The document discusses using the television show Star Trek: Voyager as an allegory for creating a more inclusive community. It describes how the diverse crew of the USS Voyager, including the female captain Janeway, the Vulcan Tuvok, the half-human B'Elanna Torres, and former Borg drone Seven of Nine, worked together despite their differences. It argues that research shows groups with diversity, especially including women, tend to be smarter and more innovative. The key is developing emotional intelligence among the group to promote trust, shared identity, and efficacy among all members.

1. Star Trek: Voyager
A Model for a More Inclusive
Community
2014 Fox Valley Drupal Camp
September 20, 2014
bit.ly/voyager-inclusive
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2. Fredric
@fredricmitchell
• Unabashedly an engineer
• Efficiency over everything
• Senior Dev @Phase2
• Continuously striving to do better

3. What
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4. What We’re Talking About
• Journey to a better experience (User and Developer)
• The allegory of Star Trek: Voyager and it’s characters
• Context and Blind Spots
• The Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem
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5. Talent hits a target that no one else can hit;
genius hits a target no one else can see.
“ ”
Arthur Schopenhauer
German Philosopher
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6. Superheroes love the journey
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7. Software is Hard
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8. Star Trek: Voyager
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Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/Ujnm5g

9. [A great show] has to teach you how to
“ watch it.
”
Alan Sepinwall
TV Critic
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10. Captain Janeway
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• First female captain
• Bullheaded, simultaneously
dogmatic and impulsive
• Melded together a dynamic crew,
including Maquis rebels
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1pxAYEL

11. The Janeway
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“Keep your shirt tucked in; go down with the ship; and
never abandon a member of your crew.”

12. Am I open to
unorthodoxy?
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13. Tuvok
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• Black Vulcan
• Calm, logical, and expert botanist
• Keeps the peace through his
wisdom, experience, and vitality
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1mrGYLB

14. It’s not easy
“On the contrary, the demands on a Vulcan's character
are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure
for ease.”

15. Is logic guiding my
decisions?
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16. B’Elanna Torres
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• Half Hispanic Human and Klingon
• Chief Engineer
• Tough, knowledgeable and
independent
• Brash, bold, and extremely complex
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1sDE4ct

17. @fredricmitchell
Hidden Potential
“If I sprain my ankle, at least I feel something […] I'm not
trying to kill myself! I'm trying to see if I'm still alive.”

18. How am I evaluating
talent?
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19. Seven-of-Nine
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• Former assimilated Borg
• Forced to adapt after separating
from the collective
• Logical, pensive, and extremely
blunt
• Lightning rod
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1AZrhVT

20. Signal to Noise
“But that is irrelevant.”
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21. @fredricmitchell
What are the facts?

22. Math. Science.
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23. @fredricmitchell
Emotional Intelligence of Groups
• Source (HBR): bit.ly/ei-hbr-2001
• Teams who develop greater emotional intelligence (EQ) boost
their overall performance
• EQ: Trust among members, a sense of group identity, and a
sense of group efficacy
• At the heart of these three conditions are emotions, like the
ability to listen

24. Women are Key to Smart Teams
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• Published in HBR 2011: bit.ly/women-hbr-2011
• Little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence
and the IQs of its individual members
• If a group includes more women, its collective intelligence
rises.

25. What do you hear about great groups?
Not that the members are all really
smart, but that they listen to each other.
“ ”
Anita Wooley
Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon
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26. Points of Clarification
• Emotional Intelligence != Being Emotional
• Men can have high EQ
• Correlation and Probability are implied
• Gender is not limited to two choices
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27. The Difference
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• Scott Page
• Professor of Complex Systems,
Political Science, and Economics
• Published 2007
• bit.ly/scottpage-difference

28. Perspective, Heuristics
• Perspective
• How one looks at a
problem
• Heuristic
• Tells a person where to
search for a solution
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29. Diversity Trumps Ability
Conditions
1. The problem must be hard
2. Each solver has a local optima to the problem
3. An improvement can be made to a non-optimal solution
4. Large pool of solvers to form a decent-size collection
Proof
The context of perspective and heuristics are key
http://bit.ly/div-v-ability
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30. Problem solvers with diverse
perspectives may have trouble
“ understanding solutions identified by
”
other agents.
Scott Page
Professor at Univ. of Michigan
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31. And thus, EQ comes
full circle
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32. Star Trek: Voyager
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Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/Ujnm5g

33. @fredricmitchell
So, what can I do?

34. Get off the
‘its a pipeline
problem’
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35. Who is the
the ‘most qualified’
candidate?
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36. Keys to Live By
• Be an ally
• Recognize my privilege
• Remember the science!!
• Stay bold in the compound interest of action
• Strive for maximum group collective intelligence
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37. @fredricmitchell
How great can our
community be?

38. How will I help get us
‘home’?
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39. Sources
Diversity Articles
Groups are smarter with women - http://hbr.org/2011/06/defend-your-research-what-makes-a-team-smarter-more-women/ar/1
EQ (HBR link) - http://www.mindsetmatters.com.au/Portals/0/dox/building%20emotional%20intelligence%20of%20groups.pdf
Group Intelligence Correlates More with Social Aptitude than IQ - http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/10/collective-intelligence-and-th/
Being an Ally as a Person with Privilege - http://www.scn.org/friends/ally.html
Risk of Speaking Up - http://www.ashedryden.com/the-risk-in-speaking-up
21st Century Talent Spotting: Potential Trumps Brains, experience, and competencies - http://www.egonzehnder.com/files/_b_77ddd4d.pdf
Mathematical Model of Diversity - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/science/08conv.html
Scott Page: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Schools, Societies - http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~spage/
thedifference_content.html
Diversity Trumps Ability - http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/2008/05/chapter-6-the-m.html
Scott Page Research - http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full
Voyager Articles
http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/now-voyager-the-least-beloved-star-trek-offered-some-of-the-franchises-strongest-feminist-messages
http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-voyager
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40. @fredricmitchell
Thanks for Listening
bit.ly/voyager-inclusive
!
2014 Fox Valley Drupal Camp
September 20, 2014