part 2: train wrecks, ugly baby client meetings & other project calamities

Welcome

susan rust

619-379-9351

[email protected]

#susan-rust

Susan Rust / DrupalCon Amsterdam / [email protected]

EverestDevelopment is like a trek to Everest. You plan like crazy with the right team, resources and timeline so unforeseen avalanches, blizzards and crevasses don’t kill you.

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mailto:[email protected]?subject=DrupalCon%20Amsterdam%20Presentation


Who?CEO?"CTO?"Sales?"AM/PM?"Other?

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Why?You are missing other cool sessions…"What do feel you are lacking?"Where are you out of control?"Where are you at risk?"Where can you contain costs?

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10/10People and organizations bailing on Drupal because a weak implementation did not meet their business needs.

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Failures Hurt Drupal

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Shops in Crisis

Shops lurch forward every day, working hard, funded by cash-flow, stressed out, unsure how to grow or make useful changes that empower teams & make clients happy.The right people doing the right things within the right process = ease & profitability.

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5 Golden Rules


1. Say No

If you can’t deliver a win, don’t play."Only take good projects with good customers that meet your business goals.""Don’t have any goals? Oops.

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Business Goals

What kind of Drupal do you do?"What is your sweet spot today?"Where do you want to be in 3 years?"Where are you a subject matter expert?"Is the project good for business & team?

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2. Drupal + Process = Win

Drupal = Fail""Drupal with process leads to project success and excellent experiences.

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3. Client Mgmt.It’s your job to train the client and manage their expectations.""Teach them how to succeed at a web project.

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4. No Docs?"No Development!

Do not start working without engineering docs."Do not start working without fully fleshed out tickets."Just don’t do it.

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5. Cash-flow is not the Same as Profit

The ability to measure project margins is critical to solid growth and scalability."Most companies run on cash-flow, not profitable projects.

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The Gap


Communication Gap

What Developers

Know

Drupal, Beer, Coffee

What Clients Know

Their Stuff

Gap



Communication Gap

clients talk greek

{engineers !talk geek}



Closing the Gap

What Clients Know

What Developers

KnowOverlap

Drupal, Beer, Coffee

Their Stuff


360˚ Development


Drum = Tension



360˚ Development

AM/PM This role sits at the center of projects

and determines project success.

SalesDevs

Client

QA

$$$

PM



Development = Velocity



Instead of Stalled



Project Phases

Business Analysis DevelopmentProject

Planning

Development UAT Delivery Phase 2

Training Phase 0 Storyboards Dashboards "

Objectives Commitment Risk Mgmt Metrics



Project Phases

1. Site Audit a. Content b. Web audit c. Performance audit d. Training

2. Discovery

a. Web objectives b. Stakeholders c. Current workflow d. Content types e. Views f. Taxonomies g. User Stories h. Storyboards i. Pre-wireframes

""

3. Engineering a. Data model b. Content c. Migration d. Integration e. Wireframing f. Deployment g. Performance h. Scaling

" 4. Start Development

a. Post-mortem b. Updated Docs c. Tickets d. Resources e. Timeline f. Sprints g. Demos

5. During Development 1. Build 2. Migrate 3. Integrate 4. Design 5. Theming

""""6. Post Development

1. QA 2. UAT 3. Bug fixes 4. Launch 5. Documentation 6. Client training 7. Phase 2

Business Analysis DevelopmentProject Planning



Estimating Projects

discovery engineering development design/theme uat / bugs

" "5% "10% 30% 30% 15%"10%

audit

25% budget 60% budget

You burn the time on discovery, engineering and uat/bugs whether you charge for it or not.



Communication

Basecamp for client communication. Devs included but not responding.

Jira or other for ticket information, estimates and status. ALL info goes here, not spread out across multiple tools.

Freshbooks or other automated estimating recurring billing tool.



Sales

Say “no” to bad projects."Say “no” to bad clients.

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Sales

time

budgetfeatures


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Site Audit"Discovery"Architecture"Development"UX / Design"Maintenance/Support

Sales: Components

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It’s not about the quantity of projects."

It’s about a win for the company and the customer."Consultative Sales: Business analysis to understand how the client uses their data to build the right object model. Codifying their business process.

Sales: Consultative

Sales: Analysis

Is this a good project?"Is this a good client?"Does it meet our business goals?"What are the risks?"What are the rewards?"Will be succeed?""

Reward Sales Teams based on a weighted basis rather than flat commission.

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Sales: Analysis

What is the purpose of the site?"What is the metric for success?"Who has to use the site?"What will they do?"How will they do it?"What are the reports needed?"What has to be integrated?"What will be migrated?

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Managing Expectations

Training on Process & Drupal"DOOB / MVP"Triage / Red Flags"Team and Time Commitment"Risk Assessment

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Red flags"Not winnable project"

Underfunded"Bad project"Wrong project"

Not winnable client"Not coachable"Micromanaging"Not managing"Naive"Low tech"

Post summary to Basecamp

Checkpoint


Sales:"Audits & Discovery


Audits & Discovery

Site audits and discovery allow you to know what you’re getting your team into. You have been paid for high-level work without dragging your company through the mud. You are now the expert on their needs.



Site Audit

User stories"Wireframes"User dashboards"

Reports"Content"Users"

Drupal"Taxonomy"Content Types"

Features"Custom Features"Views"Modules"Custom Modules"Integrations"Workflow"Migration"

Post to Basecamp



DiscoveryOrganizes and prioritizes ideas & requests"Identifies all stakeholders & users stories"Content types, taxonomies & views"User dashboards & reports"Content migration & integrations"Workflow & features

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Business RulesA web project is often the catalyst for a rewrite of their own business rules.""Clients often need help making the leap from manual to web processes.

