Encouraging a culture of learning across your organisation

A presentation at DevOpsDays Berlin 2017 in October 2017 in Berlin, Germany by Jenny Duckett

Jenny Duckett Senior Developer   Government Digital Service   @jenny_duckett

� 2 I’m from the UK Government Digital Service (GDS)

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First, a sad story � 4

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� 6 GDS Inappropriate content :-( GDS

Why run a workshop? � 7

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� 9 GDS Show that it’s ok to take time out to learn GDS

� 10 GDS Scale your impact GDS

� 11 GDS We’re all responsible for what we build GDS

Why focus on security? � 12

� 13 GDS Developers often don’t feel confident about security GDS

� 14 GDS Expand the community of interested people GDS

� 15 GDS Security is one of many areas we care about GDS

But I’m not a security expert! � 16

� 17 GDS …so I can’t do this GDS

� 18 GDS … so I can’t do this …that’s fine, do it anyway GDS

� 19 GDS GDS

� 20 GDS Treat it as an alpha - prototype and iterate GDS

� 21 GDS You don’t have to cover everything GDS

� 22 GDS Experts aren’t always the best teachers GDS

� 23 GDS It isn’t about having all the answers GDS

� 24 GDS Find someone to work with GDS

Alex Muller (with egg for scale) � 25 GDS GDS

Hypotheses to test � 26

� 27 GDS The OWASP top 10 is a good starting point GDS

� 28 GDS Keep a strong practical focus GDS

� 29 GDS Make it a single day GDS

� 30 GDS Use the source code of exercises to learn GDS

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� 32 GDS Learn how to use your everyday tools better GDS

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� 34 GDS Bring it home by using examples from your own applications GDS

� 35 GDS Get people to work together and help each other GDS

� 36 GDS Make something that other people can build on GDS

Practical tips � 37

� 38 GDS About 15 people, with a range of skills GDS

� 39 GDS Ask people to set up in advance GDS

� 40 GDS Set up a local network GDS

� 41 GDS Run a short retrospective GDS

� 42 GDS Ask for volunteers to run the next one GDS

What did we learn? � 43

� 44 GDS It’s totally possible to do this! GDS

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� 46 GDS You’ll learn about the topic in more depth by preparing to explain it GDS

� 47 GDS Be ruthless with your MVP GDS

� 48 GDS Running the day well takes effort GDS

� 49 GDS Organising an event can be time-consuming GDS

� 50 GDS • organising space, facilities and people • researching topics • structuring the content • writing presentations • preparing practical exercises GDS

What happened next? � 51

� 52 GDS Share what you’ve made GDS

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� 55 GDS Fix the biggest problem for next time GDS

� 56 GDS Support the people who come after you GDS

� 57 GDS 2 workshops have happened since ours GDS

� 58 GDS They’ve taken the format forward in exciting ways we didn’t expect GDS

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� 60 GDS Workshops aren’t the end of the journey GDS

You can do this too � 61

� 62 GDS What can you run a workshop about? GDS

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� 64 GDS You can encourage a culture of learning in your organisation GDS

� 65 GDS Thanks! @jenny_duckett

Jenny Duckett
@jennyd

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Workshops are a great way of developing skills and sharing knowledge within your organisation, and they also encourage a culture of learning together. But running a workshop by yourself can seem daunting, especially if you aren’t an expert in the area you want your organisation to get better at.

I’ll talk about my experience of running a web security workshop at the UK’s Government Digital Service, what we did to improve our culture of learning and how you can do something similar where you work.