Managing Projects the Drupal Way (in Ireland)

You're organised, you love spreadsheets, you're a great cheerleader, you handle a backlog with superhero skills, and now you're faced with managing a Drupal project and everything just feels foreign. It's not you, it's Drupal. The mix of site building, front end development, backend development, and over 20,000 contributed modules makes project management for Drupal exceptionally frustrating for people who've not worked with Drupal before.

This session will cover:

- the basic Drupal development workflow (from a developer's perspective, but without using developer jargon)
writing useful tickets which developers can accomplish
- estimation tips for multi-discipline tickets (design / back end / front end)
- ideal team structures -- and what to do if you can't get them

Updated from DrupalCamp London to include the truisms I've learned about being a first-time project manager.

Transcript

1. Managing a Project
   The Drupal Way
   @emmajanehw
   drupal.org/user/1773
   

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2. The best place to learn
   software development is in
   the Drupal community.
   Disclaimer.
   

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3. The worst place to learn
   how to build a site with
   Drupal is the issue queue.
   (Another) Disclaimer
   

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4. Avoiding project managers is iterative.

   It’s something we developers
   get better at every time.
   @adamculp
   

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8. Drupal PM Survival Guide
   1. Foster collaborative, cross-functional teams

   who stay with you for the entire project.
   2. Find your gremlins sooner by deploying features

   from start to finish.
   3. Build re-usable components, 

   and all their variants, from content “out”.
   4. Emulate the drupal.org issue queue.
   

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9. 1. Foster collaborative,
   cross-functional teams who
   stay with you for the entire
   project.
   Managing Projects the Drupal Way
   

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10. Teams are immutable. 

    Every time someone leaves, or joins, 

    you have a new team, 

    not a changed team.
    @richardadalton
    

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11. Be aware of job titles.
    

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12. Web Projects
    • UX
    • Designer
    • Content Strategist
    • Backend Developer
    • Front End Developer
    Supportive Roles
    • Business Analyst
    • Project Manager
    • Quality Assurance
    • DevOps / Sysadmin
    Client-Side
    • Product Owner
    • Content Manager
    Drupal-Specific
    • Site Builder
    • Themer
    

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13. Foster strong teams.
    

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14. Moods are infectious.
    Project management truism.
    

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15. Acknowledgement

    kindles effort.
    Project management truism.
    

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16. Language matters.
    Project management truism.
    

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17. Minor choice makes a
    major difference.
    Project management truism.
    

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18. 2. Find your gremlins sooner

    by deploying features

    from start to finish.
    Managing Projects the Drupal Way
    

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19. Prototype
    Component
    Design
    Component
    Build
    Custom
    Development
    Content
    Migration
    Theming
    Deployment
    Infra-

    structure
    

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20. How long?
    • Developers know best. 

    But multiply it by 2 (and by 2 again).
    • On-boarding takes a week longer 

    than you think it should.
    • Sprints of 1-2 weeks are generally “about right”.
    • Half way through your project; 

    local environments will mysteriously break.
    • The “last mile” takes three weeks longer 

    than it should because of regressions and Features.
    

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21. Adrenaline is finite.
    Project management truism.
    

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22. Closure is important.
    Project management truism.
    

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23. 3. Build re-usable
    components, and all their
    variants, from content “out”.
    Managing Projects the Drupal Way
    

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24. Layout
    Functionality
    Component
    Content
    

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25. 4. Emulate (some parts)

    of the drupal.org

    issue queue.
    Managing Projects the Drupal Way
    

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26. Card: 

    Define testable outcomes.

    Demonstrate business value.
    

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27. As a ___ I want to ___ so that I ___.
    For example: 

    As a user, I want to filter the search results

    so that I can more easily find people with the
    verified role assignment.
    

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28. Conversation:

    Centralise, and be flexible.
    

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29. Confirmation:
    Test, test, and test again.
    

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30. Sort for yourself;

    format for others.
    Project management truism.
    

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31. Moderate what you
    change; including your
    moderation.
    Project management truism.
    

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32. Drupal PM Survival Guide
    1. Foster collaborative, cross-functional teams

    who stay with you for the entire project.
    2. Find your gremlins sooner by deploying features

    from start to finish.
    3. Build re-usable components, 

    and all their variants, from content “out”.
    4. Emulate the drupal.org issue queue.
    

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33. Resources
    • A Developer’s Primer To Managing Developers

    https://austin2014.drupal.org/session/developers-primer-managing-developers.html
    • Things I Learned From Managing my First Project

    https://drupalize.me/blog/201312/things-i-learned-managing-my-first-project
    • Avoiding the Git of Despair

    https://events.drupal.org/losangeles2015/sessions/avoiding-git-
    despair
    • Git for Teams

    http://www.gitforteams.com
    

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34. Books
    • User Story Mapping -- Jeff Patton
    • Agile Product Management with Scrum -- Roman Pichler
    • Essential Scrum -- Kenneth Rubin
    • Scrum Shortcuts -- Ilan Goldstein
    • Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your User Stories -- Gojko
    Adzic
    • User Stories Applied -- Mike Cohn
    

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35. Managing a Project
    The Drupal Way
    @emmajanehw
    www.gitforteams.com
    

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