A CTO always pays his Debts - Tech Rocks 2017

Presentation about technical debt at www.videdressing.com and how we prioritized our tech refactoring project jointly with product management team using business criteria.
Presentation held at Station F , Paris for the "Tech Rocks 2017" conference.

Transcript

1. "UN CTO PAIE TOUJOURS SES DETTES." A Story of a Technical Refactoring led the Lean way with Product Mangement ! : @HERVELOURDIN - HERVE@VIDEDRESSING.COM
2. ▸ CTO & Co-CEO chez Videdressing ▸ Adepte et praticien Lean, Agiliste pragmatique ▸ Team Builder ▸ Ex Lean & Agile Partner chez @OCTOTechnology ▸ Co-founder of @AppaloosaStore 2 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
3. A CTO always pays his debts. — T. Lanister 3 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
4. 1 - WHO WE ARE? 4 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
5. 5 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
6. 6 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
7. LEAN / AGILE ORGANIZATION ▸ Product & Tech teams working on the same floor, 1 common spirit ▸ cross-functional team: PO, front & back developers, Designers ▸ iterative & incremental development: test fast, learn fast, improve ▸ 2 weeks scrumban iterations ▸ Release on the flow ▸ Stakeholders are integrated into projects 7 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
8. 2 - WHY A REFACTORING PROJECT? 8 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
9. A SIMPLE PLUG N' PLAY PROJECT ABOUT A NEW MEAN OF PAYMENT 9 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
10. THE WAY WE LIKE TO SEE OUR PLATFORM 10 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
11. THE WAY IT IS FOR REAL... 11 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
12. ... BUT THE plug n' Play PROJECT ...TURNED OUT TO BE A COMPLETE FAILURE 12 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
13. 13 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
14. THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE TECHNICAL APOCALYPSE 14 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
15. (ABNORMAL) COMPLEXITY 15 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
16. BUGS ... LOTS OF BUGS 16 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
17. OBSOLETE PLATFORM 17 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
18. HEROES (PROBABLY EXHAUSTED) 18 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
19. 3 - HOW TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT A REFOACTORING PROJECT? 19 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
20. HOW TO TELL TO A BOARD OF INVESTORS? (AND EXPLAIN) 20 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
21. HOW TO TELL ABOUT TECHNICAL DEBT? 21 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
22. HOW TO TELL ABOUT TECHNICAL DEBT? ▸ Show the effects (the 4 horsemen will help) 21 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
23. HOW TO TELL ABOUT TECHNICAL DEBT? ▸ Show the effects (the 4 horsemen will help) ▸ Calculate and communicate the financial impact 21 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
24. HOW TO TELL ABOUT TECHNICAL DEBT? ▸ Show the effects (the 4 horsemen will help) ▸ Calculate and communicate the financial impact ▸ Come with a plan 21 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
25. HOW TO TELL ABOUT TECHNICAL DEBT? ▸ Show the effects (the 4 horsemen will help) ▸ Calculate and communicate the financial impact ▸ Come with a plan ▸ Design a business oriented plan 21 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
26. 4 - HOW TO PRIORITIZE SUCH PROJECT? 22 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
27. ROADMAP IS Coming 23 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
28. ▸ Trying to (re)understand how the machine is working 24 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
29. DISTINGUISHING MYTHS FROM REALITY 25 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
30. FAILED AT TRYING TO GET THE TRUTH FROM THE CODE 26 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
31. (RE)-LEARN APPROACH ▸ Interviews ▸ Observation ▸ Technical Analysis 27 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
32. SHARED VOCABULARY & ARCHITECTURE 28 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
33. NEW ORDER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 29 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
34. THIS PROCESS MAP WAS THE real first “release” OF THE PROJECT ... AND KILL SOME GOOD OLD MYTHS ABOUT HOW IT WAS MEANT TO WORK 30 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
35. ANALYSIS CONCLUSIONS Payment & Order system is our spine. Having a seamless customer experience from online to offline is a physiological need. We must address it in priority. AtoZ rebuild of our payment system & order lifecycle 31 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
36. THE HARD DECISIONS 32 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
37. THE HARD DECISIONS ▸ Stop or postpone other projects 32 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
38. THE HARD DECISIONS ▸ Stop or postpone other projects ▸ Dedicated TaskForce for next 9 months 32 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
39. THE HARD DECISIONS ▸ Stop or postpone other projects ▸ Dedicated TaskForce for next 9 months ▸ No bug fixes on legacy anymore 32 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
