It’s not about code

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

I write software for business tool 

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

A stripped-down approach

to software developement 

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

No team workflow  

Soft skills beat technical expertise

Feature build only when business case exists

We build software to do the boring things instead of people doing it

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

The important part is not software

Software make results happens

Good software makes life easier

In business language = digital transformation 

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

Advisor to “state of the art” options

Business may rely on IT project to not die

  • beat competition with new product
  • manufacturing becomes a service industry

How to produce the right outcome?

Understand business operation at its core

@pl4n3th

Understand how people operate

Understand how people interact with each other

#NewCrafts

Be as close as possible to decision maker / boss / stakeholders

@pl4n3th

Put myself is the shoes of the peole who will use the software

What works the best

#NewCrafts

Figuring out how the parts fit together

Understand how each part relate to which outcome

@pl4n3th

How much time we will spare

Which operation we can automate, and which we can't

#NewCrafts

What is the gain?

If it's not measurable

@pl4n3th

If I don’t fully understand the operations to be digitalized 

I don’t start architecturing and coding

#NewCrafts

Code is the mere expression of business requirements

We need tools to do the work

@pl4n3th

#GDPR

#NewCrafts

@pl4n3th

The client doesn't care about the latest tech

@pl4n3th

Those who writes checks only care for outcome

how much time spared

what amount of risk lowered

#NewCrafts

We should be very humble 

Sometimes our software is terrible

@pl4n3th

#GDPR

Makes people life miserable

#NewCrafts

@pl4n3th

We are tool makers

Not a lot of business problem need sophisticated tech

@pl4n3th

Software is here to serve business

It's a cog

#NewCrafts

Millions of line of code of COBOL have been in production for decades

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

How, being a one person team, I make this happen ?

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

Advantage: 

@pl4n3th

Disadvantage :

#NewCrafts

direct access to boss

technical matters must translate into plain language 

Onboarding is essential

@pl4n3th

Time to explain what custom development means

Starts small

Ship early

Go to great length to minimize the risk

#NewCrafts

Only work with very stable tech

@pl4n3th

Find the most stable,

reliable,

maintenable,

documented

tech which can do at least 90% of the job

Go for the robust solution

#NewCrafts

Know the known unknows

@pl4n3th

#GDPR

Assessment

never done it before

new libraries (doc is ok, bug ?)

what could go wrong?

#NewCrafts

@pl4n3th

Sophistication is the enemy of the prod

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

Where do I find satisfaction?

@pl4n3th

Discovering how business works - how operations relate to each other

Finding a “good enough” software model to work with

Finding ways to measure improvement

#NewCrafts

Best of all: ...

@pl4n3th

Don’t meet 

budget

time

scope (user satisfaction)

1 out of 3 digital project fails

#NewCrafts

Digital projects are seen as a cost

@pl4n3th

Head management  “No value in digital project”

Which metrics to track

Know what would constitute a sucess

Before starting project

#NewCrafts

Business needs preditability

@pl4n3th

More than fast delivery

Date of shipment   –  not earlier the better

Don't break employees flow

#NewCrafts

I try to not give false hope

@pl4n3th

Never time estimate

Pad time estimate: delivery date this month, this quarter

No delivery date set in stone

Split project in chuncks

V1

V2 

V3

#NewCrafts

Business is risk adverse when purchasing IT project

@pl4n3th

Different if exploring new business avenue

Disrupting their business

New service offering

Not on new tech

Risk is here,

But still, don't put risk where it does need to be

not here

#NewCrafts

Communication, communication, communication

@pl4n3th

#GDPR

Onboard with project management tool (Trello)

“Friday demo”

15 to 30 min call

5 min recorded video of last feature

Recap email with milestone

#NewCrafts

@pl4n3th

Simple, strait forward UI

@pl4n3th

Business tool don’t go well with shiny animation

Employees need

UI they can trust

Uncluttered UI

Clear layout

#NewCrafts

Test is always a roadblock

@pl4n3th

Acceptance test

Needs to happen on customer side

Needs to happen early

=> Code in prod

People need to actually use the sotfware

#NewCrafts

Test on customer side will be late 

@pl4n3th

No matter what

Acknowledge and plan buffer time

Onboard more than one time

Leave debug state on (we're behind authentication)

People know how to screenshot

don't know to tell the steps to reproduce

#NewCrafts

People will asks

@pl4n3th

UI tweaks

Feature mismatch

#NewCrafts

Specifics asks like

@pl4n3th

“We need you to add this check box, control, thingy-thing”

“design smell” 

Go back to:

“what are you seeking as a business outcome?”

#NewCrafts

What’s your secret sauce?

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts

Thanks :)

@pl4n3th

#NewCrafts