Pragmatic Projects

Prepared by Doug Glidden

Pragmatic Projects

Pragmatic Teams Ubiquitous Automation Ruthless Testing It’s All Writing Great Expectations Pride and Prejudice

Pragmatic Teams

No Broken Windows Quality is the responsibility of the

whole team No “team quality officers”

Pragmatic Teams

No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs

Don’t assume someone else is handling it

Don’t assume changes have been okayed by leadership

Appoint a “chief water tester” to constantly keep track of scope changes

Pragmatic Teams No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs Communicate

Communicate within the team, of course

Don’t forget the outside world! Generate a brand

Crazy team name Funny team logo

Pragmatic Teams No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs Communicate Don’t Repeat Yourself

Communicate Appoint a “team librarian”

Coordinates documentation and repositories Knows who knows Can spot duplication

Appoint “focal point” persons, each with a complete understanding of one component or aspect

No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs Communicate Don’t Repeat Yourself Orthogonality

Project activities can’t happen in isolation Organize around functionality, not job functions. Organize teams like code: use contracts, decoupling,

and orthogonality Select technical and administrative heads over all

teams on a project

Pragmatic Teams

Pragmatic Teams No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs Communicate Don’t Repeat Yourself Orthogonality Automation

Code formatting Test runs Appoint “tool builders” to create

automation tools

Pragmatic Teams No Broken Windows Boiled Frogs Communicate Don’t Repeat Yourself Orthogonality Automation Know When to Stop Adding Paint

Allow individual innovation Provide supportive, but not overpowering,

structure

Ubiquitous Automation

All on Automatic Don’t use manual procedures. Use scripts or batches Schedule nightly unattended tasks

Ubiquitous Automation All on Automatic Compiling the Project

Use makefiles Generate code Use regression tests Automate builds

Run full build process nightly to ensure all steps continue to operate correctly

Run all tests after each build is complete to identify problems as soon as possible

Automate final build Automate parameter changes Rerun all tests

Ubiquitous Automation All on Automatic Compiling the Project Automatic Administrivia

Use content-driven automation for administrative tasks

Automate web site generation by pulling information from the repository nightly

Automate approval procedure notifications using markers within the source

Ubiquitous Automation

All on Automatic Compiling the Project Automatic Administrivia The Cobbler’s Children

Use the tools available to you!

Ruthless Testing Test early. Test often. Test

automatically.

Coding ain’t done ’til all the tests run.

Ruthless Testing What to Test

Unit testing Integration testing Validation and verification Resource exhaustion, errors, and recovery

Check normal things like memory and disk space

Check unusual things like video modes and bandwidth restrictions

Ensure graceful failures Performance testing Usability testing

Ruthless Testing What to Test How to Test

Regression testing compares test output with previous tests Types of test data

Real-world data Synthetic data

Large quantities of data Boundary conditions Statistical properties

Exercising GUI systems often requires specialized tools Testing tests

Cause bugs to ensure they are caught Use “saboteurs” to test your testing.

Testing thoroughly Use coverage analysis tools, but don’t expect 100% coverage Test state coverage, not code coverage.

Ruthless Testing What to Test How to Test When to Test

Test as soon as any production code exists Test automatically

Running tests Interpreting results

If a test cannot be run automatically, test regularly on a specified schedule

Ruthless Testing

What to Test How to Test When to Test Tightening the Net

Find bugs once.

It’s All Writing Treat English as just another

programming language.

Build documentation in, don’t bolt it on.

It’s All Writing Comments in Code

Comments should explain why something is done, not how

Use meaningful variable names Don’t include unnecessary information

Lists of functions exported Revision history Lists of other files used Filename

It’s All Writing

Comments in Code Executable Documents

Develop a single authoritative document for specifications that require multiple implementations

Automatically extract data from the controlling document when it is needed

It’s All Writing

Comments in Code Executable Documents Technical Writers

Follow pragmatic principles even if someone else is writing the documentation

It’s All Writing Comments in Code Executable Documents Technical Writers Print It or Weave It

Web-based documentation that can be kept up-to-date is preferable to printed documentation

Automatically generate different versions needed from a base document

It’s All Writing

Comments in Code Executable Documents Technical Writers Print It or Weave It Markup Languages

Rich markup languages make production of different documentation forms simple

Great Expectations Gently exceed your users’

expectations.

Great Expectations

Communicating Expectations Don’t ignore unreasonable

expectations Ensure users understand necessary

changes Impossible expectations Unnecessarily conservative expectations

Great Expectations

Communicating Expectations The Extra Mile

Surprise users with extra features, such as tool tips and keyboard shortcuts

Pride and Prejudice

Sign your work.