Creating Psychological Safety for Engineering Teams and Their Culture

What is Psychological Safety?

It is the belief that it is ok, in fact, expected to speak up with concerns, questions, ideas, and mistakes.

Why Does Psychological Safety Matter?

• Withholding questions or concerns robs both yourself and your colleagues of learning opportunities and stifles innovation.
• Lack of psychological safety hinders the creation of a better organization, culture, and company.

How to Implement Psychological Safety in Software Engineering Culture

1. Frame Work as a Learning Problem, Not an Execution Problem:

   • Make it explicit, there is enormous uncertainty ahead.
   • Emphasise you need for everyone’s brainpower to tackle challenges.

2. Acknowledge Your Own Fallibility:

   • Say things like, "I may miss something, and if so, I need to hear it from you."

3. Model Curiosity:

   • Ask a lot of questions to show genuine interest in others' perspectives and ideas.

By integrating these strategies, you can build a software engineering culture where psychological safety thrives, leading to more innovation and a stronger team dynamic.