Lean web solutions with WordPress [English version]

LEANweb solutions

with WordPressWordcamp Milano 2011

“How many of you developweb solutions using WordPress?”

[Expected answer] “Quite a few / almost everybody ...”

“How many of you are 100%happy with your job ANDwith your customers AND

of your wage?”

[Expected answer]“Really 100% happy,

nobody, or almost nobody”

WHERE WE ARE

WHERE WE WANT TO GO

HOW TO GET THERE

(and what all of this has to do with Lean, and with WordPress ...)

WE’RE OFTEN HERE ...

OR HERE ...http://www.flickr.com/photos/35821702@N07/5243385418/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spanishalex/5506236833/sizes/l/in/photostream/

OR HERE

WHERE WE WANT TO GO

[Example of goal]

“To be able to complete more assignments

on time,with less stress

and more laughter!”

http://blog.crisp.se/mattiasskarin/2011/05/16/1305497493763.html

ENTERS ...

LEAN

lean manifacturing

(from TPS -Toyota Production System)

•eliminatewaste

•reducecostsandtimetomarket

•continuousimprovement

lean software development

2003-MaryPoppendieck,TomPoppendieck,

“LeanSoftwareDevelopment:AnAgileToolkit”

“maximizecustomervaluewhile

minimizingwaste”

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Customer collaboration over con-tract negotiation

• Responding to change over follow-ing a plan

[www.agilemanifesto.org - 2001]

Agile S

oftware D

evelopm

ent

Cool , but ... in practice?

VISUALIZE

Choose simple and efficient tools, where everybody can visualize the state of your project(s!) and of single tasks inside them. Whenever possible, opt for phisical (vs digital) tools, like boards on the team room walls.

Always know where we are / how far we got.

MEASURE

Being able to measure both our goal and our current situation is a key step in order to understand and see the actual distance be-tween the two.

Es. How do we define the SUCCESS of this web project (Page views? Ads revenue? Registered users? ...)

Define actionable goals.

I can measure my productivity, the number of bugs closed after the product release, the average delivery time of an additional feature, ...

Metrics are essentials to measure, compare and make corrections.

INSPECTAND ADAPT

ALWAYS do retrospectives.

Try to understand what did not work the way it was expected to, last time. Find the cause(s). Fix the process.

PROTOTIPE

WP is perfect for prototiping! The 1st “demo” can be online in a flash! Use that, with your customer, and limit meetings, plans, require-ments, based on “abstract ideas”.

DELIVERYOFTEN

Make small, progressive releases. Minimize risks!

Remember to prioritize most relevant things / features(importance in terms of businessvalue).

COMUNICATE

With your customers. And with your colleagues. Talk. Ask. And listen. (Which does not mean to spend whole days in endless meetings ;-)

COLLABORATE

Work together, with the colleagues, and the customers, and not against them (nor anybody by his/her own).

The project success must be a shared goal. (This is also called “alignment”)

LIMIT (IT)

Do not add unnecessary complexity.Do not code unrequested features.Do your best, to “obtain more with less”.

(Ex: Choosing hosting for a WP project. Maybe for that site wp.com is just great, or godaddy is fine, or ...)

LimitWorkinProgress(WIP)

IMPROVE

Put yourself in a mood of constant self-improvement and continuous learning (KAIZEN)

DEAL WITHCHANGE

instead of suffering it

Embrace change!

Things change. It’s a fact.We have to live with it.

(requirements change, budgets change, customers change, technolo-gies change, stakeholders, market, competitors, WP changes ;-)

We can do our best to manage change.Smartly. To work better.

We’reNOTpredestinedtomentalstrain,headache,rage,overwork.

REDUCE WASTE

“Eliminate waste”.

Unfinished features are waste. As well as delivered features never used. And unread documentation. And meetings without a clear focus and scope. And sofware defects. And pauses in software de-velopment (while waiting for ...)

Allthatdoesnotproducevalueispotentiallymuda(waste).

FOCUS ON VALUE

What does actually generate value, for my customer, in this web app? (ie: “makes him earn money”) What’s superfluous?

What, in my organization, is central in respect to this value produc-tion? What’s superfluous?

Lean & Agile tools,techniques, practices ...

Maybe next time! (Kanban, SCRUM, Pair programming, “courage”, timeboxes, pomodoro technique, ...)

Study, take part, share!

www.agileday.it (Roma, November 2011)

www.webdebs.org (Brescia, once a month)

http://tech .groups.yahoo.com/group/milano-xpug/

www.linkedin .com/groups/Lean-Agile-Italy-1944601

and much , much , much more !

merci@carloz

http://it.linkedin .com/in/beschicarlo@devsum.it

ping me!