I don’t think our project is divisive. I think the issue itself is divisive. Nobody raised a fuss (except me and a few others) when the Agile Alliance Pask award was given to many men over the years or never to a woman. But when people mis-perceive that awards might be given to women (though that wasn’t the case), they get all het up.

I think this is a topic that’s difficult to communicate about on email and Twitter and blog comments, but I think it’s important to keep the conversation going. We’re trying to put up a blog on our Diversity project site so that we can centralize the discussion there. We’re trying to tweak our verbiage to use terms that don’t mislead or inflame people, so we appreciate all the feedback.

Maura, you are welcome to join our project, it’s open to everyone and we need help.

Lots of interesting discussion around this project and I like discussions

If I put aside the fact that I, as a woman in test, don’t feel particularly lonely or left out, I think there is a definite communication issue going on. I (and others) read one thing into this proprosal but apparently not what is intended. This miscommunication appears to be at the root of some of the divisions occurring within the community this project is intended to improve. I consider this a bad thing.

Is there a way to better present the intent? Maybe present it as One Diversity of Many or something similar to make it clear this is just a start and others are not less important nor ignored? I know it says Diversity in Agile: Women in Agile, but that seems to go unnoticed.

Is there a way to make the criteria a bit more flexible? Maybe make the criteria allow for women active in the community to nominate people that really helped them or mentored them? Maybe allow people to nominate women who do outreach to schools and girl’s organizations? Something that feels less like putting someone on a pedestal where only a WOMAN can go. Is there a way to take some of the lessons/stories and put together not just the multi-media but a press kit or presentation information for teachers or instructors to use to influence girls?

Trying to brainstorm ideas to improve clarity of intent and communication of intent along with potential low-cost changes that may help. Not my project, so free for the taking.

As for myself, I do feel any person’s own personality has a huge influence on how they function in a team and that is true for women in IT, too. I am perfectly comfortable in a room or team where I am the only woman. I don’t feel unsafe or left out. I don’t feel lonely or alone. I don’t play Quake and don’t care to. I’m not too much into crude jokes but they don’t bother me. I’m also not into long talks about the latest celebrity, Lost, Survivor, etc. I don’t care about the latest fashion trends much. I tend more toward the Mars style of communication than the Venus style, despity my gender. I certainly don’t feel more safe in a group of women than in a group of men. In fact, in my career, I can say I’ve had MORE problems arise from women co-workers than men.

But those are MY personality traits and MY comfort levels, not everyone’s.

I did (and do) question the project and its presentation but I also see the passion and drive and want see it succeed in its goals. But the divisiveness I’m seeing is worrisome and I stand by my statement that this has not been unifying but has shown itself to be divisive. Is there a way to change that?

This has facts about women in science and engineering.

I have similar experiences in IT. And in Belgium women are going to ICT education then 10 years ago.

(and a lot of them leave ict after just a few years)

I now understand that two parts where bad inteh communication:
1) “Your team needs more women”, that feels indeed bad, and I did not notice it before
2) People felt it was for an award just for women. And that is as equally bad. It never was the intention. Actually a lot of discussion happened in the diversity of agile workgroup to make sure we created something that was not an award. Something different. We might not have found the best solution, but I’m quite happy with the first iteration…
Not with the communication.

But, I can assure you, the fact is that there are few women in the job market here for positions on our team. I have a big network locally, I go to many user group meetings, I know many people in the recruiting business, in this area I feel comfortable with my facts.

It seems to me that telling people to hire more women will deplete the pool and make your problem even worse.