How to suck at developing a web app, when you’re not a web shop

Eric Light
@RhyvenNZ
ContactMe@EricLight.com

Audience Check
Developers? (Duh...)
Entrepreneurs?
Project Managers?

How to suck at developing a web app, when you’re not a web shop.
On contracts,
missed deadlines,
and working with friends
Eric Light
@RhyvenNZ

How to suck
On contracts,
missed deadlines,
and working with friends
Eric Light
@RhyvenNZ

A bit about Eric

(Apple ][e) BASIC

A bit about Gravity
Small team (techs == Jordan & Eric)
Software development (still mostly in BASIC omg)
IT Support, Server installs, etc.
...
Web Development conspicuously absent

The Root of the Problem
Typical ‘technician-founded’ company
No systems.
None
Seriously, folks!
Eric was every role
Sales, Marketing, HR, Accounts, ZOMFG, FML

The Inspiration
“I need you to call Geoffrey, and find out what he means by Ђξμδ.”

Need a tracking system

Brilliance!
Wait a minute... we’re developers!

“Let’s build our own!”
<trumpets>

The Plan
Develop a web app for job tracking
We were the target market
Must be simple, fast, cheap

Implementation
Brought it to a web dev
Quoted 100hrs max(accepted reluctantly)
2 deadlines:
Prototype – 6 wks
To Market – 12 wks

“Begin!”
<more trumpets>

All was hopeful...
The month passed...

Welcome to Hell

...Half way to deadline
...1 day before due
...3 days overdue
...2 weeks overdue
“Each time I re-readthe scope I noticesomething new..”
“I’ve hit a bitof a snag..”
“I can’t figure out how to do this bit here...”
*crickets*

The Meeting
Me, the dev, plus 2 business partners
Another month, guaranteed
def quit_date: return mid-feb
My blunder:“We’ll make these bits part of the final”

Quick Recap
Now well overdue
Still on prototype
100 hours, max
33% due on delivery

D-day
Not really finished
He said it was (remember: “prototype”)
Payments / Billing -> final stage
Demanded $$ for delivered prototype

déjà vu!

My expenses:
About $6000+GST
His effective rate:
$10 per hour

What did we do right?
Understood the problem clearly
Kept a lid on scope creep
Knew the target market
Calculated commercial viability
Defined a quit date (finally!)

Where we went wrong
Failure to plan for failure
No milestones
No fallbacks
For either party
No prototyping
Working with a friend, sanscontract

LoremIpsum

The Road Ahead

Early Warning Signs
Your wife says it’s not going to work
You haven’t done a paper prototype
You don’t have a dated chart for functionality delivery dates
Professionalism slips
*crickets*

A haiku
On a pre-planned date /
if milestones aren’t yet met /
inspect the darn code!

So remember...
Plan for failure– have a graceful exit!
Set clear milestones, with CRUD.
This lets you track progress very finely!
Your dev’s estimates are wrong.
So are yours.
Hofstadter’s Law

Communicate
Communicate
Communicate!
Say: If I don’t enforce a term, it doesn’t change the contract, and I can still enforce it any time in the future.

Resources
These slides are at pycon.ericlight.com
Contractor template – email me
GettingITRight.co.nz
Business Technology Resource Centre
“Avoiding Project Failure”, 2003
CIO Magazine
“Lessons in Defeat”, 2011

Thanks
David Richardson
Additional critical brain
Jordan Schwab
learning SilverStripe to resurrect the project
Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu)
Imagery
Grant Paton-Simpson & Roger Smith
Letting me present to them

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they makeas they fly by.”
Actual quote from my developer
... As well as Douglas Adams

Question Time!

How to suck at developing a web app, when you’re not a web shop

by dn

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