The Working and Managements Styles of Five Different Industries

Slides from the talk I gave to Software Engineering students in their final year at Coventry University.

Transcript

1. The Working & Management Styles of Five Different Industries Monday 28th Jan 2013 2-4pm Coventry University 1
2. 340 CT – Software Quality and Process Management: Aims and Summary Date of Talk: Monday 28 January 2013 14:00 – 16:00 This module looks at how software project managers can anticipate and handle the software quality and software process problems that can arise in the production of a large scale software development (LSSD). Students learn the tools and techniques for assuring software quality, and for improving the quality of the software process itself. They also look at the tools and techniques needed to successfully manage a LSSD whilst avoiding the problems related to configuration management and version control. 2 Module Outline
3. Overview Background (childhood, education, career, projects) 1. Agency Life (hard graft, rewarding) 2. Local Government (Fire Service) 3. Internet Startups (Yahoo, Agile) 4. Commercial Sector (insurance, success and failures) 5. Going Freelance (international clients) Questions 3
4. Who am I? Devigner (n) A web professional disciplined in both design and development Married with children House music fanatic Watcher of sports Extremely open and vocal (37,000 tweets?) 4
5. Geek from an early age 5 1988 Coding text-based games on C64 1991 Moved beyond 8-bit to 16-bit Windows and QBasic 1993 Pushing pixels of 2D animations in glorious 256 colours 1995 Rendering 3D graphics and scenery through the night
6. Education Paving my way with GCSEs in Business and Media Studies Led to A-Level Computer and Media Studies Interactive Multimedia: 2nd choice at Staffs University Deferred to "save money" and gain work experience Graduated 2003 with Secondary Honours 6
7. Career Path 7 1996 Systems Analyst at Rover Japan 2001 Web Designer at Webmastermedia 2003 Senior Systems Developer at West Mids Fire Service 2007 Front-End Engineer at Yahoo! 2008 Senior Web Developer at KGM 2010 Head of Web at Premium Choice
8. I don't sleep Multipack - community of web creatives from around the Midlands multipack.co.uk House Finesse - monthly house music podcast housefinesse.com World Cup KickOff - calendar downloads of popular football tournament worldcupkickoff.com (Also led to Euro KickOff, 6Nations KickOff, F1 Calendar …) Super Rams - Twitter community for 6,400+ Derby County FC fans @derbycounty 8
9. Agency life Webmastermedia (2001-2003) Intense, long days of work Rewarding outcomes Focus on clients Strict time management Meeting client expectations 9
10. Hat for every occasion Project Manager Designer Copywriter Front-end Developer Application Developer 10 System Administrator Search Engine Cowboy Social Media Ninja Tech Support Client
11. Heavy Lift Group Established relationship with large international organisation Perfect example of effective networking Group portal for improving communication Continous developments on additional services Further work for individual companies Repeat work Similar business models, re-use existing code 11
12. Identifying side projects Recurring techniques and solutions for clients SEO, marketing, content generation Software as a Solution (SaaS) Work between client deadlines Focus on core features - avoid scope creep Love it but don't get too attached 12
13. The client is always right “Can you make my logo bigger?” (makemylogobiggercream.com) “What's wrong with Comic Sans?” (bancomicsans.com) “I want all my content above the fold” (iampaddy.com/lifebelow600) Typical clichés - or are they? 13
14. Working in local government West Midlands Fire Service (2003-2007) Civil duties to society For the community, the greater good Real world, real people Red tape. Red tape. More red tape. 14
15. Intranet2 Bespoke intranet applications JobsOnline, QuickBook, QuickRooms Work closely with owners (departments) Design, build, review. Repeat. Consistent user experience Corporate style guide Accessibility not an after thought 15
16. Prepared Emergency services, utilities, council and more Unified communication channel for West Midlands conurbation and resicilience forum Regular meetings Large scale organisation, simplified delivery Built on early Java migration of WordPress westmidlandsprepared.gov.uk 16
17. Tips for local government Limited budgets and resources Self taught through online content and communities Set low (achievable) expectations Break large projects into smaller, manageable phased deliveries Use available skills and resources (people and services) 17
18. "Working" at Internet company Yahoo! (2007-2008) Culture difference Recreation "break out" areas Hack Days Code Reviews Free Coke and Pizza Launch party – after launch party… 18 http://www.flickr.com/photos/98616469@N00/3633908316/
