Culture, culture, culture: tales from BBC UX&D

Julia Whitney spoke about culture and what she’d learned from trying to understand the work at the BBC

• Culture is – unconscious beliefs based on shared learning that impact success (Gregory Shine)
• Unconscious assumptions are the underlying part of the iceberg
• Observe unconscious values in conflict with what’s written on the wall (official values) and ask why
• Find out what counts as heroism – at the BBC this meant managing the chaos of a live show without viewers noticing!
• Look for structural and embedded mechanisms
• Encourage productive ideological conflict (that ends in a decision) – without conflict there is no commitment and wishy-washy decisions. Use conflict mining workshops – and use conflict contracts that the team will not prioritise relief over resolution
• How will you counter someone’s learning anxiety over survival anxiety? What changes in your behaviour does the culture you work in require from you?

Culture, culture, culture! #Sketchnotes from Julia Whitney's talk at @LDconf https://t.co/dGKrhBwzV6 pic.twitter.com/WZa285ub9q

— Scriberia Ltd (@scriberian) May 13, 2017

Her plan for the 90s days was:

• In the first 90 days find people with influence and alliances
• Make yourself redundant
• Managers manage, leaders make decisions – for the latter having knowledge of the craft can help gain respect at key points