From jQuery Austin, held September 10-11 2013, my talk on creating a stronger developer process and culture to support dev learning and strengthen creative influence

1. Building a
Development
Culture
jQuery Austin / Monika Piotrowicz (@monsika)
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2. Monika
Piotrowicz
Front End Web Developer
Shopify
@monsika
@shopify
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3. We help over 65,000 businesses sell online
and in-store around the world
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4. We designed and built products for
web, mobile and tablet devices
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5. Today
What we’re doing today
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6. Process
A process exists to support creativity, not resist it
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7. Disclaimers
1. This is only our approach
2. This is difficult
3. Our process will never be perfect
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8. Good conference, right?
But what happens tomorrow?
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9. Why does this happen?
Don’t go chasing Waterfalls
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10. Design
Development
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11. Discovery Production
Design
Development
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12. Discovery Production
Design
Development
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13. != short order cooks
We’re problem solvers too, dammit!
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14. Changes
We need to keep up with them
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16. Ideas
We need a way to share them
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17. (we didn’t pose for this, I swear)
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18. Designers
We want to work with them
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20. Time for a change
Inside and outside of projects
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21. Devs inside projects
Changing the way we build together
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22. A new approach
Killing the “stagger”
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23. Discovery Production
Design
Development
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24. Discovery Production
Design
Development
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25. So uh, what now?
Two new opportunities
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26. 1. Your new best friend
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27. 1. Your new best friend
Surprise, it’s the designer!
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28. Level the playing field
A more collaborative approach to design
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30. 2. Research & Prototype
The chance to actually learn about and implement
the new things that interest you
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31. Your sandbox
The freedom to focus on one problem at a time,
testing early to solve it faster
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32. Form and function
Prototypes can be as bare bones
or complex as we want
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34. 33

35. Your future self
will thank you
The earlier an assumption is challenged,
the easier it will be to fix
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36. 35

37. Drive the design
Your code is your chance to create a concept
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40. Share & iterate
Design informs development
Development informs design
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41. Design FED
Iteration
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42. Devs in the company
Organization-wide activities
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43. Demo Days
Cross-studio learning
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44. Developer meetings
& lightning talks
Keep up to date with what the other developers
have been up to
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45. Hack Days & Recess
Explore and experiment
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46. Lessons Learned
It’s a lot to implement, but a strong developer
culture can bring a lot of benefits
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47. What we gain
1. We make more informed decisions
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48. What we gain
1. We make more informed decisions
2. Time is reduced and quality increases
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49. What we gain
1. We make more informed decisions
2. Time is reduced and quality increases
3. Happy developers, yay!
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50. Ok so what?
How can you get the ball rolling for your team?
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51. Talk to your designers
Your ally, because no one wants to design
in the dark
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52. Become an Advocate
Don’t just vent, have meaningful discussions
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53. Take the first step
Even if it’s on your own time, the results will
speak for themselves
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54. Get started today
Build a strong developer culture
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55. Thanks!
@monsika
@shopify
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