Georgia State Presentation

Aligning Business and Development Goals
Patrick Brandt

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About Me
Senior Developer and Team Lead:
As senior developer, I’m responsible architecting and building web-based applications on the .Net platform.
As team lead, I’m responsible for defining and articulating production strategies among various stakeholders including interdisciplinary production staff, management, and clients.
Earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science with a focus in Human Computer Interaction from Florida State University in 2004.
Lead developer/Team lead for the following sites:
RuthsChris.com
Georgia.org
ExploreGeorgia.org (first phase)
GaDreamPass.com
FoodLion.com

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About Enguage Digital
Interactive Marketing agency located in Midtown Atlanta (Promenade II building across from the High Museum)
We specialize in building applications that establish an online and mobile marketing presence for its clients.
Our clients include several Fortune-500 companies such as UPS, Home Depot, and Coca-Cola.
Our development capabilities include .Net, Java, PHP, Python, Flash, and Objective-C.

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Where It All Begins!

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Client Services

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Production Staff

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Two Types of Programmers

Communication
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Translates highly technical jargon into terms less technical clients and management staff can understand.
Listens to clients or client representatives and tries to drive-out requirements.
Spends a portion of their day corresponding by phone and email.
Communicates with a wide array of stakeholders.

Communication
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Actively solicits information from other developers via online forums (also contributes solutions for other developers).
Explains algorithms and development patterns to other developers.
Email is a distraction, primary mode of communication is via IM and face-to-face.
Specializes in speaking directly to developers and other technical staff.

Problem Solving
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Looks first to discover how others have already solved similar problems
Trade Articles
Blogs
Often considers how external business factors are impacted by any solution
Budget
Timeline
Client Satisfaction

Problem Solving
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Looks first to discover how others have already solved similar problems
Trade Articles
Blogs
Often considers how external business factors are impacted by any solution
Budget
Timeline
Client Satisfaction

Might produce copy-cat code that is buggy and inflexible, but returns a higher profit (in the short-run)

Problem Solving
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Takes initiative to solve problems in novel ways
More interested in how they can build a better solution than others have done in the past
Laser-like focus on solution elegance, stability, and performance
Aims for the best performing solution
Aims for the most flexible solution
Aims for most feature-rich solution

Problem Solving
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Takes initiative to solve problems in novel ways
More interested in how they can build a better solution than others have done in the past
Laser-like focus on solution elegance, stability, and performance
Aims for the best performing solution
Aims for the most flexible solution
Aims for most feature-rich solution

Might produce technically brilliant solutions that are outrageously over-budget and/or overly complex

Extracurricular activities
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Reading and writing for fun
Socializing and networking
Coding side-projects

Extracurricular activities
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Flying airplanes
Online gaming
Coding side-projects

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What ALL Programmers Need To Know

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Know the dimensions of your code

Brevity of code
Quantity of features
Speed of execution
Time spent coding
Robustness
Flexibility

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Know the dimensions of your code

Brevity of code
Quantity of features
Speed of execution
Time spent coding
Robustness
Flexibility

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Domain Driven Design

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Domain Driven Design

Test-Driven Development
Write a Unit Test before new feature is coded (test will fail because code will not compile)
Write minimum amount of code to get project to compile (test will fail because test conventions have not been met)
Write minimum amount of code to ensure test will pass
Repeat for new feature
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Test-Driven Development
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Development Strategies
Waterfall (BDUF)
Iterative
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Waterfall
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The Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactionsover processes and tools
Working softwareover comprehensive documentation
Customer collaborationover contract negotiation
Responding to changeover following a plan
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The Agile Process
Working Software is released every few weeks.
Development pace is constant.
Simplicity; maximizing work not done is essential.
Developers work consistently with customers and business managers.
Self-organizing teams meet project needs better than orchestration.
Discussions, decisions, and plans are made face-to-face.
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Read Up!

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