Todays web and app projects are not just pieces of code. Every change a developer creates can affect performance, usability, stability and even the relationship to the customer. In this talk I will discuss the necessity for agile development teams to have a better understanding of what makes their product really great in the end and how recurring conceptual phases can help in this.

1. Improving conceptual
understanding in development
by Sebastian Helzle

2. Who am I?
• Developing websites since
Geocities was cool ~1996
• Working with TYPO3 since 2005
• Freelance consultant since 2007
• Fell in love with Neos in 2013
• Certified Scrum Master since
2015
• Love hiking, mountains and
cooking

3. What I will talk about
• Why is conceptual understanding important
• Fostering project ownership
• How can agile methods help you
• What you can do

4. Why is conceptual
understanding important?

5. Websites and webapps are
not
Rocket science Just pieces of code

6. COMPLEX
Websites and apps are

7. Idea & final result
Can look similar but the result might behave unexpected

8. So, why are they complex?

9. Organisational complexities
• Requirements engineering
• Team work
• Limited budgets

10. Technical complexities
• Dependencies & their
management (bower, npm,
composer, bundler, …)
• Continuous delivery (build, test,
integrate)
• Performance & scalability

11. The sometimes forgotten
complexity

12. People must actually be able
to use your product

13. What makes a product
usable?
• Customised solutions
• Well thought out workflows
• Good performance

14. Danger!
WO/

15. Miscommunication is
expensive

16. Every change can have
undesired effects
• Performance degradation
• Usability
• Stability issues
• Relationship with the client

17. There are already some
solutions
• Automated testing (stability & performance)
• A/B testing for user
experience

18. Sadly, no automatic tests for
editors efficiency or clients
happiness :(

19. Clients are used to bad
solutions
This is not a good thing!

20. Many development teams don’t
know what clients are doing

21. Ignorance?
I don’t think so
(maybe sometimes)

22. Fostering project ownership

23. Empathy
• Client has bad experience? -> a team should
• feel the urge to improve it
• find sustainable solutions
• work with the client
• try to understand the client
• Let a team get to know the client (he’s not the devil)

24. Use agile tools

25. Retrospectives
Talk about your processes, teamwork and growing as a team

26. Reviews
Do internal reviews and user testing
Let developers present their work
Invite the client

27. Keep some slack in your
planning
Improvements need time too

28. Don’t kill ideas with
overcomplicated processes
A process can be bent

29. Refresh a projects vision
regularly
Sometimes the trees block your view on the forest

30. As a developer you can
• See tasks as challenge
• Try to see your work from a different point of view
• Involve in shaping a project
• Defend your ideas and concepts
• Teach others
• Cooperate & ask for help
• Write down or draw what you know

31. Celebrate success!

32. Okun!
Thank you!

33. Questions?

34. More
🐦 @sebobo
✉ me@helzle.it
📖 http://www.mind-the-seb.de