Idea Flow
Idea Flow
How to Measure the PAIN in Software Development
About the Book
Whether it's Agile or Waterfall, RUP or XP, the software story hasn't really changed. We start out with the best of intentions, trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We make a commitment to do things "the right way" this time.
Fast-forward to several years later, and we're sitting around a conference table discussing what went wrong. How did we accumulate so much technical debt? Should we rewrite the component? Scrap the entire system and start over? Or just deal with the problems and try to keep on going?
Despite our best efforts with Agile best practices, we get stuck in the software rewrite cycle. With such a clear vision of the practices for success, why do we still end up with an unmaintainable mess?
Our software problems are a reflection of our decision-making habits. We try to improve, but focus on the symptoms in the code, and never fix the decisions that are creating the mess in the first place. We try to explain the problems to leadership, but the business pressure never lets up -- we start over, but keep repeating the same mistakes.
So how do we turn our projects around?
We can't see the problems, but we experience their effects. Disruptions, test maintenance, confusing code, unfamiliar code, and collaboration problems -- they all have a direct impact on developer experience. What if we could make those problems visible?
Idea Flow Mapping is a technique for visualizing the flow of ideas between the developer and the software. Similar to how an EKG helps doctors diagnose heart problems, Idea Flow Maps help developers diagnose software problems.
Once we make the pain visible, improvement becomes a systematic data-driven process. We can:
1. Identify the biggest problems on our software projects
2. Make the case to management for improvement
3. Create a data-driven feedback loop to learn what works
4. Conquer even the hardest challenges on our software projects
With objective feedback on the consequences of our decisions, we can learn how to get better, faster.
About the Author
Table of Contents
-
-
1. Losing Faith in Best Practices
- 1.1 The Crisis
- 1.2 The Rewrite Cycle
- 1.3 The Origin of a Learning Framework
-
1. Losing Faith in Best Practices
-
I Visibility
-
2. Technical Debt is Not the Problem
- 2.1 More Questions Than Answers
- 2.2 An Alternative to Technical Debt
- 2.3 Idea Flow is a Conversation
- 2.4 Optimizing Developer Experience
-
3. Visibility Changes Everything
- 3.1 An EKG for Software Development
- 3.2 A Modern Diagnostic Tool
-
4. There’s No Shortcuts
- 4.1 The Perils of Test Automation
- 4.2 Understanding the Problems
- 4.3 The Deadline Effect
- 4.4 STOP Making Generalizations
-
5. Identify the Biggest Pains
- 5.1 Categorize the Friction
- 5.2 The Limits of our Brains
- 5.3 Analyzing the Data
- 5.4 Breaking Down the Pain
-
6. Start the Conversation
- 6.1 Getting a Feel for Conflicts
- 6.2 Handling Special Circumstances
- 6.3 Explain What’s Causing Friction
-
2. Technical Debt is Not the Problem
-
II Control
-
7. The Business Machine
- 7.1 The Path to Project Meltdown
- 7.2 The Lack of Control
-
8. The Power of Safety
- 8.1 Overcoming the Great Divide
- 8.2 Repairing the Broken Feedback Loops
- 8.3 Fixing the Machine
- 8.4 The Cycle of Safety
-
9. Refactor Your Organization
- 9.1 Refactor from the Point of Visibility
- 9.2 Be a Torchbearer
- 9.3 Make the Case for Partnership
-
10. The Idea Flow Factory
- 10.1 The Learning Organization
- 10.2 Remapping the Manufacturing Metaphor
- 10.3 Process Control
- 10.4 Supply Chain Optimization
-
11. The Problem to Solve
- 11.1 Why It Matters
- 11.2 The Strategy
- 11.3 Open Mastery
-
7. The Business Machine
The Leanpub 60-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Do Well. Do Good.
Authors have earned$11,586,736writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
- #1
SignalR on .NET 6 - the Complete Guide
Fiodar SazanavetsLearn everything there is to learn about SignalR and how to integrate it with the latest .NET 6 and C# 10 features. Learn how to connect any type of client to SignalR, including plain WebSocket client. Learn how to build interactive applications that can communicate with each other in real time without making excessive calls.
