RailsConf 2023 - Managing the Burnout Burndown by Anjuan Simmons

In addition to managing backlogs and burndown charts, technology leaders have to follow an ever-changing software landscape, manage team dynamics, and navigate office politics. It’s no surprise that this leads to burnout. This talk will provide tools to help manage stress and reduce burnout. Developers are, almost by definition, highly capable and strongly driven individuals. These traits are indispensable to success in creating working code, but they are also the very traits that makes developers susceptible to burn out. People who can get things done often find themselves overwhelmed by their to-do lists. This talk will combine the understanding from the trenches of Anjuan Simmons (who has been a developer and engineering manager for more than 20 years) with the academic understanding of his wife, Dr. Aneika Simmons. Together, they will provide a framework for reducing burnout and consistently keeping stress levels in a managed state.