This document provides a summary of key aspects of effective software development management. It discusses starting with a clear vision, focusing on building something useful. It emphasizes the importance of finding the right people through networking and making friends. When it comes to incentives for startups, it recommends creating your own company and mastering your own destiny. It also touches on outsourcing versus in-house work, the importance of being agile, using simple and integrated tools, and acting as your own best user to ensure quality.

1. Building Great
(Software) Products
Or the more boring title:
“Effective Software Development Management”

2. Let’s break this down…
1. Why should I listen to this guy?
2. Key components of software development management
3. Where to begin the recruitment process
4. What incentives start-ups have to offer
5. Outsourced v’s in-house work
6. Agile software management
7. Web development management tools
8. Quality control
9. How to deal with problems when they arise

3. 1. Why Should I listen to this guy?

6. 2. It’s about Building Stuff… Great Stuff

7. It begins and ends with building
something great?
• Software is merely a means to an end
• It has to start with a great idea
• Great idea  Must be aligned with a clear vision
• Clear vision  Broken down into clear steps
• Clear Steps  Must be presented in a compelling fashion
• Strategy. Vision. Steps.

8. Start with a clear vision. What do I want
to build? And why?

11. Software is just a means to an end…
• You’re not building software …
• You’re building something useful, something fun,
something that is simple, something you can tell people
about, something that you’re proud of …
• Everyone is involved in product development. Everyone is a
designer. Everyone is the product.

12. Components
Product
Concept, Issue, Value, Clarity, Need, Utility, Solution
Design and Use
Form and function, brings a smile to your face
Performance and Tech
It delivers, fast, free and cheap to run

13. 3. Finding the Right People
The Great Ones

15. Well, more like these two…

16. Best recruitment is making a friend
Events and Networking
• SiliconDrinkAbout / MilkRoundabout (everyone is handpicked)
• ICE (Internet Conclave of Entrepreneurs)
• Meetup / Usergroups / Mailing Lists (get on everything)
Make Friends with Recruiters
• 1% of recruiters will be responsible for 80% of hires
• The rest are rubbish. Human spam.
Friends of Friends
• Get to know your Friends of Friends – mine LinkedIn
• Dig deep into Facebook – friend everyone you can

17. 4. Startup Incentives…

20. Create your own company. It sux.
Be like Frank. I did it my way…
• Learning and wisdom (10x the learning curve)
• Master of your own destiny (create your own reason to get up…)
• No boss (don’t do it for the man)
• Flexibility (2-click process, no owner negotiation)
Upside
• Lots of upside – but it’s bloody hard
• But at least there’s upside
Changes the way you live life
• You become an active part of life – you drive it (active vs. passive)
• You stop making excuses (excuses don’t pay the bills)
• If you want it, make it
Beats having a real job

25. Rookie Pitfalls. Happen to all of us.
Don’t raise too early
• Shoestring wisdom (10x the learning curve)
• 2am attractiveness (do you still believe your idea at 2am)
• No boss (don’t do it for the man)
• Flexibility (2-click process, no owner negotiation)
Investor Liquidation Preferences
• 1x is normal, but annoying (you can negotiate out if experienced)
• 2x is lunacy. Flip the bird. Better off without them.
Changes the way you live life
• You become an active part of life – you drive it (active vs. passive)
• You stop making excuses (excuses don’t pay the bills)
• If you want it, make it
Beats having a real job

26. Pick who you work with.
Pick where you work.

27. 5. Outsource vs In-Source…

28. All strategies are created equal…
• But people and their abilities are not…
• Adapt your strategy to who you are, what you’re doing
and what your situation is
• Insource (grind it out at night)
– Great if you have the money
– And the experience and credibility to get great guys
– And the ability to manage and design
• Outsource
– Cheaper
– You can scream at them more
– But the quality is rubbish

29. What are the skills you need …
• Absolutely everyone needs these skill… well if you want
to create something half decent
• Build an entire website, in PP, end to end, yourself
– Every screen
– Every layout
– Every menu, every link, every button
– It’s as boring as hell
• References
– Know every site out there – and have a strong opinion on it
– What works and what doesn’t?
– And the ability to manage and design
– But the quality is rubbish

30. 8. Being Agile…
Just about the only thing I know.

31. Agile. Mmmmm
I dug this up … rather interesting
• Individual and interactions over processes and tools
• Working Software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to Change over following a plan
It’s about getting things working …
• Parallelisation. It’s critical.
• Planning, planning and more planning
• Great, clear and regular communication

32. 8. Web Development Tools…
Keep it simple. Tight.

33. Super Clear Strategy: What are we doing? When?
Ideas Product Spec Final Design
Novel ways to solve Wiki explanations Simple / Clean
Best examples / leaders Wiki collaborations Beta testing + feedback
Innovate and steal Wireframes Tear it apart
Prioritize Impact Flows
Development Process
QA / Testing Environment
Monitoring + Analytics
Tools only facilitate a process

34. Tools. Cheap. Simple. Integrated.
1. JIRA (Wiki and Ticketing)
• Agile. Releases. Dates. Visibility. Notifications.
• Finally the newer hosted version is excellent
• Design, development and collaboration
2. Github
• Social coding
3. Google Docs
• Free. Powerful and necessary
4. Photoshop. Illustrator.
• Everyone in product must know these tools
• Aesthetics is everything
5. Omingraffle
• Clean, simple flows
• Massive sized screens – big wide flows.
6. Face to Face communication.
• Daily / frequent standups
• Designers, product and develop must live together.

35. 9. Quality Control…
Being your own best user

37. HP CEO. Uses a MAC at home.

38. You are your own best user. Finito.
• You need to be your core user…
• The first step of delivering a quality product, is building
a product you want to use
• This ensures you represent your best user
• Please your best user, and the others will be easy
• Deliver something average to an average user, and that is
the best type of user you will please

39. Love QA. They can be your best people.
• Traditionally QA has been treated as a 2nd class citizen
• Outsourced, in India, their job looked down upon
• We’ve hired great people. Masters and a PhD. A knack for
problem-solving, for understanding software, and delving
into details
• The best are not bug finders. They are solution reviewers,
they are copy editors, they are improvers
• Learn from your QAs. And don’t ever outsource them.
Unless you’re BT.

40. Remember. No one will ever love your
product more than you.

41. 10. How to deal with problems…
See into the future

42. If you don’t have problems, you have a
problem. Move faster.

43. Your job is foresight. Scout.
• Be Prepared…
• Need to be looking around the corner. Weeks and
Months ahead
• Reduces stress for rest of team. Increases yours.
– You need to look forward and deliver today.
• Cashflow is more important than your mother
– something

44. Build fun, beautiful things…
Love what you do. Love what you build