19. Living the dream They "get" the Web Human Resources Talent acquisition Work with industry experts Accepted as an equal Support network always available Pushing the boundaries of technology and techniques 19
20. Hello. Bonjour. Guten tag. Hi. From London to Paris (to Berlin to California…) Timezones to comprehend (5pm GMT = 9am Pacific Time) Breaking down language barriers Lessons i18n and L10n Multi cultural (holidays) 20
21. Introduction to Agile Agile framework, Scrum Sprint planning (accepting stories, "Double it") Stand Up (daily morning check-in, yesterday, today, "take it offline") The Scrumleader's Burndown chart Sprint review (go or no-go) Retrospectives (positive outcomes) 21
22. Working on [redacted] Thrown in the deep end on new product Rapid ramp up Difficult design to develop First suggestion welcomed (phew!) Work continued for several months Microsoft buy-out emerged http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222114.stm Product shelved as consequence of reshuffle and prioritisation 22
23. Rebuild Answers Idea from Bangkok Hack Day Hugely popular (especially amongst pregnant women) Y! Europe rebuild on scalable, robust framework (Symfony) Refactor design, application and front-end code Opportunity to improve user experience Bucket tests in different countries Phased roll out 23
24. Show me the money! Bold move into commercial (financial) sector KGM, Premium Choice and global investors B2B vs B2C Ethical contrast to previous industries Lead web development across the Group Commute to London and Birmingham Huge potential personally and for business 24
25. The Underwriters Underwritten by Lloyds of London Executive “city” lifestyle Investors in people Identified need for extra people Role shift to strategical manager Recruit range of skills for different requirements “Hands on” 25
26. Project DIY Revolutionary new product Market research Prototype user experience Focus groups Usability studies Real, honest, constructive, valuable feedback Shelved product Insight to attitude towards insurance 26
27. Broker Focus B2B application for brokers Specification created by customer’s needs .NET back office software ASP.NET web proxy CakePHP web application Continuous application testing Real user testing 27
28. The Brokers Founded by two directors with 50 years experience combined Home of Dunlop tyres Dog-eat-dog sales-driven culture in call centre environment Down to earth colleagues In 2008, 100% leads from telephone In 2012, 95% leads from web (price comparison sites) Versatile, reactive business model 28
29. Hermes Bespoke CRM prototype to manage incoming leads Designed and developed around internal infrastructure Conceptual redesign on enterprise .NET framework Third attempt on "rapid" CakePHP framework Designed and built to user's exact requirements Additional toolkit and resources to improve workflow Company's secret weapon 29
30. Agilezen Multiple projects Kanban board Priorities and progress Task breakdown Instant email/IM notifications Stories generated from real customers www.agilezen.com 30
31. Don't always trust friends Website redesign to modern framework Professional, user-friendly design Further developments stacked up Outsourced to "friend of a friend" due to limited resources Questionable design + cost creep = regrettable decision Lost contract and (consequently) control 31
32. Working with UEFA UEFA "acquired" eurokickoff.com UEFA Calendars (Champions League, Europa, Organisation) Client in Switzerland, developer in Iceland Plenty to comprehend (including timezones and Summer Time) Integrate with existing frameworks (CDN, templates) Launched for 2008-2009 season (calendars.uefa.com) Regular reviews to improve user experience Customised calendars EURO 2012 Migration to new CDN 32
33. Communication Skype is your friend (VOIP and text chat) Email for quick updates (always available) Occasional meetings in London (you can't beat face-to-face discussions) Regular telephone calls towards launch (keep it short, to the point) Project management apps (available on demand) 33
34. Project Management Online Market research Diluted market Specify requirements Review existing process and tools Recommendations from internet (Twitter) Basecamp (basecamphq.com) Unfuddle (unfuddle.com) 34
35. Unfuddle Task management (change requests, fixes) Meta data (size, priority, people, comments) Version control (Subversion, releases, changes) Progress (reports, customise) Notifications (email, app notifications) Availability (web, apps) Workflow (fitted to our needs) Affordable (starting at $5/mon) 35
36. Finding your niche “One size fits all” doesn't exist Be honest with your clients Recommend or collaborate with others for specialist requirements Focus on your forté - become an expert 36
37. The End 37 simon.jobling@gmail.com simon.jobling @Si sijobling.com/talks