MORNING CREEPS!lets talk dev with Dan Rockwell

How to speak to developers, get protos

and trip out on traction goodness…

BEFORE THE GIG DEV MINDSET

Get job Know what we’re doing Do good work Keep dev team happy / sane Put assets in play Get paid for expertise Make clients successful Be useful Leverage client win for future wins

DUDE, MVP!

MVP Minimum Viable Product MBE Minimum Bullshit Endured MEV Maximum Endurance Vehicle MCL Minimum Cash Lost WHS Whole Hog Syndrome SSRFC So Simple but Ridiculously F_cking Complicated

“stage? the stage where i need something done… “

Ok, what stage are you in?

early

strong gut

ready to piss cash

talked to some ppl

ppl say i need a proto

took someones money need to make it now

kinda know

STAGE 1

better gut

some validation

panic

gonna miss my window

pivoting i think

sued my first two devs

dude this will rock

STAGE 2

need to redo what the others did

pivot 2 -3

adding everything time

making $ need to make more

second startup during first startup syndrome

urgent and on fire

dude!

STAGE 3

waiter architect merlin makerbot

riddler cash bed drill sergeant ash

How a Developer Sees You

How you see a Developer

CLIENT MINDSET

Have idea, make it, NOW, don’t pay that much

Have idea, make it NOW, but make it this way

Have idea, make it, NOW, but ya know like this but not that

Have idea, and i want it made by someone special

Redo idea, make no more mistakesI have no idea who to trustWTF am i doing

How much will it cost?Yelp meets Foursquare for mobile.

How much will it cost?

How many experiences are you making?

Yelp meets Foursquare for mobile.

database gps, cached fault tolerance where ya get the data? user gen or you getting data, and where again? designs, or we gotta design? goal, user flows? criticals (all = suck) timeline, by when what are you not telling me what we’re not discussing really (brand, validation, pitch prep, letterhead…)

backend splash onboarder

iOS drdAPIS

social shares weird stuff

Design? - reference - essential guts - wireframes - goal

Stage? - Early? - Traction time? - Steady As She Goes? - Jersey Shore Season 3?

Time? - Timeline? - Goal? - $?

Mindset? - Calm? - Rushed? - Experimental? - Enterprise! - Rocketship!

Budget? - Equity Dance? - CASH! - Burn to save! - Its coming…

REQUIREMENTS

Value of Knowing What you Want

Sanity in your assumption position. (devs don't care about validation)

!

Protect your cash. !

Transparency isn't a weakness, its power. !

Absence of knowing means the price goes up. !

dev or design, paid hustler, chainsaw, you better have trees to cut

GIG PENDING DEV MINDSET

Can we build this? (fault analysis) !

timeline to iteration 1 !

what assets to put in play !

how can we be assured that designs proposed on 80% on target !

creep trajectory, gut on client insanity matrix

CREEP KILLS

you WILL creep on every developer you meetfactor the job, factor the creep

ways to avoid creep - KNOW, respect, simple, ASKwe plead for transparency to sniff out creep factors

creep kills more than you thinkmorale, quality, mana, expectations, alignment, future

you call it creep, to me its just design changesin scope = planned anticipated, out of scope = creep

YOU DEV

DO’s

Don’t ask the dev if your idea is any good.

Don’t ask the dev to take equity in lieu of cash.

Your homework on the dev- past work, client ref, testimonials. A fault analysis on your own idea.Ask dev what can make this project rock!!

Ask dev what can make this project suck!!

Don’t build beyond your gut/assumptions- WHS will eat your checkbook

DON’Ts

waiter architect merlin makerbot

riddler cash bed drill sergeant ash

How a Developer Sees You

How you see a Developer

Questions?