Stanfy MadCode Meetup#1: Making friends with backend developers

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Making friends with backend developers Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 1

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Making friends with backend developers Well, at least don't fight Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 2

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Own experience • Outsource • Own products • Working with remote backend team • Creating backends ourselves Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 3

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Situation Remote team: Mobile team <~> Backend team Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 4

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Situation Remote team: Mobile team <~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ > Backend team Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 5

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Situation Remote team: Mobile team <~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~ ocean ~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ > Backend team Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 6

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What we want from backend? • Use less requests • Send only needed data in suitable format • Low latency • Handle heavy computations Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 7

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What we do? • Hey, let's change this request • Hey, let's add this ﬁeld • Hey, let's get data in that format • Hey, let's have public URL to pics • Hey, let's ... Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 8

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What we usually hear from backend devs? • No, I need yet another table to join • No, it's not simple to add that ﬁeld • No, calculate it on your side • No, our library can't do that • No, I'll deploy these changes in next sprint Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 9

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Problems • Different goals • Misunderstanding • Lack of trust • Limited experience Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 10

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Solutions? Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 11

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No solution Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 12

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Approaches • Write documentation • Write tests • Write constructive emails • Explain on examples Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 13

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API documentation • Need time to write • Need time to update • Need time to search • Useless if outdated Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 14

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API documentation • 'Put everything in one place' (not in emails, not in head) • User friendly • Access anywhere at any time • Determined • Always updated Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 15

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Creating API documentation • Auto generated docs from code • API tests • Wiki • Google Doc • Emails/skype history/developer's head Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 16

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Documentation in Google Doc • Easy to create (access anywhere) • Easy to share • Easy to update (ACL) Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 17

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Documentation in Google Doc • Loooong & slow • Not super-structured (as wiki) Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 18

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Must have: easy navigation Table of changes • When • Who • What was changed (with links) Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 19

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Must have: easy navigation Table of changes • When • Who • What was changed (with links) Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 20

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Must have: easy navigation Contents • Quick to search • Easy to deep into Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 21

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Must have: fundamentals Envinronment description • Production server URL • Dev server URL(s) • Main accounts • Version Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 22

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Must have: fundamentals Data formats • JSON/xml • Response should be valid! • Encoding • Timestamp format • Boolean format • Float format Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 23

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Must have: fundamentals Request formats • GET • POST (body format) Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 24

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Must have: headers HTTP headers for Request • Accept content-type • Accept encoding • Cookie • Device • App version • Image scaling • Session handling Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 25

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Must have: HTTP codes HTTP codes • What are valid? • What app should do? Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 26

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Must have: response structure Response structure • Inner error code • Error message to user • Body Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 27

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Must have: communication with user Inner error codes + message • Ok • Session is expired • DB error • Synchonization needed • Just show message to user Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 28

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Must have in API documentation • Easy navigation and search: • Table of changes • Contents • Fundamentals • Envinronment description • Data formats • Request/response structure Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 29

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API tests • Shared with backend dev • Public results • 'Everything is broken' - blame Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 30

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API tests. Helium https://github.com/stanfy/helium • DSL description • Poke tests • Scenarios tests • Object generation Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 31

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Miscommunication Be definite • Discuss smth in emails/chat -> add to API doc • Add manager to email thread Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 32

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Miscommunication Provide full details • Add headers • Add timestamps • Add session IDs • Mark out details Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 33

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Explain Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 34

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Explain Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 35

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Miscommunication Explain • Backend developer is not iPhone/Android user • Have no idea how data will shown • Design driven vs DB-data driven Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 36

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Miscommunication Be polite • Thanks for quick changes • Thanks for deploy • Thanks for description Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 37

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Why we need this? • We deal with real users • We gather feedbacks Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 38

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Last slide Helium https://github.com/stanfy/helium Google doc http://bit.ly/1s69iVP Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 39

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Questions @vixentael avoitova@stanfy.com.ua Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 40

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Making friends with backend developers. Stanfy MadCode Meetup, 2014. 41