Bringing it All Together

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Bringing it All Together
Everything and everyone needs to
change….but how?

Agile embraces change
• And requires even more change
• We change how we write code
• We change how we test code
• We change how we release products
• We change how we organize our teams

Most of the time we see the change
others need to make
• But we don’t necessarily see our own
changes
• Recognize that this is hard, and in many
cases a little scary
• Develop Empathy

Programmer Stereotypes
• Anti-social – they really don’t want to talk to anyone other than other
programmers
• Arrogant – they think they are the only important part of
development
• All of life can either be explained by a quote from Monty Python or
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• Touchy – Be careful if you have a change you want to make
– They will either pull out a lot of jargon to convince you why you are stupid
and the change is the dumbest thing they’ve ever heard
– Or they will just say “it works on my machine” and ignore you.

How Programmers Lives Change
• We write tests before code
– I can’t just go write something and fix it
later
• We refactor constantly
– I have to accept that my code isn’t
perfect, and it never will be
• We Pair Program
– I have to share my intellectual activity
with someone else
• We communicate constantly with our
customer
– I have to drop the idea of the “Luser”
and look on all ideas as good ideas
• We are part of an integral team
– Sometimes I have to work on things
other than writing code.
• There is really no such thing as “my
code” anymore

Tester Stereotypes
• They’re only testers because
they couldn’t code
• Man, these guys are anal!
• They have a pathological
desire to find problems with
the code
• They don’t know when to let
up
– Good enough is just never
good enough

How a Testers Life
Changes
•Tests are not “What Comes After
Development if We Have Time But We
Never Have Time”
•We need to identify and write tests
early and often
•Automation baby, Automation
•The relationship of acceptance tests
to requirements needs to be tight.
•Relationship between programmers
and testers is tighter
•Collaboration over confrontation
•Entering Defects is not enough
•We are finally being recognized and
utilized as a vital part of
development, not just a gatekeeper

Business Analyst Stereotypes
• “Just” English Majors
• Ask for impossible things, because
they don’t know they are impossible
• External to the development team
• They toss requirements over the
wall, then change them willy-nilly
• All about the document

Big Changes Ahead
•Our Job title may actually go away
•That doesn’t mean the job does
•Deeply integrated into the “inner circle”
•Story development is very different from what we are used to
•We have to be communicating constantly with the programmers and testers.
•We are actually encouraged to make changes now

Project Manager Stereotypes
• Slaves to the schedule
• Don’t really understand
how hard software is.
• Want me to spend all
my time “updating
status”
• Man, and I thought the
testers were anal!

Project Manager Changes
• Where is the new job
that fits our role?!
• We may be asked to
become Scrum Masters
– An *extremely* different
view of a project
• I’m still being asked to
ensure a project will be
on time
• Focus on scope instead
of time…feels weird

Functional Manager Stereotypes
• “Those who can’t….manage
others”
• Promoted to minimum level of
incompetence
• More interested in personal
power/prestige than the team
• Hair gets pointier and pointier
every year

And in Agile?
• Managers? We don’t need no stinkin’
managers
• Self organizing teams don’t always self
organize
• Representing these changes to executive
level is scary
• Productivity is always affected by
change, how do I keep my job?
• Agile has a very “anti-manager” theme.

So What?

So…
• Everyone has to change at least some of
what they do
• There are a lot of places we are becoming
exposed where we never were before
• We have to learn how to change, even
while we are expecting others to change

empathy
[em-puh-thee]
–noun 1. the intellectual identification with or
vicarious experiencing of the
feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

Titles
• Everyone on the team is a Developer.
• The title defines the area of expertise, not
the person
• Consider a neutral title

“Walk a mile”
• Since titles don’t define us:
– Try signing up for tasks/stories that aren’t your
traditional gig
• Allow some slack time for learning new skills

Talk to each other
• Talk to each other a lot
• Remember to listen more than you talk
• Avoid arguments like
– “But that’s not Agile”
– “You aren’t doing that the way I read its supposed to be done”

Programmers
• Testers are your best friends. You are a
dynamic duo
• BA’s and other story writers are helping you
create something the user will really want
• Project managers are there to show off your
success
• Functional managers are there to enable
and support your success

Testers
• You and the programmers are creating the value
that will make the project shine
• The BA’s and other story writers are going to work
very closely with you. Together you will identify
exactly what the users will want and will want to
use.
• The project managers are going to be relying on
your automated tests to ensure that stories are
really “done”
• Functional managers are there to support you and
to facilitate your success.

Business Analysts
• Programmers need as much support as you can
give them in identifying what to make
– Shall lists won’t cut it
– Dig deep together to find understanding
• Testers will help turn your ideas into
repeatable, automated tests, thus ensuring you can
create what the users will want
• Project Managers will manage the scope of the
projects within a fixed schedule, so you know
exactly what the users will get
• Functional managers are your support network.

Project Managers
• Programmers are going to give you the best
possible estimates as to the size of stories, so your
identification of deliverable scope will become
easier
• Testers will ensure that the features that are
released are “done” and therefore there will be less
rework.
• Business Analysts will be managing and clarifying
stories so that you will be able to have the
predictability that every PM really wants

Functional Managers
• Your team needs a lot of support from you.
• This would be a great time to suspend
“performance reviews”
• Let the team guide you, but don’t be afraid
to lead.
• Listen far more than you talk.
• Celebrate every success loudly and publicly

In the end, its all about the team

Steve Ropa
• Blog: http://blog.versionone.com/blog/agile-musings
• Email: steven.ropa@versionone.com

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