Managing (Innovative) Software Projects

Transcription

1 Managing (Innovative) Software Projects Chris Riesbeck Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Learning Sciences Center for Technology and Social Behavior Northwestern University 1

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3 Feature Presentation: Agile Intervention 3

4 Week 1 WorkIt! We've got the green light for our WorkIt! app. They love the idea of a personalized audio workout coach and exercise tracker. Your personal trainer hands-free coaching instant diary 100's of downloadable routines 4

5 Week 1 OK, let's figure out what we need to build.... a page to manage authors, users, and profiles... A phone app to call out the steps... We'll need a server, home page, page to define workout routines... OK, here's a schedule. Let's get going! User admin module Workout entry module User sign up, enter profile Download custom workout Workout Caller Demo! Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 5

6 Week 2 Where's my new user admin page? Were you working on that? I may have covered it up when I uploaded my code this morning! Where is the new database? It took me 3 hours. I uploaded it last night. It's on my laptop... that I left on the shuttle 6

7 Week 3 Lessee...what to do next? Task list Eeny meeny......this looks good! Validate s Allow 24-hour specials Add drag-and-drop Add logout button Fix transition Add multiple s Fix typo on who we are Add Facebook linkage Reformat login form Do euros Allow notifications Add sleep mode Fix repeat glitch 7

8 Week 3 Was that on the list? The logo dances now! Fix transition Add multiple s Fix typo on who we are Add Facebook linkage Reformat login form Do euros Allow notifications Add sleep mode Fix repeat glitch Refactor db schema Add average to stats Add median to stats Only let admins delete Reorganize css files Task list Update stats unit tests Add Safari support Animate intro logo Remove premium link Update Ruby gems Find div-by-0 bug Change to daily logs Validate s What about the Facebook link? Allow 24-hour specials Add drag-and-drop 8

9 Week 4 I did the UI Dale did phone app Kim did the DB Project progress report... Karl did the server code and our project is toast It's just a scratch. I'll be out of traction in 5 weeks. 9

10 Week 5 Can we demo downloading a routine and working out? We present next week! Can we at least demo getting a routine? What can we demo? We didn't get that far in the schedule. We didn't get there either. Signing on! User admin module Workout entry module User sign up, enter profile Download custom workout Workout Caller Demo! Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 10

11 Suddenly... 11

12 Well, that was a disaster. What a run of bad luck. We saw you were having problems. We're your Guardian Agiles. Who are those guys? Luck had nothing to do with it watch! 12

13 This is classic code chaos. It gets worse and worse until a project collapses. 13

14 You had too many tasks to keep track of. And no focus on what really mattered. 14

15 Your bus factor was 1 That's how few people need to get hit by a bus for your project to fail. 15

16 Here's your biggest problem of all. Your schedule saved the best for last, i.e., never. 16

17 I guess we have to try harder. Not harder. Different. One key idea early value and a few practices can help a lot. You're going to get a chance to do this again. We'll pop in to help. Here we go... 17

18 Week 1... a page to manage authors, users, and profiles... A phone app to call out the steps... We'll need a server, home page, page to define workout routines... Your value is getting lost in features and code. 18

19 Week 1 Start with a different question. A user entering an exercise goal profile. A user doing a routine with the phone calling out the steps. What are your user scenarios? The ones you must have in your MVP? Great! Put those scenarios into a release backlog. An expert authoring a workout routine. A user finding and downloading a routine that fits her profile. 19

20 Week 1 OK, we've got our scenarios. Let's start coding! Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine app calls out routine steps Not yet! Is all this doable in the time you have? 20

21 Week 1 What do you think, guys? 4 weeks? 6? We really suck as estimating. Things take 2 to 5 times longer than we think. Don't even try to estimate time! Everyone sucks at it. Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine app calls out routine steps 21

22 Week 1 First, break the scenarios down into their major development tasks. Then sort the tasks from easiest to hardest. Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine app calls out routine steps You mean like 2 points for a story that looks twice as hard as the easiest ones? Give the easiest 1 point. Give more points to the harder ones. Exactly! 22

23 Week 1 workout db tables Let's put our tasks up on the wall. workout editor logic profile db tables workout editor pages profile update logic login pages profile update pages download pages text to speech code phoneside routine DB routine "runner" logic phone app UI Here are the tasks for authoring. Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine Here are the profile editor tasks. Here are the tasks for downloading. Here are the tasks for calling a workout. app calls out routine steps 23

24 Week 1 workout db tables workout editor logic profile db tables workout editor pages profile update logic login pages profile update pages download pages text to speech code phoneside routine DB routine "runner" logic phone app UI Now let's sort Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine app calls out routine steps 24

25 Week 1 login pages phoneside routine DB 1 2 Let's assign some numbers. workout db tables profile update pages 3 profile db tables download pages workout editor pages profile text to speech code phone app UI 5 update logic routine "runner" logic workout editor logic 8 Scenarios expert authors routine user adds profile user downloads routine app calls out routine steps I've seen Fibonacci numbers recommended. 25

