Under Pressure

This talk is an exploration of how we react to pressure on our software projects to GO FASTER!
Originally presented at Agile and Beyond 2017

Transcript

1. Under Pressure Resisting the urge to GO FASTER
2. My name is Todd Kaufman Tweet away @toddkaufman Say hello@testdouble.com
3. Disclaimer: The stories you are about to hear are strictly HYPOTHETICAL
4. The Team
5. The Team
6. The Team
7. Iterations Points Remaining
8. Iterations Points Remaining
9. Iterations Points Remaining
10. Iterations Points Remaining
11. “We need to add more people!”
12. “Let’s work weekends until we’re back on track!”
13. “I’ll just skip tests for this feature and come back to do them later”
14. Will we SPEED UP?
15. Faster 10% Slower 90% Results
16. and the cycle continues…
17. How do we react to PRESSURE
18. How can we avoid PRESSURE
19. More People
21. Does adding developers resources to a project, that is already late, speed it up?
22. Nope
24. Why is this?
25. 1. Ramp up 2. Communication 3. Separation of work 4. Integration 5. Dysfunction
26. “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.” Brook’s Law
27. “Adding people to a dysfunctional software environment makes it even more inept.” Todd’s Law
28. Instead
29. Fix existing issues
33. Remove negativity and waste
34. More Commitment
35. PMs like per sprint estimation
36. Predictable outcomes
37. Time 1x .25x 4x Cone of uncertainty
38. Realistic cone of uncertainty
39. Time 1x .25x 8x
40. “When will we be done?”
41. “We don’t know”
42. One cannot simply change an estimate to a commitment
43. #noestimates
44. 3 possible outcomes
45. 1. Nailed it!
46. 2. Early
47. 3. Late
48. How does that affect the next estimation session?
50. Instead
51. #noestimates
52. Cycle Time
53. Quick Sizing
54. More Stress
55. Does applying pressure work?
56. Stress Performance Fatigue Exhaustion ILL - Health Breakdown Comfort Zone
57. What about creativity?
58. Creativity Under the Gun
59. Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Creativity
60. Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Creativity
61. Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Creativity Planning Meeting
62. Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Creativity Planning Meeting
63. Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Creativity Planning Meeting
64. Are developers lazy?
65. not when properly motivated
67. But we aren’t saving lives…
68. Focus less on stress
69. Instead
70. Focus more on Why
71. Cut Corners
72. Do we reduce QUALITY in order to speed up?
73. What is quality?
74. “low Cyclomatic Complexity”
75. “SOLID”
76. “High Test Coverage!”
77. Quality How easily and safely we can change a codebase
78. Do we reduce QUALITY in order to speed up?
79. Less Tests
80. Less Refactoring
81. More Complexity
82. Less Comprehension
83. More Defects
84. More Rework
85. Less Quality
86. Less Speed
87. Instead
88. Resist!
89. Make Debt Visible
90. Pair More
91. Estimation
92. #noestimates
93. Are there cases where we should estimate?
94. “Is there a ROI?”
95. $150k
96. $150k $780k
97. Left with only this data…
98. We need estimation
99. We need to get better at estimation
100. Why is ESTIMATION so difficult?
101. 1. Optimism Bias
102. Other 5% Programming 95% Workday as we estimate it
103. Other 10% Cukes 15% Meetings 25% Work 50% Workday as we live it
104. 2. No two things are alike
105. 3. Requirements suck
106. “The ability to report on data”
107. Instead
108. Team Level Cycle Time
109. Resist Change
110. Leverage Spikes
111. Adjust Fidelity
112. Is it just a Lack of trust?
113. Yes
114. Have we earned it?
115. No
116. Discipline and Accountability
117. Objectives Constraints Fidelity
118. Communication Impediments Organization
119. Estimation Quality Resistance
120. Predictable over Quick
121. Thank you!
122. References: https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Responses-Organizations/dp/0674276604 https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/ 0201835959 http://dilbert.com/strip/2010-04-29 https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-some-men-pretend-to-work-80-hour-weeks https://hbr.org/2002/08/creativity-under-the-gun http://www.construx.com/Resources/White_Papers/Managing_Technical_Debt/ Icons: Dice by Hopkins from the Noun Project Clamp by Tomas Knopp from the Noun Project Quality badge by Gregor Cresnar from the Noun Project Communication by Oksana Latysheva from the Noun Project options by Bernar Novalyi from the Noun Project Unicorn by Lele Saa from the Noun Project Tshirt by Edward Boatman from the Noun Project Lock by Aleksandr Vector from the Noun Project