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Content

How much is there?"Who manages it?"Who will write new content? by when?"How will the new site manage it?"What is the content deployment strategy?"

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UAT

Discovery documents become the basis for user acceptance testing.""This also prevents scope creep."

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Engineering:"Architecture

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Pretend the project is done, what will everyone be saying in 12 weeks"Let your team punch holes in the work done so far"Ask them what they see as risks, impediments, problems"Raise all issues with the client now

Pre-mortem


MVP

Only build MVPs. No matter how tempting.

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DocsThey are posted on the wall as a living, breathing document. Docs include:""

User stories"Storyboards"Wireframes"Designs

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Storyboards

Storyboards illustrate the lifecycle of each content type, user & feature.""They are based on the user stories gathered during discovery.

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Wireframes

Wireframes are essential to call out features and functionality.""Wireframes are updated at the end of each sprint as needed.

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Design

Design happens after engineering and ALL functionality has been called out.""Theming happens as the last step before UAT.

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DeploymentWhere are they hosted"What are the obstacles"Mimic current prod

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PerformanceWhat do they have"What will they need"What are the risks

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ScalingWill the new site drive more traffic, interactions and lead to a crash?"What do they have"What will they need"What are the risks

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PMs:"Managing Expectations


ProcessHaving a strong process allows a PM to have confidence & authority to manage client expectations, teams and tasks. "

Without it they spend time putting out fires and often find themselves lying to clients. This creates burnout, stress and reduces trust and teamwork.

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Client TrainingFinal SoW"Client Homework"What are risk parameters"Content deadline"Project team"Communication tools"Weekly meetings"Weekly QA"Time commitment

Drupal Training"Process Training"How sprints works"What is next phase"Scope Creep"

What is a change order"What is technical debt"Client QA & UAT

Finances"Final payment criteria"Burnrate = $500/hour"Budget"Timeline"

Launch"Team"Environment"Credentials"Process"Approvals"

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Technical DebtExplain to the client what it is"

Explain who’s responsible"

Share each time they incur technical debt and let THEM make the choice

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Sprint ComponentsCreate Tickets"Allocate Resources"Build"Test"Deliver"Update Docs

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Measuring Sprints

Tickets: sold / estimated / actual"Burn Rates: sold / estimated / actual"Change Orders: $$

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IMPORTANTAt the end of each sprint a mountain of information comes back to the team. This information MUST be parsed into FOUR buckets:"

Bug fix" In-scope request" Out-of-scope request = now = c.o." Out-of-scope request = next phase = Basecamp

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Docs

All docs should be easily found in the ticketing system. Devs work there, put their information there."Updated at the end of every sprint and client meeting with sign-off from engineering."Docs are your insurance against scope creep, client expectations and “you said” issues."Docs are used in QA and UAT.

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Risk Matrix

Risk DooBLight

CustomHeavy

Custom

Low Risk 1/1 1/2 1/3

Mod. Risk 2/1 2/2 2/3

High Risk 3/1 3/2 3/3



Technical Debt Matrix

Tech Debt

Minimal Debt

Moderate Debt

High Debt

Must Have

Wanted

Like to Have



New Feature Request

New Request

No Impact Scoped Built

< 10 hrs

> 20 hrs

Unknown


Devs:"Tickets are King


Development!Notice how long it took us to get here….

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Last Chance to BailShould you really move forward? Is the team comfortable with the project? Are they confident they can win?

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Checkpoint


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Build"Design"Theme"QA"UAT"Bug Fixes"Feature Polish"Launch"Phase 2

Development


TicketsNo ticket? Bad ticket? No development.""Tickets contain sales estimate, engineering estimate, developer’s actual.""Tickets = 4 hours max.

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Not a Ticket:Build a view "8h

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Is a Ticket:Build a view of the content type “Article”."View to have these fields: a, b, c"Image display uses preset 100px square"Image label is hidden"Teaser = 350 characters with more link"View = page, block, user dashboard block"URL = /articles….this goes on for a long time.

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TicketsCompanies that don’t run efficient tickets have no idea whether or not they are making money on projects, have no way of identifying and measuring strengths of weaknesses of the team, engineering or projects. ""Most CEOs run their company off false data.

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Phase 2"Repeat all the steps. Do not make the mistake of skipping Discovery and Architecture."

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Project Phases

Business Analysis DevelopmentProject

Planning

Development UAT Delivery Phase 2

Training Discovery Storyboards Dashboards "

Objectives Biz Rules Risk Mgmt Metrics



1. Site Audit a. Content b. Web audit c. Performance audit d. Training

2. Discovery

a. Web objectives b. Stakeholders c. Current workflow d. Content types e. Views f. Taxonomies g. User Stories h. Storyboards i. Pre-wireframes

""

3. Engineering a. Data model b. Content c. Migration d. Integration e. Wireframing f. Deployment g. Performance h. Scaling

" 4. Start Development

a. Post-mortem b. Updated Docs c. Tickets d. Resources e. Timeline f. Sprints g. Demos

5. During Development 1. Build 2. Migrate 3. Integrate 4. Design 5. Theming

""6. Post Development

1. QA 2. UAT 3. Bug fixes 4. Launch 5. Documentation 6. Client training 7. Phase 2

Business Analysis DevelopmentProject Planning


susan rust

619-379-9351

[email protected]

#susan-rust

Drupal Consulting

Better Drupal Modules!

part 2: train wrecks, ugly baby client meetings & other project calamities

Technology