How to not get triggered by DevOps and other buzzwords
Whichever side you take in the DevOps debate, you have to agree with one thing. There's no denying that parts of the tech community hate it. But it doesn't sit alone. There are many other concepts in the same boat. Agile is another example.
For some of us, such buzzwords (or more accurately, the way they are done) encroach on our mental roadmap of how things should be. When our roadmap gets threatened, we get triggered.
Getting triggered isn't always bad
According to author Daniel Goleman, the amygdala can get hijacked by an emotional stimulus (like words or actions) and get triggered with a fight or flight response.
There's nothing wrong with the act of being triggered itself. It's an essential physiological process that tells you something's not right in relation to your mental roadmap. It puts your brain and body on higher intensity response to physical, mental, emotional and ego threats.
But an unadjusted response can jeopardise your hard work and reputation in the long run.
When triggering goes bad
An overstimulated amygdala causes a potent response — sometimes overresponse. It releases a strong cocktail of cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline into your bloodstream.
The physiological result? Lower access to centres of your brain that help logic, reasoning, listening and empathy. It can take 18 minutes to clear these stress hormones from your body.
So for that period, all your base are belong to amygdala.
You may have seen people getting triggered in your non-working life. It ain't pretty, is it?
Social media and for-profit news — they are all hijacking our nervous systems to keep our eyeballs on them... we are being triggered on purpose. — Lyssa Adkins, Agile Coach
Perhaps this was the reason 37 Signals famously banned political talk among employees? Could it be that politics triggers people, leading to divisiveness that gets in the way of productive work? Maybe. I'm not a political scientist.
What I am is someone dedicated to helping software teams create and run valuable software. So let's explore how you can react less poorly when triggered by a negative stimulus... like DevOps done wrong.
So how to handle being triggered?
We need ways to de-trigger ourselves. But here's the thing...
You won't become entirely immune to negative stimuli causing a reaction. It's like saying you will have 100% control of your unconscious, which you may or may not know, is not entirely possible. But you can work to reduce any negative repercussions from such an effect.
Repercussions like:
reduced social goodwill with your teammates ("have your anti-Agile rant after our daily scrum is done") or
pissing off a senior stakeholder ("you're being transferred to the Siberian mailroom division")
Triggering stimuli are often not seen coming. They can manifest almost anywhere — as an anonymous negative comment on a forum or a microaggression in a meeting. Being on a constant lookout for them is a wasteful exercise.
The better way seems to be to develop strategies that resist rather than prevent triggering.
Here are 5 trigger-resistance strategies
Call a timeout of a minimum of 20 minutes from responding to a message when you sense physical symptoms of triggering like shallower breathing, elevated heart rate and jaw tightening
Use deep breathing to cut stress hormones. Yogis haven't practised deep breathing for millennia without reason — deep breathing is proven to reduce stress hormone levels¹
Practice developing a long-term perspective where you create mental space to respond (with a resolute long-term outlook) rather than react (to the immediate threat)
Feel the emotion completely before saying anything. Feeling frustrated or angry about a particular thing? It takes 90 seconds to clear out an emotion if you let yourself fully feel it
Prepare in advance for difficult conversations². Add a degree of rationality to the upcoming tough situation with questions like What is my intent or position? What is the tone that I want to set? Where might we potentially disagree? How will I respond to disagreement?
Bonus strategy
This idea from Lyssa Adkins could also help reduce negative reactions³:
I am consciously running joy in my system... on purpose... to increase my capacity for joy. We have a lot of tolerance for pain and not so much tolerance for joy. I think it's a good thing to increase right now.
I felt it deserved its own section because of the sheer beauty behind the concept.
Final thoughts
We are emotional beings — even if we aim for utmost adherence to rationality. Let's not make getting triggered our falling grace. Becoming trigger-resistant is a useful skill in complex socio-technical environments like modern software teams.
It can mean the difference between showing healthy skepticism and pathological cynicism.
References
Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al. The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Front Psychol. 2017;8:874. Published 2017 Jun 6. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874
Voice of America, 2019. Zen and Difficult Conversations with Diane Musho Hamilton. [podcast] Out of the comfort zone with Wanda Wallace. Available at: https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/117670/zen-and-difficult-conversations-with-diane-musho-hamilton
Arrggghhhh! How to work with getting triggered - Lyssa Adkins.