Just a Quick Comparison
May 15th, 2008By: Steven Haddox
Thought I’d take a moment to post a really quick comparison between my last job (although quite a bit of this applies to a couple of my previous jobs), and the company I’m currently contracting with Integrum Technologies.
Please note that although this list is a large portion of the differences, it is by no means all-inclusive as I can think of a ton of other differences that haven’t even been touched within this list. This is merely the most essential things to mention.
Prior jobs
- Typical Development Job
- Played the blame game
- Solo development allowing for blocks without assistance
- Avoid the client until so much is done we can bill as needed
- Make a huge requirements document with as much detail as possible even when the client doesn’t know what they want yet
- Get an estimate from the above requirements and come in at 1/3rd of what your estimate was
- Communicate when a new crisis arrives or about once every quarter, weekly at most
- Avoid time spent on anything non-billable (such as training)
Integrum Technologies
- Agile Development
- “Make it work people (together)” (as Tim Gunn would say)
- Shoots for paired development, finding bugs with two sets of eyes before they happen
- Speak with the client at least daily to ensure we know exactly what they want and what their priorities are
- Create tasks based upon stories created in the current release iteration
- Allow the client to prioritize stories and goals so that the most important stories can happen first as funds and time are generally finite
- Do daily meetings to ensure that everyone knows where everyone else is and what is being tackled for the day (very helpful for daily meetings with clients)
- Attend and provide training frequently to ensure employees are the best in their field (even lunch is turned into workshops sometimes!)
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