A presentation at Tech Nottingham, July 2018 in in Nottingham, UK by Matt Brunt
@Brunty Dungeons !
Dragons "
&
Developers
@Brunty Firstly …
@Brunty Just so we’re clear …
@Brunty Name: Matt Brunt
Age: 30
Class: Nerd
Likes: Jaffa cakes
Dislikes: Beetroot
Strength : 10
Constitution : 8
Dexterity : 11
Wisdom : 12
Intelligence : 18
Charisma : 14
@Brunty Name: Mordecai Solomon
Age: 80
Class: Wizard
Likes: Books
Dislikes: People
Strength : 7
Constitution : 10
Dexterity : 15
Wisdom : 12
Intelligence : 19
Charisma : 9
@Brunty Dungeons & Dragons
@Brunty Dungeons & Dragons Environment Problems to solve
@Brunty The dungeon master
@Brunty –Steve Jobs “ It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. ”
@Brunty Our story beginS WITH… YOU
@Brunty Your Alignment
@Brunty Lawful
Good Neutral Good Chaotic Good Lawful Neutral True Neutral Chaotic Neutral Lawful
Evil Neutral
Evil Chaotic
Evil
@Brunty Lawful
Good Neutral Good Chaotic Good Lawful Neutral True Neutral Chaotic Neutral Lawful
Evil Neutral
Evil Chaotic
Evil
@Brunty Lawful
Good Neutral Good Chaotic Good Lawful Neutral True Neutral Chaotic Neutral Lawful
Evil Neutral
Evil Chaotic
Evil
@Brunty Lawful
Good Neutral Good Chaotic Good Lawful Neutral True Neutral Chaotic Neutral Lawful
Evil Neutral
Evil Chaotic
Evil
@Brunty My Alignment ? Neutral Good
@Brunty wizards
@Brunty $ Technical:
Testing
Algorithms
Databases
Complimentary:
Communication
Empathy
Creativity ⭐
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
⭐ ⭐
⭐ ⭐
⭐ ⭐
@Brunty Our party
@Brunty $ Wizard
$ Wizard
$ Wizard
$ Wizard Algorithms & Algorithms & Algorithms & Algorithms &
@Brunty The Quest
@Brunty Mordecai Makaria Caera Ebenezer The goal “I know what I’m doing!” A B
@Brunty Smash first
plan later
@Brunty Smash first
plan
later never
@Brunty Find your Balance
@Brunty ' Fighter
$ Wizard
( Rogue
✨ Cleric Comms *
Algorithms &
Creativity +
Empathy ❤
@Brunty Quest requirements
@Brunty Fight your side
@Brunty –Me “ Value Trust over control. if you can trust your team, you worry less about controlling everything ”
@Brunty Okay, let’s get going !
@Brunty A B The goal Team
@Brunty Performance Effectiveness Forming Storming Norming Performing
@Brunty “Hey folks,
can I join you ?”
@Brunty ' Fighter
$ Wizard
( Rogue
✨ Cleric
druid Comms .
Algorithms &
Creativity +
Empathy ❤
Testing ✅
@Brunty Performance Effectiveness Forming Storming Norming Performing
@Brunty Losing the path
@Brunty Team Rogue A B
@Brunty Crossing the river
@Brunty Rope: Quick, only temporary but needs rope.
Build a bridge: Slow, needs lots of materials, but re-usable for yourself and others for years to come.
Fly: Super quick, requires the wizard to be able to use this.
Find another way: Needs the least preparation and materials, but unknown on how long it’ll take.
@Brunty Decisions need context
@Brunty Hey DM, can we try …?
@Brunty –Spotify https://medium.com/project-management-learnings/spotify- squad-framework-part-i-8f74bcfcd761 “ Rules are a good start, then break them ”
@Brunty Sometimes you roll
a natural 20
@Brunty And Sometimes you roll a natural 1
@Brunty Be prepared
@Brunty Use past
experience
@Brunty
@Brunty “ I cast fireball ”
@Brunty The final hill
@Brunty Exhaustion
@Brunty “ The most important and productive thing you can do in software development is stop, go home, do something else for a while, and get a good night's sleep. ” –Larry Garfield https://twitter.com/Crell/status/1015690625155510274
@Brunty –Larry Garfield https://twitter.com/Crell/status/1015690625155510274 “ That will yield more improvement than all your fancy processes and agiles and death marches (sorry, “crunch time”). ”
@Brunty Reaching your goal
@Brunty Victory & Reward
@Brunty In summary • Hire smart people and get out of their way
• Look for balance in your team, both in skills, and alignment
• A little planning goes a long way
• Check-in regularly, keep everyone on the right path
• You always have choices
• Start with rules, then break them
• Use past experience
• Wizards have their place $
• Reflect after the task is complete
@Brunty Thank you
@Brunty #wizard #fireball #dungeonsanddragons #wizardsoverlizards
#agileandfragile #killthattroll
#alwaysspaceforawizard
You enter the dungeon, as the echoes of your footsteps sound around you, something catches your eye - is that… oh, oh no.
You grab your trusty sword and with your fellow adventurers, you seek to overcome the mighty challenge that lays ahead of you: building software.
This talk is a look at some of the parallels between Dungeons and Dragons, and software development.
We’ll see how lessons learned through delving into dungeons and fighting monsters with a party of adventurers can help teams of developers when building software in the real world.
Are you ready to join me in a mighty quest for better software?
for free. You
can too.