Reaching the Next Level

When a new programmer starts writing code, s/he requires detailed specifications and clear requirements. The understanding is on a level "I need to get this piece of code working". There's not very much thought given on what happens outside this routine or how things are connected.

On the next level, the coder understands that the piece of code s/he's writing is a piece of a larger system. This system exists for some purpose, but the purpose isn't necessarily clear for the person. But generally s/he understands the system is important for the company and probably generates financial benefits (i.e. is sold).

Reaching the next level is already quite challenging. At this point the developer starts to think about the customers' business. How do the customers make their money? (...that can be then invested. Maybe in software. Maybe even on the solution you are developing...) And when you understand how the customers make money, you understand their priorities and needs. What is important for them and critical for their business.

There might be intermediate levels between the ones I mentioned, but I think this covers the basic steps. I'd encourage all developers to try to advance on these steps. The higher you are, the better you can fill your customers' needs and thus the more valuable you become. I'm not saying that code writing is easy. I'm simply saying that being able to write code AND understand the business is a tad harder and rare. Development on this path starts from understanding the user. 

(Sometimes the decision maker for software purchase is not the same as the user. Users might be only influencers in a complex network. But let's leave this out of scope for now. )

Sales & Teaching

Last week I participated in a value sales training (given by Talent Vectia) where I learned that 70 percent of sales representatives do not prepare for a customer visit at all. I could guess there's a correlation between this and deal closing resolution.

When customers meet a sales representative, they often think "Stop wasting my time." So don't. Make your visit worth their while. Things need to be communicated efficiently and clearly without too much fuss. And when you communicate with the customer, instead of talking about "waste", a better choice of words would be to make your visit "worthy" of their "valuable" time.

Another thing they look for is a chance to learn something new, a challenge. They probably meet plenty of sales people. Why are you any different? Challenge them! Don't make them too uncomfortable, but maintain a healthy tension.

Challenger is also the best performing sales profile type. It outperforms Lone Wolf, Hard Worker, Problem Solver and Relationship builder. I guess usually sales representatives

How to Set Up a System Testing Team

In my previous post I touched the topic of legacy modification. It is a difficult stunt to pull. Or well, in a perfect world with a well maintained codebase and outstanding automated test coverage it could be easy, but in reality I think that's rare.

One of the things that makes modifying legacy software especially difficult is the regression. When the system is strongly coupled, almost every little change can produce unforeseen consequences. (Yes, the Butterfly effect!) To counter-attack the diabolic regression effects your best bet is to invest in a test automation harness. But until your test harness is truly solid, you need to make do with manual testing.

In our setup we have two distinct periods: the Development period and the Stabilization period. During the Development period our scrum teams work normally in sprints. They concentrate on creating the new added value that has been agreed on in the Release Planning. Adding new code into the mainline is guarded with automated tests (unit tests + system level tests) and only allowed through pull-requests. Unfortunately due to the limited coverage, this is not enough to guarantee that things stay in good shape.

Development

Development

Stabilization

During the Stabilization period we stop adding new features and concentrate on testing the existing functionality. In practice this means testing manually those parts that are not covered by the automated tests. (This might be called classic hardening anti-pattern and frowned upon, but in this setup it's a must. New development meets Definition of Done, but it's the regression that gives us headache.)

Now this setup sounds a bit dumb. Why do we let the quality deteriorate and problems creep into the mainline and wait to be uncovered during stabilization? Wouldn't it be wiser to detect the problems early on?

Well, that's why we came up with System Testing virtual team. At least now in the beginning it consists of each teams' tester and scrum master. Reasoning behind this resourcing is that testers should naturally be interested in their product's overall quality. And unreleasable software is a really big impediment, thus the scrum masters. The concept is actually quite close to Scrum of Scrums. One main benefit is also that the teams will become aware of what the others have been doing.

The virtual team will meet biweekly for a full day of testing. Each day will be like a mini sprint: beginning with a planning session and ending with a review and retrospective. There's still plenty of forming and storming to do, but I have really high hopes for the activity. Already during the first session they were able to catch tens of bugs that would have most probably otherwise stayed under the radar (at least) until the Stabilization period!