Presented by Tom Hume at Sussex University, February 2009: a talk on the topic of running a software company along agile principles.

1. Feel the FP-ness
Building and running a software company
on agile principles
Sussex University, 11th February 2009

2. where it all began

3. “and they have a plan”

4. we sell puzzles

5. we invent new kinds of play

6. we hunt ghosts

7. Everyone knows how to build software
“The implementation above is risky and invites failure”
- Winston W Royce

8. Corporate growth pains
We tried Scrum previously and messed it up
We engaged a consultant to help us
It didn’t seem to be working so well

9. 24
ho Daily standups
urs
2–
Pro
4w
Ba duc
ckl t
ee
og
Sp
ks
Ba rint
ckl
og
Sprints never change length
S
P
Sprint backlog is fixed for sprint duration
R
IN
T
Roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team
Scrum in 3 minutes
De
live
rab
le

10. Rationalised stakeholders! 2 weeks til deadline, not 6 months
Definitive TODO list How fast you will go = how fast you have gone
One product owner Change welcomed
One product backlog Early visible progress
Prioritised requirements Realistic projections
Focused team Minimal overhead
Immediate benefits

11. Unit Testing
Code Reviews
Source Control
Defect Tracking
Informal Lectures
Continuous Integration
Test Driven Development
Explicit Acceptance Tests
Never Leave A Man Behind
Automated User InterfaceTesting
technical practices

12. Daily meetings
Problems surface early
Planning, review and retrospective always happen
It’s more discipline, not less

13. Change is going to happen - deal with it Don’t blame the customer
5 months
81 revisions
“Wireframes are to date
Thanks to:
pretty much there. Should
- Competitive pressure
be able to sign them off
- Mid-project learning
next week.”
- Usability testing
- Unpredictable good ideas
Dealing with change, not discouraging it

14. Our dev team are as cynical as I am
Some people don’t like working this way
(you should be able to incorporate them)
Scrum gets used in high-pressure environments e.g. medical
Expect some negativity

15. Spread workload evenly over project life We’ve eliminated culture of overtime
Plan and replan regularly
Team run at constant pace
Sustainable working life
“You know nothing of The Crunch”

16. we still don’t understand...

17. Join us
We’re special

18. Thanks for listening!
I’ve been Tom.Hume@futureplatforms.com
Sussex University, 11th February 2009