working with developers

Paul    Walkpaul@paulwalk.net

@paulwalkhttp://www.paulwalk.net

Working with developers

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what’s in a name?

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things  you  need  to  know

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http://freetheanimal.com/2013/01/corralling-­‐the-­‐paleo-­‐movement-­‐is-­‐like-­‐herding-­‐cats.html

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learn some of the jargon

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get good at estimating

• this  is  often  not  done  very  well,  because

• it’s  hard• they’re  too  close  to  make  an  objective  estimation

• you  need  to  either  be  or  to  make  friends  with  an  experienced  project  manager

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understand what ‘the cloud’ means

• where  your  infrastructure  is  outsourced

• pros• no  need  for  local  low-­‐level  systems-­‐support(i.e.  hardware,  operating  system)

• may  still  need  to  conDigure  and  maintain  the  particular  system,  even  if  it  is  running  in  the  cloud

• elastic  ‘hardware’  provision  -­‐  more  Dlexible/responsive  to  rapidly  changing  requirements  -­‐  easier  to  budget  for

• cons• not  necessarily  cheaper  (contrary  to  popular  opinion)

• some  loss  of  control  &  data  privacy/jurisdictional  issues

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understand what Software as a Service means

• where  your  system  or  service  is  outsourced

• pros• all  the  advantages  of  using  cloud  infrastructure,  plus:

• reduced  or  no  requirement  to  maintain/conDigure  the  SaaS  system

• potential  for  continuous  improvement  -­‐  “perpetual  beta”

• cons• reduction  in  control,  especially  ability  to  customise  to  local  requirements

• the  ability  to  innovate  locally  is  impacted.  The  provision  of  good  APIs  by  the  remote  service  may  mitigate  this.

• the  con  that  might  actually  be  a  pro• good  APIs  offer  a  good  opportunity  for  local  innovation  -­‐  better  than  locally  customising  third-­‐party  software  

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development  paradigms

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engineering

• software  development  is  called  many  things:  we  talk  about  ‘writing’  software,  software  ‘engineering’,  software  as  a  ‘craft’,  as  an  ‘art’....

• “The  last  time  people  constructed  a  vocabulary  for  software  development  was  in  the  late  1960s,  when  they  coined  the  phrase  software  engineering,  as  both  a  wish  and  a  direction  for  the  future.”

Agile  Software  Development,  Alistair  Cockburn,  2000

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http://www.Elickr.com/photos/tonymangan/349034093/sizes/l/in/photostream/

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communications - documenting & modelling

http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm

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Manifesto for Agile Software Development

We  are  uncovering  better  ways  of  developingsoftware  by  doing  it  and  helping  others  do  it.Through  this  work  we  have  come  to  value:

Individuals  and  interactions  over  processes  and  toolsWorking  software  over  comprehensive  documentationCustomer  collaboration  over  contract  negotiationResponding  to  change  over  following  a  plan

That  is,  while  there  is  value  in  the  items  onthe  right,  we  value  the  items  on  the  left  more.

http://agilemanifesto.org

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“rough consensus, running code”

Internet Engineering Task Forcehttp://www.ietf.org/tao.html

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http://farm6.staticElickr.com/5310/5616474374_ea5007a5a9_o_d.pnghttp://www.Elickr.com/photos/improveit/1684378416/sizes/o/in/photostream/

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Scrum

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local  development  in  a  recession

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innovation  happens  in  a  local  context

local  developers  empower  the  organisation  to  innovate

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the value of the local developer

• can  understand  local  conditions  better  than  an  external  supplier

• is  more  accessible  -­‐  especially  when  adopting  agile  development  techniques

• through  web  APIs,  can  tailor  remote  services  to  idiosyncratic  local  needs  -­‐  can  make  cheap  services  into  good  services

• can  engage  the  technical  people  in  an  external  supplier  -­‐  not  just  the  pre-­‐sales  people!

• can  engage  with  and  exploit  available  open  source  developments

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use the local talent!

• Student  as  Producer  at  Lincoln  University

• sourced  developer  effort  and  skills  from  the  student  cohort

• “demonstrated  to  us  that  students  can  have  the  requisite  skills,  enthusiasm  and  experience  to  enable  us  to  innovate  rapidly”

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developers  are  people

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"If  the  UK's  creative  businesses  want  to  thrive  in  the  digital  future,  you  need  people  who  understand  all  facets  of  it  integrated  from  the  very  beginning.  Take  a  lead  from  the  Victorians  [...]:  bring  engineers  into  your  company  at  all  levels,  including  the  top."

Eric  Schmidt,  Chairman  of  Google

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the case of the missing career path....

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Higher Education Institution

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Undergraduate

Postgrad researcher/developer

Employed developer

♫

1 2 3 4

Academic

Manager

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Spontaneous technical innovation does

happens here

Strategic leadership for technical

innovation could happen here

?

Spontaneous technical could happen here

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Paul    Walkpaul@paulwalk.net

@paulwalkhttp://www.paulwalk.net

thank you!

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