The zen of Python teams

by Adrienne Lowe

Community, Social, Ethics, and Education

The Zen of Python, accessed by running import this, is a list of nineteen aphorisms that have guided the development of the language. It has good advice for how to organize our code, but what does it have to say about how we organize ourselves? Plenty: the Zen of Python is not only a solid set of development principles, but the other easter egg is that it’s packed with wisdom about how to build healthy teams. In this talk I draw upon my time as an engineering manager leading Python teams to tell stories of what the Zen of Python has to teach us about communication and conflict, building inclusive teams and transparent processes, and promoting psychological safety. Come ready to reflect on and feel inspired by a new interpretation of these principles, and bring what you learn back to your meetup, study group, open source project, or team.


About the Author

Adrienne leads engineers at verica.io. She is the former Director of Advancement of the Django Software Foundation, the non-profit backing Django, where she led fundraising for two years. She is also an O’Reilly contributor and technical editor of Head First Python 2nd Edition. Adrienne is based in Music City: Nashville, Tennessee.


Talk Details

Date: Saturday Nov. 16

Location: Concert Hall

Begin time: 14:15

Duration: 25 minutes