Optimizing developer happiness

Optimizing Developer Happiness: Building a productive team & avoiding fatigue

1. — ricostacruz.com — mashupgarage.com @rstacruz Optimizing Developer Happiness: Building a productive team & avoiding fatigue Rico Sta. Cruz
2. Design UI/UX Code Backend Frontend Test DevOps Scale Integrate Build Make Developers are the lifeblood of our work. DevOps Scale Integrate Build Make Install Configure Control Secure Develop Developers
3. It's been great working with you & the team. I learned a lot and I'll never forget all the things you taught me. Thank you for everything CompanyM just offered me 3 times the pay I'm getting! Some resignations are unavoidable.
4. Friday madness Based on actual events in the industry
5. Urgent, please deploy MagicApp's new search function. Tnx Friday, 12:04PM Friday madness Based on actual events in the industry
6. We don't have enough unit test coverage yet. Can we deploy it on Monday? We need it EOD today. Let me know when this is done. Tnx Urgent, please deploy MagicApp's new search function. Tnx Friday, 12:04PM Friday madness Based on actual events in the industry
7. HELP, the search function is NOT working. Please fix asap!! Friday, 7:43PM We don't have enough unit test coverage yet. Can we deploy it on Monday? We need it EOD today. Let me know when this is done. Tnx Urgent, please deploy MagicApp's new search function. Tnx Friday madness Based on actual events in the industry
8. HELP, the search function is NOT working. Please fix asap!! Friday madness Are you done with the new discount feature and PayPal integration? Next Friday Sorry, we had to rush the search feature last week, our team didn't have time to finish those this week. Friday, 7:43PM Based on actual events in the industry
9. working. Please fix asap!! Friday madness Are you done with the new discount feature and PayPal integration? Next Friday Sorry, we had to rush the search feature last week, our team didn't have time to finish those this week. Please get the team on overtime today. We need those features ASAP. Based on actual events in the industry
10. Friday madness Are you done with the new discount feature and PayPal integration? Sorry, we had to rush the search feature last week, our team didn't have time to finish those this week. Please get the team on overtime today. We need those features ASAP. Based on actual events in the industry
11. Survey: What made you quit your last job? I asked this in a public forum and got interesting responses..
12. Management is always yelling at me Some resignations could have been prevented. I feel like I'm not growing enough and not learning anything. Our culture is no culture. People who really care about beautiful code are few and far between at (redacted). What made you quit your last job?
13. Management is always yelling at me I feel like I'm not growing enough and not learning anything. 8 months in and we STILL don't have automated tests!! I haven't heard from my boss in 2 weeks. We work in the same office. What made you quit your last job? Some resignations could have been prevented.
14. Employee turnover rate among Fortune 500 companies is greatest in the IT industry, according to PayScale.com's most recent survey. High turnover rates are very common. (2017) ”
15. Median employee tenure 20.0 years Payscale Fortune 500 survey Eastman-Kodak Company 1.
16. Payscale Fortune 500 survey General Motors Corporation 5. Median employee tenure 10.3 years
17. Payscale Fortune 500 survey IBM 29. Median employee tenure 6.4 years
18. Payscale Fortune 500 survey Apple Computer, Inc. 422. Median employee tenure 2.0 years
19. Payscale Fortune 500 survey eBay Inc. 435. Median employee tenure 1.9 years
20. Payscale Fortune 500 survey Google, Inc. 462. Median employee tenure 1.1 years
21. The IT industry has a high turnover rate. Thinking of ways to improve our team.
22. — ricostacruz.com — mashupgarage.com @rstacruz Rico Sta. Cruz
23. — ricostacruz.com — mashupgarage.com @rstacruz Optimizing Developer Happiness: Building a productive team & avoiding fatigue Rico Sta. Cruz
25. Hypothesis: Processes get in the way of things. Less red tape means being more agile.
26. The agile manifesto See: agilemanifesto.org
27. Kanban system Great idea, but not necessarily for web development
28. Hypothesis: Developers enjoy making cool things. Let them make cool things.
29. Sample compiler diagram
30. Good design is invisible. It's only when it's done poorly that we notice it. —Jared Spool
31. Good design is invisible. It's only when it's done poorly that we notice it. Happiness irritating
33. Three archetypes: Pioneer, Settler, Town Planner.
34. I just made a website that shows all the movies showing in cinemas! I fixed up your prototype so it now doesn't crash if you have more than 2 people using it The pioneer The settler We'll launch ShowTickets.com for Singapore & Hong Kong soon! ✈ The town planner Pioneer vs. Settler vs. Town Planner The three roles work hand-in-hand in building great products.
35. Best in organizing & supporting efforts, making sure the others are productive. I just made a website that shows all the movies showing in cinemas! I fixed up your prototype so it now doesn't crash if you have more than 2 people using it The pioneer The settler We'll launch ShowTickets.com for Singapore & Hong Kong soon! ✈ The town planner Pioneer vs. Settler vs. Town Planner The three roles work hand-in-hand in building great products. Works great in starting new, big features. Works great in continuing features, being productive with little features. The pioneer The settler The town planner
36. Automate everything. Automation lets developers focus on developing.
37. The deployment dance Deployments should never have to be this difficult. How do you deploy to production? Now talking on Slack #general
38. The deployment dance Deployments should never have to be this difficult. How do you deploy to production? You need to get the SSH key from Jason Then use Capistrano to deploy it to AWS. But first you need to make sure your config env vars are up to date. Check with Pete first If Jason's not around, ask Vic But if you need to deploy now, wait because Rico's working on the DB Now talking on Slack #general
39. Automated deployments & continuous delivery Deployments are ideally automated. How do you deploy to production? Just merge to master and wait 10 minutes Now talking on Slack #general Thanks, v2.4.0 is out! 15 minutes later
40. Automated code linting Automatically reject code with style errors return { user: getUser(action.user), params: { return true } } ⚠ JS Lint Error: expected 4 spaces, found 3. .playbook-heading, div { margin: 0; padding: 8px; color: var(--text-color); display: block; } ⚠ CSS Lint Error: Only one selector allow per line. Place multiple selectors in multiple lines.
41. Get organized. Put processes in place to make sure people do their work effectively.
42. 1. Do you use source control? 2. Can you make a build in one step? 3. Do you make daily builds? 4. Do you have a bug database? 5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 7. Do you have a spec? 8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 9. Do you use the best tools money can buy? 10. Do you have testers? 11. Do new candidates write code during their interview? 12. Do you do hallway usability testing? Joel Spolsky's "The Joel Test" See:
 joelonsoftware.com Simple checklist of a modern development workplace
43. See:
 joelonsoftware.com 1. Do you use source control? 2. Can you make a build in one step? 3. Do you make daily builds? 4. Do you have a bug database? 5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 7. Do you have a spec? 8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 9. Do you use the best tools money can buy? 10. Do you have testers? 11. Do new candidates write code during their interview? 12. Do you do hallway usability testing? Joel Spolsky's "The Joel Test" Git CI Deployment CI Testing Trello (or similar) Sprint planning Sprint schedules Documentation Workspace mgmt. Laptops & good wifi QA Hiring processes QA Simple checklist of a modern development workplace
44. Agile sprint schedule Make work easier to manage by breaking it into two week periods
45. Focus. Developers are most effective when all they need to do is develop. No distractions, no irritants.
46. Read more on effectivedevelopment.org.
47. Effective Development effectivedevelopment.org Work in progress book on best practices
48. Read more on effectivedevelopment.org My work ricostacruz.com Our work mashupgarage.com GitHub/Twitter @rstacruz