four words to stop saying in your tech project
TRANSCRIPT
FOUR WORDS TO STOP SAYING IN YOUR TECH PROJECT
BARRETT CONRAD
A TINY PREFACE….
SOFTWARE IS STILL DIFFICULT
CAN DONE TWEAK COMMUNICATE
CAN
“CAN YOU BUILD ME A SITE THAT SAVES MY CUSTOMERS 15% ON THEIR CAR INSURANCE IN JUST 15 MINUTES?”
– Everyone
CUSTOMERINSURANCE UNDERWRITER 15% INSURANCE APP
HOW
CAN TO HOW: ROLES
▸ YOU
▸ Bring expertise
▸ Make decisions
▸ Prioritize
▸ Determine business model
▸ US
▸ Guide technology
▸ Explain tradeoffs
▸ Breakdown features
▸ Build software
HOW: STRATEGIES
▸ Identify Constraints
▸ Test and validate
▸ Fake it till you make it
▸ Build software around existing processes
DONE
WHAT’S WRONG WITH ‘DONE’
▸ Software is never done
▸ It’s a business not a product
▸ Money is not a good measure
CONFIDENCE
DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
1.0
DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
CONFIDENCE STRATEGIES
▸ Identify goals that will drive value.
▸ Divide your project features in half. Do it again. Again.
▸ Earlier versions get earlier validation
▸ Welcome a change of course
TWEAK
“YEAH…IT’S ALMOST RIGHT. WE’LL TWEAK IT LATER.”
– Everybody at a meeting
WHAT’S WRONG WITH ‘TWEAK’
▸ Dismissive
▸ Sneaky
▸ No clear ownership / accountability
▸ Failure to make a decisions (indecisions in the group)
▸ Not data driven
TEXT
BEWARE THE SYNONYMS!
“POLISH” “CLEAN UP” “REFINE” “ADJUST”
PROCESS
USE A PROCESS
1. Identify problem
2. Clearly identify as ‘no decision’
3. Put it in the ‘icebox’ for explicit review later
4. Assign to someone to review
5. Identity how you get the data you need
6. Gather the data
7. Bring request into an iteration backlog for development
Bonus: Allow clear points of addition to project
COMMUNICATE
EmailText
Apps
Phone
Water cooler
PM Tools
MeetingsCasual chat
Paper
Raven
Documents
Notifications
Conference Call
Voicemail
Slack
Last night at the bar
SIGNAL
SIGNAL STRATEGIES
▸ Consistent terms and processes
▸ Stand-up (specific ‘Needs’)
▸ Standard meeting agendas
▸ Define purpose of shared tool’s
▸ Slack vs Trello vs Email vs X
▸ Software Integrations
▸ Post to Slack
▸ Summarize
▸ Burn down chart
▸ Changelog, report
▸ Manage tasks
▸ Process and assign
▸ Roles
▸ Moments
▸ Delivery and demo
CAN HOW DONE CONFIDENCE TWEAK PROCESS COMMUNICATE SIGNAL
THANK YOU
▸ @cotingasoft
▸ www.cotingasoft.com