Highly motivated people who feel connected, who feel valued, and who get to work on challenging problems love what they do, feel more energized and fulfilled by their work, and deliver exceptional solutions and products. Who doesn't want that for themselves, for their teammates, or for the people who work for them? Modern software companies that experience the greatest successes invest in their people's leadership skills starting with apprentices, expanding into all roles within software teams, up through directors, all the way to their C-suite. Strong, effective leaders cultivate cultures where respect, mentorship, and support are central to how the company operates regardless of their official title or respective place within the organization.

Whether you're a leader by title or by necessity, or an individual contributor with leadership in your future, the skills and practices shared in this track will enable you to be an effective, respected, and inspiring leader. You will learn how to have more productive and positive interactions with stakeholders, other team members, direct reports, even your own manager. Whether you're an experienced leader or an aspiring one, we have something for you in the Technical Excellence and Leadership Skills track.

Topics in this track include:

• How to troubleshoot and save a failing project
• User Experience Research and Design
• Improving Agility through close collaboration with clients
• Innovative problem solving
• Laws, Patterns, and Idioms of Object-Oriented programming
• Data driven decision making
• Facing uncomfortable truths of software development
• Choosing metrics with your team to foster experimentation and growth
• Workshop: The Human Side of Agile and DevOps