Building better ProductsJason Fraser jafraser@pivotal.io

@jfraser (twitter)

June, 2015

at Pivotal Labs

@jfraser

@jfraser

@jfraser

Keep in touch!

@jfraser

@jfraser

Innovation at Pivotal

Pivotal Innovation Workshops ask clients to explore and validate fundamental product questions:

Who is the Customer?

What Problem are we solving for them?

Is it a problem that’s Worth Solving?

Is our Solution the right solution?

Is there a Market?

Does market Scalability matter?

Is the Business Model well thought out?

@jfraser

@jfraser

Why Agile?

“Thinking big is not at odds with starting small.”

Eric Ries, Author - The Lean Startup

“The most successful project leaders from government and

industry alike tend to deliver top-shelf stuff with a skeleton crew,

a shoestring budget, and a cannonball schedule.”

Dan Ward, Author - F.I.R.E.

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The 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

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Extreme Programming

How little can we do and still build great software?

Increase OPTIONS for business decisions

Recover quickly from missteps

Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, and Courage

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Why Simplicity?

!In discussing healthcare.gov, Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners and a 24-year federal IT professional, called Accenture “a very solid firm” and said that all major contractors have some problems, because large IT projects are so complex. !“I think their error rate is pretty consistent with other large firms,’’ Allen said. “Does that excuse things they did wrong? No, but it does put it into context.’’

Washington Post, Feb 9, 2014

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How do you approach a typical project?

Analysis

Plan

Stakeholders

Feedback

Revise

Budget

Approval

Execute

Measure

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Why Simplicity?

healthcare.gov

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XP at Pivotal Labs

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

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Obligatory Joke

How many safety directors does it take to change a lightbulb?

Five. One to change it and four to hold the ladder

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XP is Team Focused

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Team Size

• Communicative overhead

• Social loafing

• Bystander Effect

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Communicative overhead

Shake Hands!

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Communicative overhead

Person 1

Person 2 Person 3

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Communicative overhead

Person 1

Person 2 Person 3

Person 4

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Communicative overhead

• Understanding happens between pairs

• People stop talking when they feel understood

• Decisions are made when people agree to stop talking

• Too many pairs slows everything down

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Communicative overhead

n(n-1)/2

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Bystander Effect

2014 novemberstudios

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Bystander Effect

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Social Loafing

Eric Skiff

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Team Size

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A Pivotal Labs Team

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Pair Programming

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Benefits of working as a Pair

• Team Continuity

• Reduced Errors

• Faster, more elegant solutions

• No handoff

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XP at Pivotal Labs

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

XP is Honest

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

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No Rockstars

ego

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XP at Pivotal Labs

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

Predicting Progress

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

XP at Pivotal Labs

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

Test Driven Development

Write the test first

Write the code

Test until you pass

Deploy

@jfraser

XP at Pivotal Labs

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

Iterations not Sprints

No sprints

Commitment on Time, not Scope

Focus on Customer Value

Continuous Deployment

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Product Management for XP

Team Focused

Honest

Predictive rather than Prescriptive

Test Driven

Iterative

@jfraser

Product Owner

Dev

Dev

Dev

Dev

DevDev

Dev}Business Design

Marketing Etc.

“Traditional” Product Management

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UX

& D

esig

nDev & Eng

blah blah blah

PRODUCT IDEAS

Biz/PM

•

Pivotal Labs Product Management

@jfraser

Pivotal Labs Product Managers:

Create the specification as the project moves forward

Prioritize highest customer value first

Work directly with the developers planning iterations based on highest customer value and balanced by predictive workload (velocity and scoring)

Manage both project risk and product risk

Work with the client to refine the product vision on the fly

@jfraser

Using Pivotal Tracker

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Units of Customer Value

@jfraser

Pivotal Labs Product Managers:

Create the specification as the project moves forward

Prioritize highest customer value first

Work directly with the developers planning iterations based on highest customer value and balanced by predictive workload (velocity and scoring)

Manage both project risk and product risk

Work with the client to refine the product vision on the fly

@jfraser

What does it all mean?

We can build rock-solid software quickly and reliably with very little interpersonal drama.

@jfraser

Leveling up

“The courage to speak truths, pleasant or unpleasant, fosters communication and trust. !“The courage to discard failing solutions and seek new ones encourages simplicity. !“The courage to seek real, concrete answers creates feedback.”

—Kent Beck

Thank you!

@jfraser