Do itright

allan kellyTwitter: @allankellynet

http://www.allankelly.net

Do it RightThenDo the Right thing

NDC Oslo June 2013

Allan Kelly

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know

Henney, 2010Context Encapsulation inPattern Languages of Program Design Volume 5, 2006

Business Analysis and Leadership:

Influencing change

Penny Pullan & James Archer

2013

Consulting software development & strategy

Training for AgileAuthor– Changing Software Development: Learning to

be Agile (2008, Wiley)– Business Patterns for Software Developers

(2012, Wiley - ISBN: 978-1119999249)

Management commandment

Do the Right ThingThen

Do it Right

I am here to

challenge

I am not saying

Knowingly do the Wrong Thing

I am saying

You only know the Right Thing by doing

Exhibit A - The Alignment Trap

Less Effective

More Effective

Highly aligned

Less aligned

‘Alignment trap’11% companies+13% IT spending-14% 3 year sales growth

‘Maintenance zone’74% companiesAvg IT spending-2% 3 year sales growth

‘IT Enabled growth’7% companies-6% IT spending+35% 3 year sales growth

‘Well-oiled IT’8% companies-15% IT spending+11% 3 year sales growth

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Doing things right

Doing the right thing…

• Costs – Money: £consultants, $analysts, €managers– Time: Analysis, research, meetings, discussions

• Assumptions– There is a right answer– And it is knowable– No value in wrong answer– That wrong & right are definable

Exhibit B – Lean Start-Up

• Knowing is difficult• Get into the market to

find out• See what people will

$pay for– Not just what that €say

• Doing need not be expensive

Exhibit C – Changing (Me!)

• Its about Learning• To Learn we must do• How can you increase

the pace of learning?

Learning

Change

Exhibit D – He who learns fasters“We understand that the only

competitive advantage the

company of the future will have

is its managers’ ability to learn

faster than then their

competitors.”

Arie de Geus, The Living Company 1988

How do you learn fast?

• Do• How do you do?• Iterate– Iterate faster– Iterate more

• Learn• Learn to iterate faster, learn to aim better

Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire, Aim, Fire, …

Choose your weapon

M16 from Dragunova via WikiCommons, Creative Commons LicenseL115A3 from Defence on WikiCommon Open Government License

Or is your choice more like….

M16 from Dragunova via WikiCommons, Creative Commons LicenseBerdan Sharps rifle via WikiCommons, Public Domain image

Which are you?

Your delivery (supply) side?Your business (demand) side?

(Ever heard about the M16 delivery team coupled with a 19th century requirements process?)

Choose your weapon

Snipers Rifle• Known target• Clear shot• Time to prepare• Limited variables

Machine Gun• Many targets• Confused environment• Time short – Action

required• Many variables• Frequently miss

Choose your approach

Sniper development• Market is slow moving• Market it known• Competitors are slow• Capital is scarce• Development is expensive• Risk of collateral damage,

e.g. brand, individuals

Machine development• Market is fast• Market is changing• Competitors are fast• Capital is cheap• Development is cheap (and

fast)• Multiple failures, try again

Or do tools dictate approach?

“It takes a long time to reload and aim”Therefore

“take time to make sure every shot counts”

Or your competitors?

Asymmetric warfareYou Your competitor Result

Stalemate

Toast!

Toast! (Slow)

?

?

Iteration is the key

• Get good at iterating• Get good at iterating fast• Get good at learning from results– Test results with customer– Test output in the market

– And Evaluate

Close the loop – evaluate what you do & feedback

Let a thousand flowers bloom…

Get good at selecting those to keep - Cull the rest

Breaks are good

• Get good at….– Knowing when to stop– Stopping

• Technical has TDD, ATDD, BDD to stop• Corporate breaks– Portfolio management– Venture Capital funding model– Use a Dragon’s Den

You can’t see the future…

• You can’t know what will work• Stop wasting time and money guessing• Get good at probing – experimenting• Conduct a lot of experiments• Learn from experiments• Stop those which “don’t work”• Promote those which do

Iterate at all levels

Regularly Evaluate -> Set/change directionFrequently Collect next -> Decide nextMost frequently Developer -> Release

• Build capability to iterate – and USE IT• Use data gained from iteration• Iterate your way to to The Right Thing

Allan’s commandments

#1 Do it Right, Do it Fast; Learn & Iterate

#2 Fail fast, Fail Cheap; Evaluate, Learn

#3 Invest in breaks; Stop & Turn

Take-away

1. Fast iterations allow for learning– Learn to iterate fast– Then iterate in the market– Learn to evaluate & feedback

2. Fail fast, fail cheap, learn3. Invest in breaks

allan kellySoftware Strategy Ltd.

www.allankelly.netallan@allankelly.net

Twitter: @allankellynet