Agile Tools for Startups
by Jonathan Rasmusson

Friday, 2 March, 12

Agenda• Set the stage• What to measure• Inception deck
• The team• MVP• Estimation• Iterative Development• Visible workspace• Spikes - lots of them
• The Release
Friday, 2 March, 12Setting the stage
Do  we  have  anything  worth  building?

StartupTesting the idea

using Agile? ? ?

Learning

Unknown problem

Friday, 2 March, 12How  can  we  build  it?

Let’s build it
Building (learning)

Known problem
Unknown solution

Two mindsets of anentrepreneur

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Speculative need.
Personal need.

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I’m pretending I am
doing the speculating.

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So I’ve got a validated idea.
I’m ready to build.
What agile methods, tools,principle, would I apply.
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First I’d figure out what
I needed to measure• How will I know we are being successful?
• What numbers really matter.
• Am going to want to know that going in.
• So when I build, I will have a means tomeasure.

If I can’t do this...
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How do I communicate
the vision?

Friday, 2 March, 12

Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
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1. Ask why we are here
• Teams make 1000s of decisions and tradeoffs when building software.

• Want them to make the right ones.
• To do that they need to be informed.
• They need to know ‘why’.
#1  reason  for  doing  this  project?
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How to get the why?
= Go and see =(Genchi Genbutsu, 現地現物)

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Friday, 2 March, 12

Friday, 2 March, 12

Friday, 2 March, 12

2. Create an elevator pitch.
(a volunteer please)

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The Wii elevator pitch• For [parents with young families]• who [are scared by traditional game consoles]• the [Nintendo Wii]• is a [family entertainment system]• that [let’s families play together].
• Unlike [the XBox and PS3 which have complicatedjoysticks and controllers]• our product [uses a natural, gesture based approachto gaming that lets the whole family play (evengrandma)].

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3. Design a product box

Friday, 2 March, 12Gwabs?

Friday, 2 March, 12

What is Gwabs?
 For [casual gamers]
 who [want a quick game they can play during the day] [Gwabs]
 is a [desktop-to-desktop fighting game] that [lets players steal their friends manhood] unlike [other casual games] our product [is game is personal, has fresh content, andprimarily makes money from virtual item sales (notadvertising)].

03/01/2012
Friday, 2 March, 12© 2007 Cambrian House ®

slideThe Brand
 Edgy Not to serious
 Feed Honor, Glory, Manhood Pwning
 Pure ownage
 Heavy metal / Rock

03/01/2012
Friday, 2 March, 12© 2007 Cambrian House ®

slide

Design the Game Box

03/01/2012
Friday, 2 March, 12© 2007 Cambrian House ®

slide

4. Create a NOT list
OUT

IN
%LJURFNVZH
QHHGWRPRYH

Stuff we
DUHQ·WJRLQJ
WRVZHDWUNRESOLVED
7KLQJVZHVWLOOQHHGWRVRUWRXW
Friday, 2 March, 12Your project community
is always bigger
than you think.
(story)Friday, 2 March, 12

5. Meet your neighbours
Safety officers

Production
support

Databaseadministrators

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Technical writers
Help desk

InfrastructureCore teamEveryone else!

Security

You pick yourarchitecture ...
when you pick yourteam.
Friday, 2 March, 12

6. Show the solution
Browser

Services

Security
Validation

Webservices

Domain logic

DB2Mainframe

To be decided
Technologies:-­‐  <language>-­‐  <libraries>-­‐  <tools>-­‐  <technology>

Unresolved

Out of scope
SAP HR

Friday, 2 March, 12

Third-party cardswipe system

Tibco?

Beware!

ETLBatch

SQL Server

SQL ServerClustered

No testenvironment

7. What keeps us up at night?
• This is our risk slide.
• This is your opportunity to raise any issues
or concerns you’ve got.

• As well as hear from the other side andother team members.

• Better to talk about it now ... than leave tilllater.

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8. Size it up
3 months
6 months
or 9 months

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9. Be clear on what’sgoing to give.

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The Furious Four!

Time

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BudgetQuality

Scope

This would be hinged
on how we picked ourdates.