26 Week 1 OK, that gives us 48 points in our backlog. Let's decide what to do first. Well, clearly we need a page to create users......and a way to author new workout routines... Scenarios Tasks expert authors routine build: routine db (3), editor code (8), editor html pages (5) user adds profile build: user profile db (3), updater code (5), profile update page (3) user downloads routine None of these test your core value prop! build: user login page (1), routine download page (3), phone routine db (2) app calls out routine steps build: text-speech code (5), routine tracker (5), phone app UI (5) 26

27 Week 1 What's the make or break scenario? Then do that first. If it doesn't work, nothing else matters? A user doing a workout with the phone calling out the steps. Don't defer value. Build as if each release might be your last. 27

28 Week 1 OK, let's implement running a workout routine. We should be able to get that scenario done in two weeks That's too vague. It's going to slip. 28

29 Week 1 Set hard deadlines. One-week timeboxes work well. ZFR: zero feature release (MVP skeleton). All key parts (db, server, app,...) running and talking to each other. only if needed ZFR Release 1 Release 2 Release 3 Final Release Demo! Each week is an internal release you can user test. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 29

30 Week 1 In a week? How can we possibly... DTSTTCPW: Do the simplest thing that could possibly work. Design for one function. DTSTTCPW! Don't build a database editor if a text file will work. Backlog anything not essential for validated learning. Do you really need user login just now? 30

31 Week 1 OK, let's get started. I'll do the UI, Kim the DB,... Don't deal out tasks. And don't silo! Silos: Separating developers by specialized skills and functionality. 31

32 Week 1 Make just one queue, most important stories first. Take the next one in line when you're ready, no matter what it is. Gang up on stories. Work together to get one story done before starting another. Story To Do In Process Done User can upload game Users can team up Users can edit avatars file upload avatar edit page avatar list page game parser user join team create team This will reduce work in progress, and cross-train to improve your bus factor. Agile Task Board: An project information radiator. 32

33 Week 1 At last, time to code! I put the web server on my dorm desktop with FTP. Everyone, be sure the team when you're working on a file! Don't manage code manually! Repeat after me Source control 33

34 Week 1 Put everything, code, documentation, sketches,... in a source control repository. Make sure everyone checks out a copy at least daily. A cloud solution like github works well. 34

35 Week

36 Week 2 Let's start on the next scenario! We did it! We had to simplify a lot but it works. What a push. Not yet. Something way more important. Test what you've built with some real users. Remember: Build Measure Learn. OK -- I can take care of getting this out to our test users. 36

37 Week 2 OK, some users are using Release 1. Now for the next scenario. Not yet. Reflect first! What didn't work out so well this first iteration? Why not? What change might help? 37

38 Week 2 One of us didn't use the source control system. OK, that happens. Why not? What would fix it? "Try harder" is not a good answer. I'm on Windows. I had trouble using git in a command window. I've installed a GUI plug-in which should make it easier for me. 38

39 Week 2 OK, we're testing, we've changed some processes... Now for the next scenario. Not yet. Are you on track to finish? What does your burndown chart predict? 39

40 Week 2 The burndown predicts finishing way too late. We'll need to push harder to make the deadline. We started with 48 points. Now we have 42. That's not sustainable and will hurt quality. Burndown #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Iteration Re-scope! Reduce the number of stories. Drop nice-to-have's. Simplify the musthave's. 40

41 Week 2 OK, dropping some workout features we don't need, we get 38 points. That should work. Let's start coding! Burndown 38 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Iteration 41

42 Week

43 We did it. Every week, we picked the next most important scenarios and made it work. Thanks, Guardian Agiles!!! Remember: early value, user scenarios, timeboxes, source control... that's for starters. Good luck! Often it wasn't what we originally planned to do at all. 43

44 What about you? Could you use some Guardian Agiles? 44

45 Readings! User Stories Applied. Mike Cohn. Addison-Wesley, 2004.! The Agile Samurai. Jonathan Rasmussen. Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2010.! Jim Murphy's Agile For Startups slides! Eric Ries' Startup Lessons Learned blog! Mike Cohn's Succeeding with Agile blog! Elisabeth Hendrickson's Agile Acid Test! Intro to Extreme Programming 45

46 Appendix 46

47 The Problem 47

48 The Problem An estimate is the most optimistic prediction that has a non-zero probability of coming true. Tom DeMarco, Controlling Software Projects, Prentice Hall, Schedule Estimation and Uncertainty Surrounding the Cone of Uncertainty. Todd Little. IEEE Software May/June

49 Terms Minimum Viable Product Release! "that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort."! Not a mockup, not just something small or easy! A releasable version of the product! Need not be public! A month or so at most 49

50 Terms Iteration A timebox in which the team commits to the implementation of a certain set of user stories. Every iteration same duration 1 or 2 weeks Backlog! A set of stories to be done! Release backlog: stories that define the current release! Iteration backlog: stories selected for the current iteration 50

51 Create a use case diagram to keep track of the key tasks for every user type. Use this when picking the most important scenarios. 51

52 Iteration Overview Diagram from The Software Project Manager's Bridge to Agility Sliger and Broderick Backlog of user stories planned for this release At start of each iteration, select next subset to do. Update backlog stories at any time. 52