TEAM ROCKSTARS PRESENTS

THE DEVELOPER’S STACK

“Development of a lifetime & A lifetime development. As far as we are concerned, you can continue to grow your entire career as a software developer. Speaking at conferences, writing books or inspiring the community with your blogs. We want to challenge you to become the thought leader in your field!

Even if you are considering other roles, we want to support you in this. Scrum master, architect, CTO, manager, etc. may also be of interest. The “Developer stack” card game helps get you thinking about these different roles.

TEAM ROCKSTARS HOUSE OF CARDS

13 CARDS, 13 ROLLS

13 Cards, 13 roles and you can pick out a card you would like to know more about. You will be paired with one of 5 experts with whom you will enter the conversation. Koen Aerts CTO, Richard van Zandwijk Lead Developer, Marco Kuiper Principal Consultant, Sofia Bjorholm and Nadine Wolff Developer/Engineer are ready for a good conversation.

Do you have a burning question or seem interested in delving into all the possible paths that lead to Rome? Come pick out a card that can turn over the table!

Developer / Engineer

WHAT ARE YOU MAKING AN IMPACT WITH?

Creating software with a clear purpose is important. Who are your users and what is the software being used for. Of course, making an impact is a broad term and means something different to everyone. Saving lives or being socially engaged with your software. At least making an impact increases work happiness!

Skillset

The developer grew up with IT from a young age and enjoys making things with his own hands. Working in a team is fun and innovation is paramount.

Highlight

You get compliments from your teammate who reviewed your code. He calls you Uncle Bob’s cousin/cousin.

Depth

Your Product Owner once again forces a higher velocity on you. He indicates: technical debt is fine, we will solve it at a later time.

Lead Developer / Engineer

YOU REPRESENT THE TEAM! DOES THE TEAM STAND FOR YOU AS WELL?

Self-directed teams are important, which is why the lead developer should not take over all control. Team members showing a lot of ownership is important.

Skillset

The lead developer strives for quality and inspires the team to follow his/her lead in this. Also knows how to bring or get the context into this.

Highlight

Together with the team, you get it done two days before the end of the sprint. You will determine which technical debt you want to work on and discuss it with the team in order to better start the next sprint.

Depth

Two of your team members get sick just when one is on vacation. You then tend to pick up everything yourself just to meet the sprint and not disappoint people.

Scrum master

YOU ARE THE FLYWHEEL IN AGILE DEVELOPMENT!

Nice to be able to spread the Agile and DevOps ideas and be in an organization where they are open to this as well. Nice also to contribute to the performance of the team!

Skillset

A Scrum Master gets a lot of energy from getting the process successful. Agile is the way of modern work and Scrum is the way to implement it. The PSM I certificate is a start of this.

Highlight

At the Sprint Retro, a number of action items emerge to improve the team. You want to start implementing this soon. The team compliments you on not flying by here too quickly: the previous improvements have really helped them get better!

Depth

The Product Owner asks you to create a tight schedule for the next quarter. You indicate that this is not Agile, but the business wants to know how much time they are spending and how much money is involved. Oh yes, and if you could do some progress reports.

Product owner

ARE YOU A MASTER OF THE POLITICAL WEB?

Product owner, what a hugely complex position! On the one hand, you have contact with all team members and on the other hand, you have your tentacles in the business. Stakeholder management, politics and networking is in your blood!

Skillset

The Product Owner loves being able to create the very best version of the product. This requires coordination with multiple stakeholders and the Scrum Team must also be included in this vision. Obviously, you have the PSM I certificate in your pocket.

Highlight

You managed to have all stakeholders present at the Sprint Review, including the most important one: the end users. They thank you for making them part of the process and actually listening to their input.

Depth

After months of working on a product, a stakeholder unexpected to you comes around the corner. Suddenly, priorities change and your entire Product Backlog may be shaken up. This pushes back the promised deadline to other stakeholders.

Architect

HOW TO STAY AWAY FROM THE IVORY TOWER?

There are various forms of architecture and various architects. Every team needs a (software/application) architect.
For more high on issues, enterprise architects are important. Essential in this last function is that the right choices are made together with the team.

Skillset

There are many types of architects, but all have one thing in common: they talk to the business a lot. In this way, knowledge is gathered in order to establish the most future-proof architecture. Vision about architecture, being up to date with the latest techniques and having communication skills are at the heart of this.

Highlight

Your new architecture based on microservices holds up in production. The services are automatically scaled and the application remains available!

