Working with great developers

HI.

HI.

EVERY MISTAKE.

1. Launch Without Code

2. Working with a Dev

3. How the Web Works

THREE SESSIONS

HOW TO

WORK WITH

DEVELOPERS

Innovative development

ChangeUncertaintyOptionsAmbiguitySurprises

Who do you need

How do you find them

How to work together

WHO DO YOU NEED

Business Vision

Product Manager

Developer

Designer

Tester

Communication

Community involvement

Product/business thinker

Technical Advisor

RELATIONSHIP

Contractor

Cofounder

Change

Uncertainty

Options

Ambiguity

Surprises

Contractor

Cofounder

Contractor

• By project or by hour?• Involved management

Cofounder

• Ideal• A marriage• Vesting; symmetry

Contractor

Cofounder

Founding

Employee

FINDING

GOOD

PEOPLE

Tech meetupsStartup weekendsNew roleCoworking spacesLearn to codeContribute

Went to Meetups

Phone callsCustomer listSimple landing pageBlogFollowing, audience Industry eventsResearchLong term community member

You don’t find a good cofounder,

You earn one.Jason Freedman, 42floors

“To find a great technical co-founder, you need to convince

them of the following:

Your idea is better than all of their ideas

...The equity is worth spending all of their spare time working for no money...

...You are worth 50% of the equity of the company

You will execute and convert an idea into a big successful business

...You’re better than all of the other biz people pitching them.”

-Vinicius Vacanti

EVALUATING

DEVELOPERS

TWO WAYS

Reputation

Work with them

Interviewing is broken in tech

"I've fired one out of every three people I've hired. That might make people think I'm bad.... but I think I'm quite good.”

Paul English, CTO of Kayak.com

Short Paid Projects

http://humbledmba.com/everyone-sucks-at-interviewing-everyone

ChemistryCommunicationWhat do they askWhat don’t they askOpennessGut feeling

Persuasive: “I can do that!”Easy to continueEasy to stop

Technical Advisor

COMMUNICATION

• Think small; user stories

• Define milestones

• Own the product

• Be available

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

As a ,

when I ,

I would like to .

• Is this feature absolutely critical to my first sale?

• Succinct overview + super detailed flow

VERSION 1.0

To me there is nothing as frustrating as having to deal with someone, who all of a sudden wants things changed thinking it to be "as easy" as nailing a extra bit of wood onto [a] closet.

Michael Bruggeman

STAY CONSISTENT

EMPATHY

• Development is not wizardry, it’s a craft

• Development is not an obstacle to overcome, it is the path

• Difficulties hard to relate

“....having unrealistic expectations about how

quick and easy it should be.”

George Cheng

MANAGEMENT

Change

Uncertainty

Options

Ambiguity

Surprises

AGILE

“A common mistake I see people make: A founder will ship product specs off to a developer, trusting that everything will be done the way the founder sees it in her head, and only check back in when the final product is ready.”

Nelly Yusupova, TechSpeak

AGILE

• Frequent releases of working product

• Constant communication

• Break large tasks into small tasks

T e x t

Trello

Asana

Flow

Pivotal Tracker

TOOLS

TOOLS

“Above all else, agile is about

people”

ASK STUPID QUESTIONS

"Don't be afraid to say, So what does that mean?

...we found that often we've uncovered, 'Oh, wait; I actually don't want to do it that way, and here's why.'

Katie Finnegan, Hukkster

BEST PRACTICES

Testing

Documentation

Clean codeTechnical Advisor

OUTSOURCING

GO FOR IT

Non-core

Clearly defined + evaluated

Time to manage

Lack of control is fine

NO WAY

Core business

To save money

Innovative/Flexible

Ambiguity

ODESK/ELANCE/ETC VERY IMPORTANT PHRASE

Don’t go for the lowest bid

Hire two at firstDerek Sivers

Thank you to Daniel Szmulewicz (and all the

developers I’ve worked with)

Questions!

1. Launch Without Code

2. Working with a Dev

3. How the Web Works

THREE SESSIONS