But maybe, it is still the case. I’m just not in the development environment at the moment.
I am in the retail industry customer service and aiming at going back to software development.
There are definitely different cultures in different places - solo piano is notoriously full of one-up-manship, for instance. But we all have to learn, at the very least, even if we don't become good teachers, so there's no escaping the feedback cycle completely.
I also come from a music background university formation.
I have been learning how to code for 4 months looking for a career change and one of my biggest fears was that my music degree would become an obstacle in the future. Now I feel that it can be a huge advantage if I play my cards well :D
This short lecture was so inspirational, thank you!
I definitely spent a while feeling self-conscious as a musician, and there are definitely areas of tech where you'll find people flexing what school they went to and that sort of thing. I'm not going to pretend like it's not intimidating, but yes I definitely think you can show that it's an advantage, and places where people focus on things like school credentials are maybe not the places you want to be anyway.
Thank you for the slides
I have an Oculus and play Synthriders and there are many musicians who love the music tracks and the rhythm games. They can see the beauty in the custom maps.
The feedback literacy concept was entirely new to me. Thank you for a wonderful talk! I found your comparison between three feedback tiers most interesting.
What advice would you give to younger devs in teams where the culture for giving feedback is a little lacking?
That's good feedback to give you to your manager! You can suggest things like structuring 1:1s with an agenda that includes feedback in each direction, and/or a group sharing type of forum to a manager, or organize one yourself as a peer-to-peer kind of exercise. A great book that talks about how to shape the manager/report relationship is Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path - the first section is for reports and how to be managed.
Thank you! I’ll read up on your suggestions! 🤩
Here's the masterclass I mentioned for y'all to check out! youtube.com/watch?v=eVbvFYRzIAE
Despite the title, I wasn't ready for the lovely music! Thanks for a great talk, Helen. The analogy got me out of my head and into flow mode.
Helen, I loved your talk and your tip about attending rehearsals. I live near São Paulo Concert Hall, home of São Paulo Symphonic Orchestra (OSESP) and some of their rehearsal are open to public. I'm looking forward to attending it after pandemic state ends.
That's an incredible topic! As for a musician who's trying in tech that definitely resonates to me! Thanks for wonderful presentation!
I think everything we learn in life can be used into different areas and you gave a really good example for this.
Really good presentation and loved the live piano music :)
Thanks for sharing. You can listen to music on Spotify Premium for free and moreover there are many great songs from famous singers around the world here: apkcima.com/spotify-premium/
Thank you so much Helen for this great keynote speech.
I have a question; what do you think is a good way to receive feedback on my coding skills if I’m learning by myself?
That can definitely be hard to find. The places I would start are any local communities you might have around you, and posting about what you're learning in places like CodeNewbie or your own blog and asking people for feedback. I've also had a good time during the pandemic with streaming while livecoding something that can be shared, where people will join in the chat and offer up tips and tricks or just kind of hang out and socialize. Another piece of advice you may here and that I of course am biased toward is to contribute to an open source project. PR review is a lot like a masterclass because you are getting feedback from somebody you might not ever directly work with but has a ton of knowledge, and if you contribute to an open source project that you yourself are using, also get the benefits of learning it more deeply and helping keep it sustainable.
Thank you Helen for these helpful tips 🙏 ... I'll definitely try to join an open source project.
Thank you, Helen, that was awesome! The feedback cycle really resonated with me. Coming from a science teaching background, it's a lot like our PLCs (professional learning communities) where teachers share with peers, receive/provide feedback and ideas, revise and implement, and then revisit and discuss.
Yes! Sometimes I think about how engineering and design managers are a lot like the educators and pedagogues of the industry.
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