Talk given at Open Tech Utrecht 2017

1. Beyond Agile
Conversational Development
Job van der Voort
@Jobvo - GitLab
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

2. Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

3. Commuting hours to sit all
day behind a monitor
does not make sense
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

4. 160people all working from
home
GitLab
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

5. ship fast
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

6. ship continuously
collaborate
build something people want
not be in meetings in the middle of the night
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

7. How to make this work in
a modern way?
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

8. Conversational
Development
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

9. An asynchronous, results-
driven method of building
software that aims to
shorten the cycle time of
change.
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

10. Allows you to build better
stuff, faster
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

11. 4 principles
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

12. 1.Shorten the
conversation cycle
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

13. 1. Shorten the conversation cycle
Method: Minimally Viable Change (MVC)
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

14. 1. Shorten the conversation cycle
MVC for business
—Easier to coordinate
—Easier to reason about
—Easier to estimate
—Quicker to respond to market need
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

15. 1. Shorten the conversation cycle
MVC for teams
—Higher predictability
—Better code quality
—Easier to troubleshoot
—More sense of progress
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

16. 1. Shorten the conversation cycle
Method: Include gatekeepers into the conversation
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

17. 1. Shorten the conversation cycle
Other vital changes
1. Deploy frequently: if it hurts, do it more
2. Single changes: easier to link to problems
3. Deploy on peak times
4. Automated integration testing: test everything
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

18. 2.Thread the conversation
through all stages
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

19. Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

20. Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

21. Link everything
—Give everyone access to the same information
—Only way to measure cycle time, therefore focus
on results
—Optimally: Everything in a single tool (GitLab)
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

22. 3.Invite everyone to the
conversation
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

23. 3. Invite everyone to the conversation
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

24. 3. Invite everyone to the conversation
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

25. 3. Invite everyone to the conversation
—Embrace asynchronous conversations
—Use realtime editing tools for meetings
—Prevent "Not Invented Here" syndrome by
practicing innersourcing
—Make things public!
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

26. 3. Invite everyone to the conversation
—Increases reuse of solutions, prevents duplicate
work
—Increases shared knowledge
—Work async and remote!
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

27. 4.Result oriented
conversations
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

28. 4. Result oriented conversations
Forget about hours, story
points
Connect work to relevant
business metrics
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

29. 1. Shorten the
conversation cycle
2. Thread conversation
through stages
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

30. 3. Invite everyone to the
conversation
4. Result oriented
conversations
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

31. How to make this work for
open source?
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

32. Ship small changes and
give everyone access to
the same tools
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

33. What's the point?
^ ship faster, more agile, more
responsive to customer needs
Everyone
can contribute
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo

34. Questions?
@Jobvo
ConversationalDevelopment.com
Beyond Agile - @Jobvo