It’s not just about code...
Dan Pickett

It’s about
efficacy in solving a
problem

Don’t Reinvent
minutiae

Don’t Reinvent
minutiae
Leverage Frameworks
to solve problems

Effectively Solve Problems With Frameworks:
• Brainstorming
• Conceptualization through Sketching and Design
Constraints
• Writing User Stories and Acceptance Tests with
SCRUM and XP
• Automated testing with RSpec and Cucumber
• Refining processes and working with a team...

CODE

CODE
Ok, well maybe a little code...

Agile SCRUM
XP

Agile SCRUM
XP
WTF?

We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

“ I believe that the hardest part of
software projects, the most common
source of project failure, is
communication with the customers
and users of that software ”
- Martin Fowler

Conceptualization
•Identify the problem
• Brainstorm on solutions
• Sketch Ideas

Identify Who Cares

New Hampshire Rubyists Want Us to Build Them A Site...
Who should we talk to?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spine/263214639/
Listen,
then Ask

Why?

“I want a calendar”
• “...Why?”
• “So our users can stay up to date”
• “What do they want to be up to date
about?”
• “Our events and other local tech events.”
• “What other local events?”

Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?

Challenge

http://threetreesstudios.com/andscifi/tag/star-wars/
Brainstorming

Brainstorming Fundamentals
• There are no dumb ideas
• Don’t criticize other people’s ideas
• Build on other people’s ideas
• It’s about quantity, not quality
• Have a facilitator that enforces rules above

Affinity Grouping

Mind Maps

It’s about brain power...

Courtesy: Jason Robb
Sketching

Failure In Design

Design With Constraints

More on Sketching...

Words Matter...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterwalshprojects/
Maintain a Glossary

Words Matter...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enovember/3471675615/
Tell An Illustrated Story

User Stories

What’s a user story?
• indicates the person who is seeking some
type of value from the software
• describes functionality that delivers that
value
• includes acceptance tests that verify the
value is realized

User Stories
As a ... In order to...
I want to ... As a...
So that ... I want to...
As a NH rubyist
I want to post a job advertisement
So that interested candidates can inquire

User Stories
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable to users or customers
Estimatable
Small
Testable

Notice...
Independent?
Valuable?
Small?
• Editing?
• Search?
• Deletion?
• Archiving?
• Permissions?

More on User Stories

Acceptance Tests

Convey Stakeholder Expectations
• If I don’t enter a title or description, I should get
an error and the job should not be posted
• I should get a success message when I’ve entered
everything properly
• The listing should be publicly viewable upon
successful posting
• A job should display a title and description
• I must be logged in to create a new job

User Stories +
Acceptance Tests =
Cucumber

Features
features/post_a_job.feature

Scenarios

Scenarios

Scenarios

Scenarios

You’re the developer...
Are we done yet?

Wait!
Valuable to the user or customer

Most Importantly,
Assert Value

Steps
features/step_definitions/user_steps.rb
Then statements should have assertions

Lessons Learned
• AST Tables are no fun
• bmabey’s database_cleaner is awesome
• avoid sharing instance variables
• refactoring steps proves difficult
• slow

Lessons Learned
• AST Tables are no fun
• bmabey’s database_cleaner is awesome
• avoid sharing instance variables
• refactoring steps proves difficult
• slow

Track

Iterate

Don’t just be sorry.
Think for a second!!!!
Who broke the *#!?!#% build?
Continuous Integration

Don’t work in what you do
Work on what you do

Learning

“ As the number of people on a project
increases, however, so does the number
of communication paths. It doesn’t
increase additively, as the number of
people increases, it increases
multiplicatively, proportional to the
square of the number of people.
”
- Steve McConnell

Don’t Work With Bozos
Love the ones you work with...

Love what you do...

Love what you do...
obsess about how to make it better

Thanks!!!
Twitter: dpickett
Site: www.enlightsolutions.com
IRC: #railsbridge on FreeNode