A presentation at Scotland PHP in in Edinburgh, UK by Matt Brunt
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
Our story beginS WITH… YOU @Brunty
Your Alignment @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
Caera Makaria Ebenezer A Mordecai The goal “I know what I’m doing!” B
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
“Value Trust over control. if you can trust your team, you worry less about controlling everything” –Me @Brunty
Okay, let’s get going! @Brunty
A Team The goal B
Effectiveness Performing Forming Norming Storming Performance @Brunty
“Hey folks, can I join you?” @Brunty
👊🏻Fighter 🧙🏻♂️WIZARD 🗡Rogue ✨Cleric 🍃Druid Comms🛡 Algorithms🔥 Creativity🔓 Empathy❤️ Testing✅ @Brunty
Effectiveness Performing Forming Norming Storming Performance @Brunty
A Rogue Team B
Losing the path @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
“Rules are a good start, then break them” –Spotify https://medium.com/project-managementlearnings/spotify-squad-framework-part-i-8f74bcfcd761 @Brunty
Sometimes you roll a natural 20 @Brunty
And Sometimes you roll a natural 1 @Brunty
Be prepared @Brunty
Use past experience @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 nights sleep.” –Larry Garfield https://twitter.com/Crell/status/1015690625155510274 @Brunty
“That will yield more improvement than all your fancy processes and agiles and death marches (sorry, “crunch time”).” –Larry Garfield https://twitter.com/Crell/status/1015690625155510274 @Brunty
Reaching your goal @Brunty
Victory & Reward @Brunty
In summary • Look for balance in your team, both in skills, and alignment • Check-in regularly, keep everyone on the right path • • • • • You always have choices Start with rules, then break them Use past experience Some Wizards can have their place 🧙🏻♂️ Don’t be sloppy even to the end of your task @Brunty
Thank you @Brunty
#wizard #fireball #dungeonsanddragons #agileandfragile #spaceforagoodwizard @Brunty
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.