XP @ Unruly
Delivering Value, Fast.
benji 2013-10
whoami
Unruly
- Social Video Advertising
- 3 Dev Teams
- All XP
- Grown from single team of 3 developers in 3 years
Cross-functional teams
Full feature lifecycle
- Product planning
- Front-end Dev
- Back-end Dev
- Operations
- Support
XP in Practice @ Unruly
But first...
What is Agile Development?
- Iterations
- Standups
- Planning Meetings
- Estimating Sessions
It's all lies
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
Processes and Tools
What I'll be talking about
Processes and Tools
Failure
Processes and Tools
Find what works for you. Keep it minimal.
Processes and Tools
Respond to change
That being said
Here's what we do
XP Rules
http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules.htmlRetrospectives
Most important part of process
Allows process iteslf to respond to change
Retrospectives
Retrospectives
3 weeks, facilitator from another team
Retrospectives
Timelines
Positives/Negatives
Mood Graph
Dot Voting
Actions
Nothing is Sacrosanct
Planning
Planning
How do we decide what to do
Aim
- Maximise value (Sales or Savings)
- Minimise delay
Transparent
We see the value in sales immediately
Just in time planning
Just in time planning
Planning is just guessing
Just in time planning
Selling lies
Just in time planning
Sell things we haven't built
Just in time planning
...with limits
Just in time planning
Jump the queue
Just in time planning
Evidence based development
Just in time planning
Only works for direct sales
Not for efficiency/big picture
Planning
Identifying what we could do
Choosing what to actually do
Planning
Constant stream
User stories
How we capture features
User stories
As <Persona> I want <Feature>, So that <Business Reason>
User stories
As a campaign manager, I want to frequency cap ads to one view in 24 hours, so that we only pay for views that we will get paid for
User stories
Keep it short. It's not a spec. It's a reminder of a conversation.
User stories
Capture the problem, not the solution
User stories
No-one knows what they want
User stories
As a publisher I want a checkbox where I can opt-in to ad campaigns
User stories
As a publisher I want to be able to control what campaigns show on my site, so that I do not show inappropriate ads for the audience. e.g. Alcohol ads on a children's game
User stories
Entirely different solution
User stories
Physical cards
User stories
Trello cards
Splitting stories
As a customer, I want the moon on a stick
Splitting stories
Requirements start out big
Splitting stories
Slow to get release, slow to get feedback
Splitting stories
- Remove gold-plating. YAGNI
- Defer configurable features
- Only support some platforms
- Prototype/Test first
Splitting stories
Aim for stories smaller than 1 day of work
Collecting stories
Developer talks directly to customer
Collecting stories
Constant stream of incoming stories that we're preparing
Collecting stories
A lot go in the bin
Collecting stories
Using trello
Value/Cost
Customer can tell us the value, what is the cost?
Story time
Story time
Story time
No-one likes long meetings
Story time
Story time
Up to 3 times a week
Up to 30 minutes
Estimate
Ideal days
Estimate
Planning poker
Estimate
Triangulate
Estimate
Not binding
Value/Cost
Just guesses
Estimate
Velocity (Yesterday's Weather)
Estimate
Unnecessary?
Prioritisation
Iterations for prioritisation, not for release
Prioritisation
With stakeholders
Prioritisation
With stakeholders
Prioritisation
When things change during an iteration
Building
Daily standups
Building
Progress visible
Building
Implementation Huddles
Building
Pair Programming (identical clothing is optional)
Building
Pair Programming
Building
Sometimes two is not enough
Building
Ad-hoc dicsussions
Building
Pair rotation
Releasing
No value until in production
Releasing
At end of iteration?
Releasing
At end of iteration?
Releasing
As soon as it's ready
Releasing
As soon as Before it's ready
Releasing
6 Deploys per pair per day
Releasing
Millions of users
Releasing
Continuous delivery
Releasing
- Feature Toggles (ifs)
- Branch by Abstraction (interfaces)
Releasing
Small releases safer
Releasing
Features available as soon as ready
Releasing
Fast, automated deploy
Releasing
Automated testing
Sign-off
Walk through with story-owner
Sign-off
Incorporate feedback, iterate
Sign-off
Release communication
Operations
Keeping it delivering value
Operations
Same team
Operations
Incentive to keep it simple, reliable
Operations
Visibility of Status
Operations
Visibility of Status
Support
Lone Ranger
Recap
- Change process over time
- Developers collaborate directly with customers
- Find out the actual problem, don't jump to the solution
- Constant streams, no phases
- Regular prioritisation
- Minimise time to value
- Collective responsibility for whole lifecycle