- #2
The easiest way to learn design patterns
Fiodar SazanavetsLearn design patterns in the easiest way possible. You will no longer have to brute-force your way through each one of them while trying to figure out how it works. The book provides a unique methodology that will make your understanding of design patterns stick. It can also be used as a reference book where you can find design patterns in seconds.
- #3
Jetpack Compose internals
Jorge CastilloJetpack Compose is the future of Android UI. Master how it works internally and become a more efficient developer with it. You'll also find it valuable if you are not an Android dev. This book provides all the details to understand how the Compose compiler & runtime work, and how to create a client library using them.
- #4
Functional event-driven architecture: Powered by Scala 3
Gabriel VolpeExplore the event-driven architecture (EDA) in a purely functional way, mainly powered by Fs2 streams in Scala 3!
Leverage your functional programming skills by designing and writing stateless microservices that scale, powered by stateful message brokers.
- #5
Tech Giants in Healthcare
Dr. Bertalan MeskoThis comprehensive guide, Tech Giants in Healthcare, clarifies how and why big tech companies step into healthcare, and breaks it down from one market player to the other in what direction they are going, what tools they are using and what horizons they have in front of them.
- #6
OpenIntro Statistics
David Diez, Christopher Barr, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, and OpenIntroA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro (US-based nonprofit) so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using OpenIntro Statistics in the classroom and expand the project to support free textbooks in other subjects.
More resources: openintro.org.
- #7
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
- #8
C++20 - The Complete Guide
Nicolai M. JosuttisAll the new language and library features of C++20 (for those who know previous versions).
The book presents all new language and library features of C++20. Learn how this impacts day-to-day programming, to benefit in practice, to combine new features, and to avoid all new traps.
Buy early, pay less, free updates.
Other books:
- #9
CCIE Service Provider Version 4 Written and Lab Exam Comprehensive Guide
Nicholas RussoThe service provider landscape has changed rapidly over the past several years. Networking vendors are continuing to propose new standards, techniques, and procedures for overcoming new challenges while concurrently reducing costs and delivering new services. Cisco has recently updated the CCIE Service Provider track to reflect these changes; this book represents the author's personal journey in achieving that certification.
- #10
R Programming for Data Science
Roger D. PengThis book brings the fundamentals of R programming to you, using the same material developed as part of the industry-leading Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization. The skills taught in this book will lay the foundation for you to begin your journey learning data science. Printed copies of this book are available through Lulu.
Top Bundles
- #1
All the Books of The Medical Futurist
6 Books
We put together the most popular books from The Medical Futurist to provide a clear picture about the major trends shaping the future of medicine and healthcare. Digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of 20 medical specialties, big pharma, data privacy, digital health investments and how technology giants such as Amazon... - #2
Practical FP in Scala + Functional event-driven architecture
2 Books
Practical FP in Scala (A hands-on approach) & Functional event-driven architecture, aka FEDA, (Powered by Scala 3), together as a bundle! The content of PFP in Scala is a requirement to understand FEDA so why not take advantage of this bundle!? - #3
Software Architecture for Developers: Volumes 1 & 2 - Technical leadership and communication
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #4
CCIE Service Provider Ultimate Study Bundle
2 Books
Piotr Jablonski, Lukasz Bromirski, and Nick Russo have joined forces to deliver the only CCIE Service Provider training resource you'll ever need. This bundle contains a detailed and challenging collection of workbook labs, plus an extensively detailed technical reference guide. All of us have earned the CCIE Service Provider certification... - #6
Pattern-Oriented Memory Forensics and Malware Detection
2 Books
This training bundle for security engineers and researchers, malware and memory forensics analysts includes two accelerated training courses for Windows memory dump analysis using WinDbg. It is also useful for technical support and escalation engineers who analyze memory dumps from complex software environments and need to check for possible... - #7
Modern C++ Collection
3 Books
Get All about Modern C++C++ Standard Library, including C++20Concurrency with Modern C++, including C++20C++20Each book has about 200 complete code examples. Updates are included. When I update one of the books, you immediately get the updated bundle. You can expect significant updates to each new C++ standard (C++23, C++26, .. ) and also... - #8
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité... - #10
Growing Agile: The Complete Coach's Guide
7 Books
Growing Agile: Coach's Guide Series This bundle provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, handouts and activity...
