J. B. Rainsberger

The Selfish Team Player (EN)

I would like to encourage you to become selfish team players: taking care of yourselves in order to better take care of others. Many people alternate between periods of extreme self-sacrifice and extreme self-protection, which seems like it works for a short while, but leads to disaster if you try to sustain it for too long---we know the results as "burnout" and even "depression". In this talk, I'd like to share a few ideas and techniques that I've used to better balance taking care of myself with being available for others. Don't worry: I'll balance purely practical work-based techniques with the touchy-feely stuff. (There will be some touchy-feely stuff. It's fine.)


About J. B.

J. B. Rainsberger (@jbrains, https://www.jbrains.ca) works as an Agile Coach, but actually Agile and actually a Coach. He travels the world (most years) sharing what he's learned about programming, managing his workload, interacting with people, and designing his lifestyle. He spends much of his professional time helping programmers do better work with less stress, but he also consults with and trains for companies. He helps clients cut through the confusion about Agile to its essence, so that they can realize the benefits that the modern Agile movement has been trying so hard to offer. He offers self-study training at http://online-training.jbrains.ca and coaches both individuals and teams in whatever they need to perform better. He lives in Atlantic Canada with his wife, Sarah.