agile tales of creative customer collaboration

Claudio Perrone

Most IT projects failWill yours?

“ Software development productivity would skyrocket...

--- Neal Ford

…if the least effective 30% were fired tomorrow“

How do you get results?

Sir, I urge you to revisit your process

Darling, people matter too!

Dude, check this technology out

Once upon a time I was a successful software developer…

My technical skills made me feel invincible

Until one day…

…I entered a world of deception

It was Hell from day 1

What would you do?

I choked

…but then, I decided to fight back

This is what I tried:

Agility

Effective Communication

DeliberateCreativity1

23

Agility1

I made a choice:

from predictive...

...to adaptive

Fixed time-boxes help focus...

Can you focus for

48 minutes?

Short iterations enable everything

Creativity

Motivation

Reflection

Prioritization

Feedback

almost

How do you express requirements?

Card Conversation Confirmation(acceptance

criteria)

The 3 Cs of a User Story

Card: role, feature, benefit

Customer withdraws cash

As a customer,I want to withdraw cash from an ATM,so that I don’t have to wait in line at the bank.

Ref: http://dannorth.net/introducing-bdd

How do you know you are done?

Define an acceptance criteria (BDD)

Then [ensure some outcomes]

[Scenario title]

Given [some initial context]

When [an event occurs]

Ref: http://dannorth.net/introducing-bdd

Acceptance criteria example: context

Scenario 1: Account is in credit

Given the account is in credit

And the card is valid

And the dispenser contains cash

Acceptance criteria example: event

When the customer requests cash

Acceptance criteria example: outcomes

Then ensure the account is debited

And ensure cash is dispensed

And ensure the card is returned

A little twist: Scenarios can be parsed…

…and then “automated”!

In Ruby:

Given “the account is in credit” do# ...

End

In .NET:

.Given(“the account is in credit”)()

{...}

Early success brought confidence…

…but the project was still at risk

Effective Communication

2

First… SHUT UP!

ListenDon’t just hear

Find their greatest need

Commit to a ubiquitous language

Establish trust

Build a sense of ownership

Keep your enemies closer

--- Anonymous Proverb“We see things not as they are, but as we are.

plantCreativity

co-ordinatorDirection

resource investigator

Resources

teamworkerTeam

monitor-evaluatorCriticality

shaperShaping

completer/specialist

Detail

implementerTask

Roles and perceptions

How could we get smarter

Deliberate Creativity

3

Unlocking creativity: From what and how to “what if”

Explorer

The creativity process

Artist

Judge

Warrior

Extract Concept (1/2)

You have identified a concrete idea that addresses a given objective...

Extract Concept (2/2)

Extract a broader concept to facilitate the creation of alternatives.

Therefore

Connect all dots with 4 straight lines

Connect all dots with 4 straight lines

How about 3 straight lines?

1 line?

Reverse assumptions (1/2)

You want to generate alternative ideas by challenging your current assumptions…

Reverse assumptions (2/2)

List your assumptionsWrite the opposite of those assumptionsTry to identify how to accomplish each reversal

Therefore

Parallel Thinking

Six thinking hats

So, what happened to the project?

Amazingly, it succeeded

Lessons learned...

“We moved from the Flintstones era to the future.--- an end user

“I was part of something. I belonged.--- a developer

Thank you!

Claudio Perrone

cperrone@innerworkings.com

www.claudioperrone.com/blog