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Deliver by dateor
Deliver by feature set

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Deliver by date(preferred)

Effortremainingaltu

Acitylocve

Ship it!

TimeBe hard on the date ...

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but flexible aboutthe features

Deliver by feature set
Effortremaining

Time

Deliver thesecore features
Friday, 2 March, 12

but be flexible
about the date

Ship it!

The way of the Spartan WarriorEffort
remaining

Start with a stripped down
bare-bones version ...

Actualvelocit

Iterations

Friday, 2 March, 12ythen see how
realistic thisdate is looking

TimeWhat this project is going to take
Construction

UAT

Training~3 months

1 wk

1 wk

Ship it!

3 people, 3 ½ months, $250K

Friday, 2 March, 12That’s it!
Got the vision.
Next the team...

Friday, 2 March, 12

Agile and startups see
eye-to-eye on teams.

Friday, 2 March, 12

The team=This blurring of roles is something
agile and startups share.

Friday, 2 March, 12Impacts hiring

Minimum Viable Product(MVP)Friday, 2 March, 12

Agile principle
Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amountof work not done—is essential.

Friday, 2 March, 12

The MVP• If personal - I’d build just want I need.
• If speculating - I’d have to figure this out.
• But it would have to be defined.

To help us could do story gathering workshops.
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Step 1: Get a big open room

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Step 2: Draw lots of pictures
Personas

Flowcharts

Scenarios

System maps

Process flows

Concept designs?
Storyboards
Friday, 2 March, 12Paper prototypes

Your own

Step 3: Write lots of stories

Friday, 2 March, 12Extract stories from your pictures
Create permit

Approve

RejectGive reason

Pick up permit

CancelCancelGive date

Walk the flowchart extracting user stories as you go

Create permit

Friday, 2 March, 12Approve permit

Cancel permit

Goal is the MVP
Master story list
Add user
Print itinerary
Cancel trip
Book permit
Update permit
SearchCreate device
Add swap trade
Add option
Cancel plan

Friday, 2 March, 12=

Release 0.1

Estimation
To estimate or not...

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Advantages toestimating• Can build a plan
• Puts a stake in the ground• Can set expectations around features• Communication tool
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Disadvantages ofestimating• Waste of time
• Who cares?
• If it’s gotta be done it’s gotta be done

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When I am doing myown work I typically
don’t estimate.

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When I work forothers I do.
Because I’ve got to manage expectations.

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Iterative development

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Iterative development
Analysisjust-in-time

Testingearly & often

1 - 2 weeks
Working software

Storiesrock solid
Development

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How quickly we are burning
through our customer’s stories

EffortMaster story list
1 pt Add user
2 pts Print itinerary
5 pts Cancel trip
3 pts Book permit
1 pt Update permit...
...
5 pts Create device
3 pts Add swap tradev = 15 pts
Iteration 1v = 15 pts
Iteration 2v = 15 pts
Iteration (n)100 pts

I1

Friday, 2 March, 12

I2I(n)

Done !

Should you use
iterations?

Friday, 2 March, 12I personally like them
• Gives the team a target.
• Forces you to focus.
• Can ignore everything else.
• Brings rhythm and ritual.
Not essential - more taste and style.
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The visible work space

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Great tool for staying
focused andcommunicating a lot of
information quickly.

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The release wall
I1

I2

I3 Iteration 4Looks like weare almost ½ way there

Friday, 2 March, 12ToDo

The storyboard
Current iteration
Not started

Analysis done

Friday, 2 March, 12State of this iteration’s user stories

In progressUnder construction

Ready for test

Done

Ready for review

Blessed and seen
by our customer

Spikes - lots of them.
(because that’s how you find things out)

Friday, 2 March, 12

The Release• Once we’re ready to go live there’s

something things I would want to have inplace.

• Analytics• Continuous deployment• Automated tests
Decide whether to launch.
Friday, 2 March, 12Couple check lists

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Friday, 2 March, 12Paul Graham
Friday, 2 March, 12

So. That’s all I’ve got.
Would love to hear your thoughts.

Friday, 2 March, 12

Learn more
• Blog– agilewarrior.wordpress.com• Twitter– @jrasmusson• Email– jr@agilewarrior.com

Friday, 2 March, 12