Depth

You fail to convince the business to go along with your proposal for a new architecture. It made so much sense to go for your architecture, didn’t it? What did you miss?

Coach

I ❤ DEVELOPING PEOPLE!

Skillset

A coach likes to develop individuals further by holding up the mirror. This can be superficial, but during these conversations a coach can also look for depth.

Highlight

You get an email from a coachee who coached you six months ago. You had actually forgotten about him, but he absolutely did not forget about you. The email states that he took a step in his career and could not have accomplished it without your advice.

Depth

After many conversations, you fail to help your coachee step out of a negative pattern. Nor do you find out what other knobs you can turn to make this happen.

Special agent

ADRENALINE

How much adrenaline do you get when you inspire a cinema hall of 1,500 developers?

Skillset

The special agent is the “thought leader” in the field, and knowledge sharing is central to this. Knowledge sharing in the broadest sense of the word, so that includes speaking at conferences, sharing articles/blogs and who knows, even writing books.

Highlight

Your book has been dubbed a bestseller today. With more than 2,000,000 copies sold, you hear you’ve inspired the community.

Depth

At your early bird session, 20 visitors showed up and to make matters worse, 13 were still in the room after 15 minutes. And yes, counting those two who were sleeping.

IT consultant

YOU DARE TO KICK EVERYTHING?

Skillset

The IT consultant goes for the question behind the question and through a combination of technical skills, process skills and the right communication skills you make real impact.

Highlight

Whooha! Because of your pitch, the client decided to sign a three-year contract with your employer! This strategic partnership is promising and you see a clear win for all parties!

Depth

Once again, your account manager has sold a solution you can spend two days on. To do it right you need 8 days, are you going to make those 6 days in evening hours or have the account manager consult with the client to get this straightened out?

Principal consultant

YOU INSPIRE COMPANIES WITH NEW IT SOLUTIONS!

Skillset

Innovation, automation and applicability are key review criteria of the principal consultant. He/she creates new IT solutions, can sell them to the customer and helps the customer take them to the next level.

Highlight

The technical solution you created at the beginning of the year has now been sold 20 times to the customer.

Depth

Due to budget cuts, your manager has determined that you will “just join” the development teams for the next year.

CTO

INSPIRE YOUR ORGANIZATION TECHNICALLY, INSPIRING IS ALSO LISTENING!

Skillset

The CTO sets the technical vision that provides direction for the coming years. Innovation, scalability, security and other themes are central to giving the organization the edge in the marketplace.

Highlight

Proud of the 5 software developers who presented at Microsoft Build. No other company will do this after you!

Depth

The number of legacy systems is piling up, and you’ve set yourself a plan to get rid of them in the coming years. After the MT meeting, it appears that unfortunately there is no budget.

Manager

A MODERN MANAGER IS A COACH, YOU ENCOURAGE PEOPLE!

Skillset

Coaching leadership is the manager’s foundation. Empowering others and leaving room for people who are intrensically motivated. Situational leadership is needed for colleagues who need direction.

Highlight

From a coaching conversation with an employee, you notice that she has again outdone herself by a wide margin. She has gone out of her comfort zone several times both with the position as lead developer and also by speaking at Devoxx.

Depth

The project that has been going badly for months is now really coming to a head. A new cost estimate indicates an additional €2,000,000 is needed. With lead in your shoes, you may deliver this message to the client tomorrow.

Director

WITH A HELICOPTER VIEW LEAVE A LOT OF ROOM FOR YOUR TEAM!

Skillset

The director has extensive knowledge of organizations, the business and people skills. He knows how to keep an overview and can let things go (trusts his team).

Highlight

Today you kicked off a new organizational unit. Over the next few years, this section is going to grow to 80 specialists, and customers are eager for this innovation.

Depth

The tech guy who promoted you to manager last year is not performing. For six months you have come to the conclusion that your best technician is gone and you have a bad manager in return, next Friday you will have the conversation anyway.

ZZP

DO YOU LIKE TO BE IN CONTROL?

Skillset

Entrepreneurship pur sang and self-reliance typifies the self-employed. He/she likes the variety of job search, billing, the content assignment and all the other things. The financial benefits are important and the self-employed can handle uncertainty well.

Highlight

You landed a new assignment with the highest hourly rate yet. In addition, you may also work from home, so travel expenses will be minimal. Katsjing!

Depth

The customer did not pay the bills and thus you have to go after your income. This time is precious to you and could be much better spent on that other project you are now hours short on!