IT for CEOs What CEOs and Founders Need to Know About Software Development
Stephan Schmidt, Vice CTO, brands4friends
Me Stephan Schmidt Vice CTO brands4friends
@codemonkeyism
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
What CEOs and Founders Need to Know About Software Development
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Top
Man
agem
ent
IT
GAP
Dragons
Voodoo
Black Magic
?
That’s wrong! Can’t manage Hidden risks
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
What should you ask? What should a CEO ask his CTO? (VP Engineering, Lead developer, …)
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stuff that risks your business or has huge revenue impact.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Green Shifting.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Questions to ask?
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
What is our largest risk?
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
How many SPOFs do you have? (People and technology)
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
When was your last Backup? Where is it? When has it been tested the last time?
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
When will we hit the wall? (More on that later)
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Development is a solved problem
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time Scope
Resources ($$$)
Kanban (Lean)
Waterfall
Agile (Scrum)
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time to market => more money
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time to Market Largest lever is NOT development. Largest lever is decision phase.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Front-up
Development Start
Development
Everyone focuses here
Problems are here
Idea
MarketOpportunity
Feeling of urgency
Time relative to competitor Reinertsen 1998
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Top Managementpossible impact
Reinertsen 1998
Attention of top management for a
project
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
1 women needs 9 months to deliver a baby. 9 women do deliver a baby in 1 month.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time Time
1. Feature
2. Feature
3. Feature
4. Feature
5. Feature
1. F
eatu
re
2. F
eatu
re
3. F
eatu
re
4. F
eatu
re
5. F
eatu
re
Parallel Serial Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Performance
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Scope
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Scope
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Scope
∞
Technical Debt
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Technical Debt
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Technical Debt
WALL
Rewrite
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Work left to do
Time
Pressure
TechnicalDebt
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Time
Lines of Code
Ok
BAD
GOOD
How long does it take?
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Brooks Law: Adding people to a late project makes it later.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Software estimation is usually done by the wrong people.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
4x
0,25x
1x
Cone of Uncertainty
Time
Steve McConnell
Software Complete
Initial Idea
Requirements Complete
UI Complete
Detailed DesignComplete
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
4x
0,25x
1x
Bad Cone of Uncertainty
Time
Steve McConnellInitial Idea
Requirements Complete
Estimation/Time
Probability
10% 50% 90%
1. August1. July 1. October
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Usually Estimation is not needed! Focus on Time to Market and What not when
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
And don’t forget … Do not hire developers if you don’t know what you do.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Thanks! Questions? @codemonkeyism [email protected]
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Sources
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
“Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art”, Steve McConnell
“Developing Products in Half the Time”,
Donald G. Reinertsen “The Mythical Man-Month”,
Frederick P. Brooks “Peopleware”,
Tom DeMarco
DON’T FORGET! Maintenance typically consumes 40 to 80 percent of software costs.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Productivity
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
The most important factor in software work is the quality of the programmers.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
The best programmers are up to 28 times better than the worst programmers.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Developers need 15 minutes to reach the ZONE.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Site note: No telephones.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
Tools.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
No silver bullet.
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
War on Talent
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
When your recruiting pipeline is empty
3 months recruiting + 3 months notice period + 1 current month = 7 months from need to filled
Stephan Schmidt - What Top Management needs to know about IT
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