Programmer Anarchy The Agile movement shifted the relationship between clients and developers in a profound way. In waterfall processes, clients specified large amounts of functionality, then nervously faded into the background until the fateful day-of-delivery. With Agile, developers strove to engage with clients continuously, and delivered much more frequently against their needs. A new trust was established. At the Forward Internet Group in London, we are implementing a second major shift between clients and developers. The trust of the clients in developers evolves into a broader trust of the developers to deliver business value without resorting to a series of well-defined stories. In essence, the business has empowered the developers to do what they think is right for the business. This model, popularized by Facebook, has several labels, but the one we prefer for our flavor is Programmer Anarchy. We will start with stock Agile, and begin to apply environmental factors that led us to drop “standard” Agile practices. We will also watch as well-defined Agile roles evaporate completely as other environmental factors are applied. Finally, we will arrive at Programmer Anarchy, an organization often following none of the standard Agile practices, having no BA or QA roles, and even missing any managers of programmers. We will summarize our environmental factors, and postulate on the required and optional factors. We will make bold, controversial assertions. We will back up these assertions with actual experiences.

1. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 1

2. PROGRAMMER ANARCHY
Fred George
Forward Internet Group, London, UK
fredgeorge@acm.org
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 1

3. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 2

4. Experiences at...
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5. Experiences at...
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6. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 3

7. Performance
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8. Performance
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9. Performance
£3m £7m £13m £27m £55m
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10. Performance
£3m £7m £13m £27m £55m
£0.5m £0.7m £1.0m £3.9m £10.0m
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 3

11. £100m
Performance
£3m £7m £13m £27m £55m
£0.5m £0.7m £1.0m £3.9m £10.0m
£15m
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12. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 4

13. Why is Forward Working?
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14. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 5

15. Cynefin Framework:
Model for Problems
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16. Cynefin Framework:
Model for Problems
✦ Father is Dave Snowden
✦ Published in Harvard Business Review, 2007
✦ A Leader's Framework for Decision Making
✦ Early publishing starting in 2000 from work at IBM
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17. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

18. The Cynefin Framework
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

19. The Cynefin Framework
Complicated
Simple
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20. The Cynefin Framework
Complicated
Cause  Effect
Simple
Cause  Effect
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

21. The Cynefin Framework
Complex Complicated
Cause ? Effect Cause  Effect
Chaotic Simple
Effect? Cause? Cause  Effect
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

22. The Cynefin Framework
Complex Complicated
Disorder
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

23. The Cynefin Framework
Complex Complicated
Disorder
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 6

24. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

25. Effective Organizations
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

26. Effective Organizations
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

27. Effective Organizations
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

28. Effective Organizations
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

29. Effective Organizations
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

30. Effective Organizations
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden 7

31. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 8

32. Agile Manifesto
✦ Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
✦ Working software over comprehensive documentation
✦ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
✦ Responding to change over following a plan
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 8

33. Agile Manifesto
✦ Individuals and interactions over processes and tools✓
✦ Working software over comprehensive documentation ✓
✦ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation ✓
✦ Responding to change over following a plan ✓
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 8

34. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 9

35. XP Values
✦ Feedback
✦ Communication
✦ Simplicity
✦ Courage
✦ Respect
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 9

36. XP Values
✦ Feedback ✓
✦ Communication ✓
✦ ✓
Simplicity
✦ Courage ✓
✦ Respect ✓
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37. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 10

38. Agile Best Practices
✦ Stand ups ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns
✦ Iterations ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
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39. Agile Best Practices Not Used
✦ Stand ups ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns
✦ Iterations ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
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40. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 11

41. Agile Impact:
Trust
between Customer and Developer
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42. Trust
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43. Trust
waterfall
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44. WHY?
✦ Larger systems
✦ Higher expectations
✦ Volatile commercial
environments
Trust ✦ etc...
waterfall
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45. Trust
waterfall
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 13

46. agile/lean
Trust
waterfall
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 13

47. Lean
Kanban
Trust SCRUM Agile
XP
waterfall agile/lean
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 13

48. Trust
Cultural
Chasm
waterfall agile/lean
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 13

49. ✦ Frequency of interaction
✦ Process impact
✦ Fewer roles (& titles!)
Trust
Cultural
Chasm
waterfall agile/lean
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 13

50. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 14

51. Role Impact
management
Agile
Roles
business development
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 14

52. Role Impact project
manager
iteration
management manager
Agile
Roles
business development
customer programmer architect
QA
BA UI designer
DBA
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 14

53. Role Impact project
manager
iteration
management manager
Agile
Roles
business development
customer
QA developer
BA
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 14

54. Trust
Cultural
Chasm
Fortune 50 story
waterfall agile/lean
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 15

55. Cultural
Chasm
Trust
Fortune 50 story
waterfall agile/lean
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd Idea from Mark Durrand, uSwitch 15

56. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 16

57. Agile Roles
✦ Customer
✦ Project manager
✦ Business analyst
✦ Developer
✦ Quality assurance / tester
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 16

58. Agile Roles
✦ Customer ✓
✦ Project manager
✦ Business analyst
✦ Developer ✓
✦ Quality assurance / tester
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 16

59. Agile Roles
✦ Customer ✓
✦ X
Project manager
✦ Business analyst X
✦ Developer ✓
✦ Quality assurance / tester X
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 16

60. Agile Roles Reduced Again...
✦ Customer ✓
✦ X
Project manager
✦ Business analyst X
✦ Developer ✓
✦ Quality assurance / tester X
✦ Manager of programmers X
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 16

61. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 17

62. Developer-Driven Development
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63. Developer-Driven Development
Open Source Business
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64. Developer-Driven Development
PROGRAMMER ANARCHY
Open Source Business
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 17

65. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 18

66. Why “ANARCHY”
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 18

67. Why “ANARCHY”
✦ EMPOWERMENT
✦ Somebody “gives” it
✦ Somebody can “take
it away”
✦ Leads to “Can I ... ?”
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 18

68. Why “ANARCHY”
✦ EMPOWERMENT ✦ ANARCHY
✦ Somebody “gives” it ✦ Nobody to ask
✦ Somebody can “take ✦ Can’t stop someone
it away” else
✦ Leads to “Can I ... ?” ✦ Disagreements
expected
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69. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 19

70. Matching Work and Devs
Stories Devs
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71. Matching Work and Devs
Stories Devs
Stand Up
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72. Matching Work and Devs
Projects Devs
“Resource Rumble”
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73. Matching Work and Devs
Projects Devs
Who?
“Resource Rumble”
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74. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 20

75. Agile Side Effect:
Story Tyranny
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76. Agile Side Effect:
Story Tyranny
✦ Development driven by stories
✦ Stories small
✦ Priority set by customer
✦ Story-level estimates and metrics
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 20

77. Agile Side Effect:
Story Tyranny
✦ Development driven by stories
✦ Stories small
✦ Priority set by customer
✦ Story-level estimates and metrics
Problem:
Developers become disconnected
from business problem (Drones)
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 20

78. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 21

79. Business Decisions Shift...
Trust
waterfall agile/lean anarchy
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 21

80. Business Decisions Shift...
Cust Dev
Trust
waterfall agile/lean anarchy
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 21

81. Business Decisions Shift...
Cust Dev
Trust
Cust Dev
waterfall agile/lean anarchy
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 21

82. Business Decisions Shift...
Cust Dev
Trust
Cust Dev
Cust Dev
waterfall agile/lean anarchy
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83. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 22

84. forwardtechnology.co.uk
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85. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 23

86. Example: Energy Revolution
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87. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Prior system:
✦ .NET with SQLServer
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88. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Prior system:
✦ .NET with SQLServer
✦ New system:
✦ Ruby, Clojure, C++
✦ MySQL, MongoDB
✦ HAML, SASS
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 23

89. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 24

90. Example: Energy Revolution
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91. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Ruby for energy calculation - big improvement!
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92. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Ruby for energy calculation - big improvement!
✦ Rewrote in Clojure
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 24

93. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Ruby for energy calculation - big improvement!
✦ Rewrote in Clojure
✦ Rewrote in Clojure (again)
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 24

94. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Ruby for energy calculation - big improvement!
✦ Rewrote in Clojure
✦ Rewrote in Clojure (again)
Question: What manager would let them to do it?
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95. Example: Energy Revolution
✦ Ruby for energy calculation - big improvement!
✦ Rewrote in Clojure
✦ Rewrote in Clojure (again)
Question: What manager would let them to do it?
Hence: No manager!
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96. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 25

97. Example: Click Tracking
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98. Example: Click Tracking
✦ Old system:
✦ Ruby-based, 32 servers with 40% utilization
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99. Example: Click Tracking
✦ Old system:
✦ Ruby-based, 32 servers with 40% utilization
✦ New system:
✦ Node.js, 22 servers with 10% utilization and lower
latency
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 25

100. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 26

101. Cultural Enablers
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102. Cultural Enablers
Fear is the
mind killer
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103. Cultural Enablers
Sound finances
Like risk
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 26

104. Cultural Enablers
Sound finances
Like risk
Clarity of Developer
success focused
Respected peers
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 26

105. Cultural Enablers
Do or not do,
Sound finances there is no try
Like risk Experimentation
drives innovation
If you are not failing,
you are not trying
Clarity of Developer
success focused
Respected peers
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 26

106. Cultural Enablers
Do or not do,
Sound finances there is no try
Like risk Experimentation
drives innovation
If you are not failing,
you are not trying
Clarity of Developer
success focused The greatest barrier
to success is
Respected peers the fear of failure
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 26

107. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 27

108. Agile Best Practices Not Used
✦ Stand ups ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns
✦ Iterations ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 27

109. Agile Best Practices Not Used
Trust w
✦ Stand ups collocation ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns
✦ Iterations ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 27

110. Agile Best Practices Not Used
Trust w
✦ Stand ups collocation ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns
Results,
✦ Iterations not blame ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 27

111. Agile Best Practices Not Used
Trust w
✦ Stand ups collocation ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
Small,
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
short-lived
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns apps
Results,
✦ Iterations not blame ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 27

112. Agile Best Practices Not Used
Trust w
✦ Stand ups collocation ✦ Unit tests
✦ Story narratives ✦ Acceptance tests
Small,
✦ Retrospectives ✦ Refactoring
short-lived
✦ Estimates ✦ Patterns apps
Results,
✦ Iterations not blame ✦ Continuous integration
✦ Mandatory pairing Continuous
deployment
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113. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 28

114. Reality Check
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115. Reality Check
✦ Different extent by team
✦ Talent, experience, apprehension
✦ Anarchy exists in how Anarchy is implemented
✦ Even our best Anarchists “ask” on occasion
✦ Commercial success driving freedom
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 28

116. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 29

117. Acknowledgments
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118. Acknowledgments
✦ Anarchists
✦ Andy Kent
✦ Paul Ingles
✦ Mike Jones
✦ ... and the rest of the Search Team
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119. Acknowledgments
✦ Anarchists
✦ Andy Kent
✦ Paul Ingles
✦ Mike Jones
✦ ... and the rest of the Search Team
✦ Enablers
✦ Carl Gaywood and Neil Hutchinson
Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 29

120. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 30

121. PROGRAMMER ANARCHY
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122. Copyright © 2011 by Forward Internet Group, Ltd 30