A tale of agility, effective communication, deliberate creativity

1. Claudio Perrone

2. Most IT projects fail
Will yours?

3. “ Software development
productivity would skyrocket...

4. “ …if the least effective
30% were fired tomorrow
--- Neal Ford

6. How do you get results?

7. Sir, I urge Darling,
Dude, check this you to revisit people matter
technology out your process too!

8. Once upon a time I was a successful
software developer…

9. My technical skills made me feel invincible

10. Until one day…

11. …I entered a world of deception

12. It was Hell from day 1

14. What would you do?

15. I choked

16. …but then, I decided to fight back

17. This is what I tried:
2 Effective
Communication
1 Agility
3 Deliberate
Creativity

18. 1
Agility

21. I made a choice:
from predictive...
...to adaptive

22. Fixed time-boxes help focus...
Can you focus for
48 minutes?

23. Short iterations enable everything
almost
Motivation
Prioritization
Feedback
Reflection
Creativity

24. How do you express requirements?

25. The 3 Cs of a User Story
Card Conversation Confirmation
(acceptance
criteria)

26. 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

27. How do you know you are done?

28. Define an acceptance criteria (BDD)
[Scenario title]
Given [some initial context]
When [an event occurs]
Then [ensure some outcomes]
Ref: http://dannorth.net/introducing-bdd

29. 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

30. Acceptance criteria example: event
When the customer requests cash

31. Acceptance criteria example: outcomes
Then ensure the account is debited
And ensure cash is dispensed
And ensure the card is returned

32. A little twist: Scenarios can be parsed…

33. …and then “automated”!
In Ruby:
Given “the account is in credit” do
# ...
End
In .NET:
.Given(“the account is in credit”)()
{...}

34. Early success brought confidence…

35. …but the project was still at risk

36. 2
Effective
Communication

37. First… SHUT UP!

38. Listen
Don’t just hear

39. Find their greatest need

40. Commit to a ubiquitous language

41. Establish trust

42. Build a sense of ownership

43. Keep your enemies closer

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

45. Roles and perceptions
plant
Creativity
implementer co-ordinator
Task Direction
completer resource
/specialist investigator
Detail Resources
shaper teamworker
Shaping Team
monitor-evaluator
Criticality

46. How could we get smarter

47. 3
Deliberate
Creativity

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

49. The creativity process
Explorer
Artist
Judge
Warrior

50. Extract Concept (1/2)
You have
identified a
concrete idea
that addresses a
given objective...

51. Extract Concept (2/2)
Therefore
Extract a broader
concept
to facilitate the
creation
of alternatives.

52. Connect all dots with 4 straight lines

53. Connect all dots with 4 straight lines

54. How about 3 straight lines?

55. 1 line?

56. Reverse assumptions (1/2)
You want to generate alternative
ideas by challenging your current
assumptions…

57. Reverse assumptions (2/2)
Therefore
List your assumptions
Write the opposite of those
assumptions
Try to identify how to accomplish each
reversal

58. Parallel Thinking

59. Six thinking hats

60. So, what happened to the project?

61. Amazingly, it succeeded

62. Lessons learned...
“
“
We moved from the Flintstones era to the future.
I was part of something. I belonged.
--- a developer
--- an end user

63. Thank you!
Claudio Perrone
cperrone@innerworkings.com
www.claudioperrone.com/blog