Check out this presentation from Barrett Conrad, ‎Software Engineer and Project Manager at ‎CotingaSoft, during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2016.

1. FOUR WORDS TO STOP SAYING
IN YOUR TECH PROJECT
BARRETT CONRAD

2. A TINY PREFACE….

4. SOFTWARE IS
STILL DIFFICULT

5. CAN
DONE
TWEAK
COMMUNICATE

6. CAN

7. “CAN YOU BUILD ME A SITE THAT
SAVES MY CUSTOMERS 15% ON THEIR
CAR INSURANCE IN JUST 15
MINUTES?”
– Everyone

8. CUSTOMERINSURANCE UNDERWRITER 15% INSURANCE APP

9. HOW

10. CAN TO HOW: ROLES
▸ YOU
▸ Bring expertise
▸ Make decisions
▸ Prioritize
▸ Determine business
model
▸ US
▸ Guide technology
▸ Explain tradeoffs
▸ Breakdown features
▸ Build software

11. HOW: STRATEGIES
▸ Identify Constraints
▸ Test and validate
▸ Fake it till you make it
▸ Build software around existing processes

12. DONE

13. WHAT’S WRONG WITH ‘DONE’
▸ Software is never done
▸ It’s a business not a product
▸ Money is not a good measure

14. CONFIDENCE

15. DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
1.0

16. DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

17. DONE TO CONFIDENCE
0
25
50
75
100
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

18. CONFIDENCE STRATEGIES
▸ Identify goals that will drive value.
▸ Divide your project features in half. Do it again. Again.
▸ Earlier versions get earlier validation
▸ Welcome a change of course

19. TWEAK

20. “YEAH…IT’S ALMOST RIGHT.
WE’LL TWEAK IT LATER.”
– Everybody at a meeting

21. WHAT’S WRONG WITH ‘TWEAK’
▸ Dismissive
▸ Sneaky
▸ No clear ownership / accountability
▸ Failure to make a decisions (indecisions in the group)
▸ Not data driven

22. TEXT
BEWARE THE SYNONYMS!
“POLISH”
“CLEAN UP”
“REFINE”
“ADJUST”

23. PROCESS

24. USE A PROCESS
1. Identify problem
2. Clearly identify as ‘no decision’
3. Put it in the ‘icebox’ for explicit review later
4. Assign to someone to review
5. Identity how you get the data you need
6. Gather the data
7. Bring request into an iteration backlog for development
Bonus: Allow clear points of addition to project

25. COMMUNICATE

26. Email
Text
Apps
Phone
Water cooler
PM Tools
Meetings
Casual chat
Paper
Raven
Documents
Notifications
Conference Call
Voicemail
Slack
Last night at the bar

27. SIGNAL

28. SIGNAL STRATEGIES
▸ Consistent terms and processes
▸ Stand-up (specific ‘Needs’)
▸ Standard meeting agendas
▸ Define purpose of shared tool’s
▸ Slack vs Trello vs Email vs X
▸ Software Integrations
▸ Post to Slack
▸ Summarize
▸ Burn down chart
▸ Changelog, report
▸ Manage tasks
▸ Process and assign
▸ Roles
▸ Moments
▸ Delivery and demo

29. CAN HOW
DONE CONFIDENCE
TWEAK PROCESS
COMMUNICATE SIGNAL

30. THANK YOU
▸ bconrad@cotingasoft.com
▸ @cotingasoft
▸ www.cotingasoft.com