Sustainable software development

Having started in my new role as a BI Architect for a global fashion retailer, there was so much I wanted to do, so much that had to be done, and I was going to have so much fun doing it. I started delivering complete stories at double the velocity that I normally achieve, mostly because I would continue working when I got home at night and the kids were in bed. After about the third month, I started to get cranky, I felt tired, and when new features were being asked in the same timeframes as I had been delivering, I pushed myself even harder to meet them.

****BURNOUT****

I quickly reigned in my enthusiasm, and started to rather work on a more sustainable pace. Its all about long term thinking, and consistent achievable velocity that is actually the most important. It makes it easier to plan, not only for the developers, but for business too.

Definition of done

Prior to being converted to the Agile way of thinking, I didnt really have the concept of defining 'done'. We spoke about key project deliverables, constraints , dependencies and a host of other end game type objectives.

These days, I like to keep things simple. Any task that I intend doing now, I start at what I believe will be the criteria for it being 'DONE' . It is so important to have a clear focus on the end game, and to also have the ability to close off a project and move on to the next. It is also important to communicate this to others, so that they can keep you accountable.

I believe that the concept of a definition of DONE is very closely related to another Agile methodology which is the Minimum Viable Product {MVP}. More on this in my next post.