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Dragons, biases, and other things you shouldn’t ignore

25-minute Talk

Often people don’t recognise problems - we’ll show you how to become aware of them and present methods to tackle them

Virtual Pass session

Timetable

4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Thursday 27th

Room

Room F3 - Track 3: Talks

Collaboration & Communication Other

Audience

This session is for everyone! Even if you think you don’t need it - trust us, you probably do!

Key-Learnings

  • Awareness that not all problems are recognized
  • How to actively discover hidden problems
  • Notice problems without actively looking for them and becoming a problem-discovering wizard (*1)

(Learn why) Ignoring problems doesn’t make them vanish

“The citizens of Ankh-Morpork (*2) largely ignore the presence of a dragon terrorizing the city because they can't believe such a creature could exist in their modern world.”

The quote is from the Discworld books, its fantasy, yet there's something familiar about it, and we don’t mean the dragon or Great A’Tuin (*3).

You might not acknowledge things you don’t believe in or are too much to comprehend.
Or you’re dismissing other’s opinions or not even listening to them, because it doesn’t fit your reality.
This can lead to serious issues e.g. when collaborating, like working on a product. So why does this happen, and what can we do about it? Potential reasons are biases or not recognising the elephant in the room (*4)but there is more to it.
Another real-world example of not comprehending is when you test a system, believe it’s bug free, and thereby overlook a major bug.

The solution may appear simple: Just take a step back and acknowledge the problem - but is it that easy?
In our talk we’ll discuss how to uncover such problems by:

  • regularly reflecting to assess and reconsider
  • discussing them with others

and more ways to reconsider your beliefs.

Join us for our session where we'll give you detailed insights into why this happens and some solutions to how you can learn to really realize the dragon is there!

(*1) or “wizzard” as a certain Discworld wizard spells it
(*2) the largest city of the Discworld
(*3) the giant turtle which carries 4 elephants who carry the Discworld
(*4) or under the disc?

 

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