Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
Communication problems within complex projects
Search
Eugene
May 31, 2014
Programming
0
330
Communication problems within complex projects
lessons learned from real life
Eugene
May 31, 2014
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Eugene
See All by Eugene
A year in Elixir. 2018 edition
gmile
0
100
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
Java on Azure で LangGraph!
kohei3110
0
150
Haskell でアルゴリズムを抽象化する / 関数型言語で競技プログラミング
naoya
17
4.7k
赤裸々に公開。 TSKaigiのオフシーズン
takezoux2
0
140
FormFlow - Build Stunning Multistep Forms
yceruto
1
180
Go1.25からのGOMAXPROCS
kuro_kurorrr
1
760
XSLTで作るBrainfuck処理系
makki_d
0
210
Perplexity Slack Botを作ってAI活用を進めた話 / AI Engineering Summit プレイベント
n3xem
0
660
既存デザインを変更せずにタップ領域を広げる方法
tahia910
1
230
Cline指示通りに動かない? AI小説エージェントで学ぶ指示書の書き方と自動アップデートの仕組み
kamomeashizawa
1
540
AIコーディング道場勉強会#2 君(エンジニア)たちはどう生きるか
misakiotb
1
230
GoのWebAssembly活用パターン紹介
syumai
3
10k
ASP.NETアプリケーションのモダナイズ インフラ編
tomokusaba
1
380
Featured
See All Featured
Designing Experiences People Love
moore
142
24k
Building Better People: How to give real-time feedback that sticks.
wjessup
367
19k
Visualization
eitanlees
146
16k
Understanding Cognitive Biases in Performance Measurement
bluesmoon
29
1.8k
Put a Button on it: Removing Barriers to Going Fast.
kastner
60
3.9k
BBQ
matthewcrist
89
9.7k
Build your cross-platform service in a week with App Engine
jlugia
231
18k
Refactoring Trust on Your Teams (GOTO; Chicago 2020)
rmw
34
3k
Six Lessons from altMBA
skipperchong
28
3.8k
The Myth of the Modular Monolith - Day 2 Keynote - Rails World 2024
eileencodes
26
2.8k
YesSQL, Process and Tooling at Scale
rocio
172
14k
Rails Girls Zürich Keynote
gr2m
94
14k
Transcript
Communication problems within complex projects lessons learned from real life
Eugene Pirogov 2014
I SUCK! AT COMMUNICATING
The Story
Input data Computation Output data Project scheme… …was dead simple.
Computation! ! = lot of details
PROGRAMMING! IS HARD?! ! GO READ THE! DAMN BOOK.
None
COMMUNICATION! IS HARD.! ! YOU ONLY LEARN! EMPIRICALLY.
“We need a new big feature!” – every client in
the world.
Input data Computation Output data 1 Project scheme Output data
2
Input data Computation Output data Project scheme
Input data — Computation — Output data Project scheme =
throuple —
“We need a time to refactor first.” – every programmer
in the world.
After a day or two of thinking it through, I
begin to work.
During the two period month, it’s Skype, me and client.
Summary
Summary • 1 man • ~2 months • 3 pull
requests • 2/3 pull requests reviewed/merged to master • zero of code is running on prod (waiting for 3rd PR)
The 3rd PR is somewhat “tough” to review. ! Hmm…
Let’s split it in reviewable parts.
Summary • entire team is working • +1 month •
3rd PR is split into 10 smaller PRs • 8/10 smaller PRs are merged • the team is insanely stressed out • zero of code is running on prod
“Time’s up!” – every client in the world (probably).
The NOT happy ending
Summary • the deadline wasn't met – the feature wasn't
delivered • all new code was deployed on production, but no new code was actually used • the codebase is a mess • me – super stressed, almost quit • the project is being put on "no new features mode"
The Reasons
Ridiculous pull requests Reason #1
REVIEWS! ARE BLOCKED
EVERYONE! GET IRRITATED
epicpullrequests.tumblr.com
Lack of understanding Reason #2
IT’S HARD TO! FOLLOW! WHAT WE ARE! BUILDING
No record Reason #3
COMMUNICATION! IS! BROKEN
NO! DESIGN! DOCS
SKYPE! IS! NOT! A WAY! TO DO IT
Lack of seniority Reason #4
I has the dumb™ Reason #5
The Lessons
You can’t do everything yourself Lesson #1
YOU! ARE! A MEMBER! OF! A TEAM
HERO! MODE! OFF
IT’S! A STRESS.! ! DO! YOU! WANT! THAT?
Always remain on the damn record! Lesson #2
COMMUNICATE! IN A! SHARED SPACE.
GITHUB.! COMMIT MESSAGES.! PIVOTAL TRACKER.! CAMPFIRE.! ! EMAILS ARE GOOD!
BUT NOT GREAT.! ! FUCK SKYPE.
Take a step back Lesson #3
DO NOT! BLINDLY GO! AFTER CLIENT’S! REQUESTS
ONLY! FOOLS! WRITE! CODE! FIRST™
blog.reemer.com/why- only-fools-write-code-first
Learn to ask & accept feedback Lesson #4
TAKE IT GENTLY.! ! TAKE IT WISELY.
YOU! ALL ! STRUGGLE! TO MAKE! A BETTER! PRODUCT.
OTHER PEOPLE! DISAGREE?! ! IT ONLY MEANS! THEY CARE.
You are not your code Lesson #5
DO NOT GET! DRIFTED AWAY! BY ASSOCIATING! YOURSELF! TO THE
CODE! YOUR PRODUCE.
Provide the information Lesson #6
IT WILL! SECURE YOU
LET! EVERYONE! DO THEIR BEST! TO HELP! YOU
GISTs! AND! GOOGLE DOCS! ARE AWESOME
WRITE! DOWN! THE STUFF.! ! THEN! SHARE IT.
Do not let other people down Lesson #7
YOU WILL PAY! BY STRESSING OUT
THE TEAM! WILL PAY BY TURNING! INTO A CRUNCH MODE
THE CLIENT! WILL PAY,! LITERALLY
Talk today and not tomorrow Lesson #8
LIFE! IS SHORT! TO WAIT UNTIL! TOMORROW.
It’s all my fault Lesson #9
ALWAYS! DO! THE! BEST! OF YOU.
sivers.org/my-fault
Do not fear to do mistakes Lesson #10
LIFE! IS! A JOURNEY.! ! WHY FEAR IT?
REPEATING! MISTAKES IS NOT! PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE! IS! PRICELESS.! ! EVEN IF A BAD ONE.
STOP! DIGGING! YOURSELF! A HOLE! AND! LEARN! TO! COMMUNICATE
The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers
@unclebobmartin
Thanks! Questions? @gmile