- Define Software Development Life Cycle and why we use it as developers.
- Provide a general overview of what "Agile" means and contrast it to Waterfall.
- Identify the components of a good user story.
- Explain what Trello is, and why we use it.
- Define what a backlog is and how they are implemented in developer workflow.
- Create user stories for existing web applications.
- Differentiate MVP from application.
- Generate user stories in order to create proof of concept for MVP(minimum viable product)
What does it mean to be a developer? Do we, as developers, just sit in our mom's basement, drinking mountain dew absent minded from the outside world and just code all day? Maybe. Hopefully not. Development is not just about coding. Planning, preparing, discussion and iteration is in our lifeblood. It's integral to how effective development happens. Let's look at facebook ten years ago compared to today:
And there were dozens of iterations in between. Think about this in comparison to software that is released in annual versions.
THE SDLC is the software development life cycle, also referred to as the application development life-cycle. It is a term used to describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system.
One form of SDLC is the waterfall methodology.
It's a linear approach to software development. Project stages execute sequentially. You get to the final product fully developed and tested at the very end of the process. Sometimes can be good if you know EXACTLY what you want the end goal to be. IE. you know: what to build, who to build it for, and how to build it.
But things change.. dependent software changes, customer needs change.
We'll be talking about/using a better model/methodology of SDLC in particular. Agile Software Developement
Official wikipedia definition. Agile Software Development is a group of software development methods in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.
Great Quote: "The Agile movement is not anti-methodology, in fact many of us want to restore credibility to the word methodology. We want to restore a balance. We embrace modeling, but not in order to file some diagram in a dusty corporate repository. We embrace documentation, but not hundreds of pages of never-maintained and rarely-used tomes. We plan, but recognize the limits of planning in a turbulent environment. Those who would brand proponents of XP or SCRUM or any of the other Agile Methodologies as "hackers" are ignorant of both the methodologies and the original definition of the term hacker." —Jim Highsmith, History: The Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools:
- self-organization and motivation are important, as are interactions like co-location and pair programming.
Working software over comprehensive documentation:
- working software is more useful and welcome than just presenting documents to clients in meetings.
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation:
- requirements cannot be fully collected at the beginning of the software development cycle, therefore continuous customer or stakeholder involvement is very important.
Responding to change over following a plan:
- agile methods are focused on quick responses to change and continuous development.
about the items in bold, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
TLDR of above, TRY SOMETHING react to feedback
The Basic Implementation of Agile workflow is rapid development based on quick iterations known as sprints. Traditionally in the development environments sprints can last anywhere from 1-4 weeks. Development teams can build trust in their clientele/customer base by delivering early and often.
This also provides the additional benefit of allowing for steering. Changing the direction of the project on a per iteration basis if need be.
For your projects you can structure your own sprints in even smaller increments. Maybe even 1 or 2 days. Perhaps shorter! Get something done in the sprint and iterate on it
Take a moment to read through each of the following questions, then discuss with a partner:
- When does it make sense to use the waterfall SDLC?
- When would you favor using the agile SDLC?
- Can you think of any companies that adhere to waterfall principles?
- Which companies come to mind when thinking of the agile methodology?
- Can you list ways conventional companies are adjusting to the agile movement?
When planning these sprints, set concrete goals for yourself. I'm going to achieve X by 12:30 so that I can get started on Y after lunch. I will finish Y by close of business so that I can start on Z. You could scale even further than that.
Traditionally during the project weeks you'll have time to work from home. It is VITAL that you guys schedule yourselves well.
- With what we've talked about, discuss with your neighbor what you think we mean by minimum viable product.
Honestly there's a lot of different meanings for minimum viable product. This video does a great job describing an approach
So what does MVP mean in this class? It's not so different. Build something that works(sorta), that you can get feedback from, and subsequently iterate on.
For the scope of this course. Think of a bronze, silver and gold model. Silver is really what you're trying to make. But if you fall short on time you have your bronze you can fall back on. If you don't have enough to do, you could go to your gold model. Your MVP should be on that bronze/silver line..... ish
In order to work towards our MVP developers write user stories. User stories are essentially small granular features for your application.
User stories have:
- role
- goal
- reason
As a <role> I should be able to <goal> so that <reason>
User stories should be granular and succinct.
specific and implementable user story
As a user, I should be able to message other users so that I can communicate with my family
general user story that does not provide insights as to how the goal should be met
This app should have a really good social networking engine.
Individually, assign numbers 1-5 for all students. For whichever number a student receives individually write as many user stories as they can for the next 5 minutes. In the next 10 minutes, students will group in their respective applications, and whiteboard at least 10 user stories. 5 minutes to review user stories.
What is the most essential feature for this product? What's the MVP?
- Ebay
- Tinder
- Gmail
- Github
User stories are great, but wouldn't it be nice if there was a great place to store and track all of them? There is! It's called trello. There are other out there, but we recommend this one.
Sign up for trello if you don't already have an account and spend a few minutes exploring the site before:
- Create an empty Trello Board for Project 2.
- Create a card to... create user stories for Project 2
A backlog is a list of features or technical tasks which the team maintains and which, at a given moment, are known to be necessary and sufficient to complete a project or a release
- if an item on the backlog does not contribute to the project's goal, it should be removed;
- on the other hand, if at any time a task or feature becomes known that is considered necessary to the project, it should be added to the backlog.
Its a set of work that is targeted to achieve successful delivery of a project or a release of a product. Often times, it boils down to a bunch of user stories.
The icebox is literally where all your ideas go that you don’t currently plan to build. It doesn’t mean you can’t thaw them out later, but to you it represents what you should be investigating further. The backlog, however, is things you definitely plan to build
TLDR would be nice to get too, but its not happening any time soon.
A wireframe is a simple blueprint/template/sketch/visual outline of the components of your website. Though there are some great digital wireframing tools out there, all you really need to make a wireframe for your personal use is a piece of paper and something to write with.
- READ ME: Wireframe Basics
- Curious to learn more about wireframes? Ask a UXDI student!
- Lucid Chart is a great free(mium) tool for diagramming. It is very useful for both wire framing as well as making ERDs
We have just had a crash course in the some of the basics involved in the development process, project management, and idea development.
The important thing for this course is how we use these tools, principles and methodologies to help us plan for, and work efficiently on our projects.
The only homework from this lesson is to use what we've learned today and apply it for our second project.