Developing Inclusive Teams

It is increasingly important for teams to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusivity. I hosted a panel discussion with Tony Colon, SVP, Cisco Customer & Partner Experience; Jeff Levensailor, Engineering Manager, Presidio; and Hoda Alshami, Technology Product Manager – Network Observability & Automation, Nationwide where we discussed, among other things, the importance of this critical topic. Bringing to the table ideas from people of different backgrounds helps in decision making, team planning, corporate strategy, and ultimately in the applications and products we build for our customers. I was excited to announce an initiative that we open-sourced on this front.

Full Stack Wellness & Diversity Initiative

Cisco’s DevRel team developed a grassroots DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) program, Full Stack Wellness & Diversity.  This grassroots initiative—built from the ground up—is intended to promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion in the workplace by building and developing teams where everyone thrives. The vision for this series is to create a community at work where everyone has a voice, feels included, and has a safe space for creative thinking to thrive.

As we implement DEI programs into our teams and organizations, I strongly encourage you to look at our Full Stack Wellness & Diversity initiative. The team worked thoughtfully to build it with these points in mind:

• Let’s approach D&I the way we approach other problems in tech. Often, that means giving developers tools, trusting them, and getting out of their way
• We developed tools. We tested them. We know they make a difference.
• We’re sharing. We want people to make changes, improvements, etc. Improving D&I is a big goal – this is v1.0

Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the five, one-hour sessions will help us gain greater awareness of these practices and take our own next steps – individually, together as a team, and organizationally. The session materials and three new blog posts are now available externally for the broader developer community.  Check them out at:

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