Conflict is an inevitable part of day to life yet many people find it challenging to deal with– it can make us feel uncomfortable, it can affect the performance of our team and it can cause organisations to lose talent. By drawing on the conflicts you face (or fear to face!) Adrian will facilitate a shared learning experience, exploring the challenges, opportunities and creative solutions that conflict can bring. Ian will also add his own deep understanding of people and psychology to help us understand why we do what we do, and how we can change. During the highly interactive session we will learn from each other, we will learn about ourselves and we will learn some new approaches to help us be better equipped to face whatever conflicts we might encounter.

In small teams, it’s common for people to share roles such as Scrum Master / Tester / Dev but in a lot of cases there are conflicting interests. How can a Tester adequately test when as a Scrum Master the highest priority is assisting the team to deliver? This is an experience report from when Gwen was working at a start up with a shared role of Tester, Scrum Master and DevOps and how the role affected her thinking when context switching to different roles. For example, how on more than one occasion, the scepticism of the Tester had to pull the optimism of the Scrum Master back to reality and then how the results of the testing were overshadowed by the need for the team to deliver. The T-shaped person is often looked upon as an incredibly valued member of the team but on becoming T-shaped has the person become a watered down version of their primary role?