40. THE HARD DECISIONS ▸ Stop or postpone other projects ▸ Dedicated TaskForce for next 9 months ▸ No bug fixes on legacy anymore ▸ Accept to decrease the quality of service to improve it afterwards 32 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
41. EXPLAIN EXECUTIVE TEAM & STAKEHOLDERS WE WILL NOT RELEASE BIG FEATURE FOR THE NEXT 9 MONTHS 33 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
42. YES, ROADMAP IS Here 34 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
43. THE IDEA: PROGRESSIVE REPLACEMENT OF MEANS OF PAYMENT (MOP) FROM THE OLD PLATFORM TO THE NEW ONE 35 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
44. THE PLAN: DEPENDING ON THE BUSINESS IMPACT AND THE POTENTIAL RISK, WE PRIORITIZED THE MOP DEPLOYMENT BY PLATFORM 36 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
45. RELEASE THE LEAN WAY ▸ Slice for the fastest way in production ▸ Mitigate risks with Feature Toggles ▸ ... and Rollback ▸ Do not create all the tools day one (simple spreadsheet is ok) 37 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
46. 38 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
47. THINK ABOUT FEATURE FLIPPING & “FEATURE CAPPING” AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT 39 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
48. 40 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
49. 5 - MEANWHILE WITH THE TECH & PRODUCT TEAM 41 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
50. SHOW YOUR NUMBERS 42 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
51. CODE REVIEW, CODE REVIEW, NEVER SKIP CODE REVIEW 43 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
52. DEVOPS SUPPORT ▸ Fully Dockerized dev environment ▸ Fresh dataset automation ▸ Keep syncing with master branch whenever you can ▸ Deploy on a testable feature branch 44 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
53. THE LEGACY ROOMATE 45 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
54. THE LEGACY ROOMATE ▸ Do not feed the monster 45 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
55. THE LEGACY ROOMATE ▸ Do not feed the monster ▸ Starve the monster whenever it's possible 45 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
56. THE LEGACY ROOMATE ▸ Do not feed the monster ▸ Starve the monster whenever it's possible ▸ Separate bundles in the new platform 45 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
57. THE LEGACY ROOMATE ▸ Do not feed the monster ▸ Starve the monster whenever it's possible ▸ Separate bundles in the new platform ▸ Make the new services more desireable than the easy (dark) one 45 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
58. 6 - RESULTS & LEARNINGS 46 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
59. RESULTS ▸ 97% of orders are now processed on the new system ▸ bug (almost) free ▸ easy to track/reconciliate ▸ -20% on Customer Care contact rate 47 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
60. RESULTS ▸ Enabler for Mobile platforms better performance ▸ From 40% to 55% of mobile contribution in sales ▸ The user/order lifecyle is now readable, not only by developers 48 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
61. MISTAKES 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
62. MISTAKES ▸ Postponing information to board/exec team on platform state 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
63. MISTAKES ▸ Postponing information to board/exec team on platform state ▸ Took too much time to decide the refactoring 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
64. MISTAKES ▸ Postponing information to board/exec team on platform state ▸ Took too much time to decide the refactoring ▸ Spent too much energy to solve bugs instead rebuilding 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
65. MISTAKES ▸ Postponing information to board/exec team on platform state ▸ Took too much time to decide the refactoring ▸ Spent too much energy to solve bugs instead rebuilding ▸ No unified & shared documentation on business process 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
66. MISTAKES ▸ Postponing information to board/exec team on platform state ▸ Took too much time to decide the refactoring ▸ Spent too much energy to solve bugs instead rebuilding ▸ No unified & shared documentation on business process ▸ Stakeholders not enough involved & informed once the project was launched 49 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
67. OTHER LEARNINGS 50 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
68. OTHER LEARNINGS ▸ The monster will not die before long 50 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
69. OTHER LEARNINGS ▸ The monster will not die before long ▸ But you can "contain" it 50 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
70. OTHER LEARNINGS ▸ The monster will not die before long ▸ But you can "contain" it ▸ Mob(ish) programming is cool for tricky design phase 50 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
71. OTHER LEARNINGS ▸ The monster will not die before long ▸ But you can "contain" it ▸ Mob(ish) programming is cool for tricky design phase ▸ Never skip code reviews 50 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
72. Merci ! 51 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
73. Q&A ( AU CAFÉ ;-) ) 52 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
74. HERVÉ LOURDIN - @HERVELOURDIN FOLLOW US AT @VD_LABS SAY HELLO! AT: HELLO@VIDEDRESSING.COM 53 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
75. APPENDIX 54 — Tech Rocks - Videdressing © - 2017
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