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Agile, etc.
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Penelope Phippen
October 21, 2015
Technology
2
210
Agile, etc.
Penelope Phippen
October 21, 2015
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Transcript
Agile, etc
a!/samphippen
None
None
This is not a Judgement
Everyone always screws up all of their software projects
All software projects are always late
No customer ever gets everything they want
No software is ever done
Your primary objective should be to still like everyone
Let’s have some questions !!/samphippen
[email protected]
Let’s have some questions !!/samphippen
[email protected]
Let’s have some questions !!/samphippen
[email protected]
None
The most important lesson
If you pay attention to nothing else
All computer problems are people problems
All computer problems are people problems
No software project ever failed for technical reasons
Not one
“They made us use the wrong database!”
Communication is of dire importance
Communicate with your clients
Communicating with clients
You are already commercially proficient as a developer
Make your clients believe it
Managing clients is its own, separate, complex, skill
In the client’s mind the scope is always changing
In the client’s mind the scope is infinite
You cannot deliver infinite software
You cannot deliver to wildly changing goals
Establish clear scopes with your client
Adjust scopes over time
You are allowed to say no to features
You are allowed to say no to platforms
Hands up time
Mobile apps?
Both android and iOS?
That expectation is unreasonable
Strike it now
Aim for small, working, and complete
Aim for one platform, technology, and framework
Explain that aim to your client
Be reasonable about what you can achieve
Explain what you can achieve reasonably
No client can fault you for that
Technicals
How to not fuck up your project
Do not adopt an “Agile” methodology
Fixed practises
Fixed practises
Agile is a toolbox
Use the tools that work for you, don’t use the
ones that don’t
“Works for you” has multiple definitions
I find you can intuit when process is slowing you
down
Watch how much you ship
Your process is allowed to change over time
Aggressively limit scope
Iterate towards client’s goals
Minimum viable product?
Sign up Login 1 feature
Build this to an absolutely rock solid standard
Give the client something they can show
It is reasonable to assume you will produce an MVP
in this project
More is bonus points!
How to get there?
Work with clients to get high level tasks
You all have an intuition about how to go from
zero to a client’s goals
Communicate with your team
Form a plan
Work out the big tasks
Break tasks down
Break tasks down to really small units
Break tasks down to really small units like really hilariously
small
Gather the team
Turn everything into tasks that will take at most one
person day
That everyone thinks won’t take more than a day
Then take a week to do them
Do two if you’re feeling adventurous
Show work at the end of two weeks
If you can’t break down a task it means two
things
Client hasn’t explained it well enough
Your project isn’t in a state where it can be
done yet
Focus on things that can immediately be done
Two week cycle
Meeting with client on monday
Read the Backlog
Pull items from backlog to be done this cycle
Work out if that’s too much work
Work out if that’s too much work (it is)
Assign work
Aim to have work done by end of week
Team meeting at end of week
Test Find Bugs Refactor
Finish features if they’re not done
Meeting on friday with client
Show work done
Reprioritise backlog
Repeat
You get enough of these cycles to ship something
Progress is measurable
Client can adjust
No “mega features”
“Client acceptance”
Don’t wait until the end of the project
Get it literally every two weeks.
Tools
Trello
Backlog Next up In Progress Done
GitHub
Do pull requests
Don’t merge master unless you’re sure stuff works
Two final suggestions
Use Java
Steer the fuck away from C++
Let’s have some questions a!/samphippen
[email protected]