Supporting Diversity in Technical

Workspaces

Lee Kear, Solutions Architect, AWS

Azalea Miller, Software Development Engineer, AWS

Overview

Why do we want to grow Diversity?

What is a Diversity Circle?

“How Tos” of a Circle

Benefits of Participating in a Circle

Measuring Success

Why is diversity Important?

Does Diversity Pay?: Race, Gender, and the

Business Case for Diversity

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Low (<10%) Medium (10-24%) High (25%+)

Average Revenue (in Millions of Dollars)

Gender Diversity Racial Diversity

Source: American Sociological Review, Does Diversity Pay?: Race, Gender, and the Business Case for Diversity Cedric Herring April 2009

The flywheel for growth

AWS —unleashing untapped potential

What is a Diversity Circle?

AWS S3 Women’s Circle Origin

One Woman’s Inspiration

AWS Platform Women’s Circle Origin

Organic Growth

AWS Platform Women’s Circle

Phase 1: Mentor-Mentee Relationships

AWS Platform Women’s Circle

Phase 1: Mentor-Mentee Relationships

Phase 2: Evolved into a Circle

AWS Platform Women’s Circle

Phase 1: Mentor-Mentee Relationships

Phase 2: Evolved into a Circle

Phase 3: Learning from the Success of the Amazon S3

Circle

Sponsoring

• Identify

Membership Selection

Common

• All women (inherent)

• All part of the Organization (acquired)

Diverse

• Diverse levels of experience (acquired)

• Diverse roles: managers, product managers, software

engineers, systems engineers (acquired)

• Diverse cultural backgrounds (inherent)

Sponsoring

• Identify

• Time/budget

Sponsoring

• Identify

• Time/budget

• Coaching

Sponsoring

• Identify

• Time/budget

• Coaching

• Facilitating

Facilitating Trust

Safe environment for learning

Strong relationships keep circles

together

Facilitating Trust

Safe environment for learning

Strong relationships keep circles

together

Make it fun!

• Blackberry picking

• Happy hour

• Lunches

Facilitating a Structure

Regular meetings

Facilitating a Structure

Regular meetings

Leverage existing resources

Facilitating a Structure

Regular meetings

Leverage existing resources

Establish role models

Facilitating a Structure

Regular meetings

Leverage existing resources

Establish role models

Provide feedback, encouragement

Logistics – Do

Stay connected

Advocate for each other

Make time for retrospectives

Logistics – Avoid

Expanding circle churn

Limiting to women

Replacing all other mentoring

Knowledge Sharing

Inspiration

Practice

Retrospective

Four Flavors of Learning Activities

Sample Meeting – Knowledge Sharing

10 minutes: Grab lunch & greet/mingle

30 minutes: Video on “Leveling the Playing Field”

40 minutes: Interactive worksheets, open discussion

10 minutes: Planning next session

Sample Meeting – Experience Sharing

10 minutes: Grab lunch & greet/mingle

5 minutes: Introduction of guest expert on “Confidence”

60 minutes: Pre-prepared Q&A with guest product manager

10 minutes: Planning next session

Our Experiences and Learnings

Practice Skills Example

Background:

Design Reviews

What We Did:

Technical Presentation Practice

Technical Presentation PracticeSummit Service

Design Doc

___________________________

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_____________________

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_____________________

___________________________

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_______

Technical Skill Practice

Technical Presentation Practice

Technical Skill Practice

Learning Confidence

Summit Service

Design Doc

___________________________

___________________________

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_____________________

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___________________________

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_______

Key ideas

Driven by Circle MembersSummit Service

Design Doc

___________________________

___________________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

___________________________

___________________________

_______

Key ideas

Driven by Circle Members

Practice

Summit Service

Design Doc

___________________________

___________________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

___________________________

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Key Ideas

Driven by Circle Members

Practice

Trust

Summit Service

Design Doc

___________________________

___________________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

___________________________

___________________________

_______

Experience Sharing Example

Background:

New Hires

What We Did:

Review tips and share

experiences

Tips for Graduates Review

Knowledge share: Translate

tips into actionable behavior

Tips for Graduates Review

Knowledge share: Translate

tips into actionable behavior

Inspiration: Personal

examples for specific

situations

Key Learnings

Safe Environment

Diversity of Experience

Leveraging Resources

Examples of Learnings

Experience Sharing = Inspiring Stories

Knowledge Sharing = Learning and Growing

Leveraging Resources

My favorite:

“Communicating with

Confidence”

A Story

What is Confidence?

Strategies

Communication changes

impact perceptions

Remove Lessing Language:

- Just

- Sorry

Measuring Success

Career path

Growing influence

Start Your Own Circle

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