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Transcript Text
thank you [Music] welcome back to building better developers today we are going to talk about one of these sort of foundational kinds of things but it's also something that a lot of people have questions about what is a Sprint where is the value in a Sprint these are common questions particularly what is a Sprint how does it work I think a lot of people have an idea these days developers have gotten into that agile approach to software development but I don't know that you've maybe stepped back and said what's the value of a Sprint why are why would we do that now first let's step into the definition a bit about the what is a Sprint the shortest way or a very straightforward way to define it is that a Sprint is a predefined period to get something accomplished so yeah it may be a day a week a month a year but you could essentially say that you know and it yes there are different time frames are going to sort of a different meaning specifically because a Sprint is usually going to be a shorter period so maybe weeks if it's a year that's probably a marathon or something like that thinking to the physical real world race application of a Sprint a Sprint is going to be a short High Energy race you are running a Sprint is actually most people attribute that to running as fast as they can for a short period of time the software development concept of that is very similar to it we're going to run hard and get to our destination now one of the things that a Sprint helps us with is that we're doing bite-sized pieces think about that race concept a little bit we are going for a short period of time which means we're not going to be able to do a lot during that you're not going to be doing you know a front end and a back end a middle tier and hundreds of hundreds of pages and things like that this is where we're saying okay we're going to focus on a feature or a group a small grouping of features this allows us to really do it right essentially we're not going to have to worry about Switching gears and what are we working on here this thing's only partially done things like that another thing we get from Sprints is we get regular wins we get to the end of that Sprint and we are done we have accomplished something obviously you know if you don't get anything done during the Sprint then it's a regular loss but typically what it is is that we build a Sprint or plan a Sprint so that we are making progress and we have a marker of the Sprint completed and we made the progress to whatever that point was and with this because it's bite-sized pieces and things like that we can easily make adjustments to where we want to go think of a big software application that's got a lot of different features and lots of forms and reports and pages and things like that within the Sprints you may only tackle you know a report or two or a page or two or one or two features and you can really get those done but in the meantime there may be other things going on in the background the industry may change things like that that we now have not invested in all of these other pieces we've only invested in these little pieces at a time which means that we can easily make adjustments think about running a race like a a marathon where you are heads down you're just your head down driving forward to your goal the best way the most efficient way to do so to complete that marathon is to go heads down and go you know you're going from point A to point B and just go get on the road and go if you don't necessarily know where B is where point B where your destination is you're going to have to look up periodically you're gonna have to pick your head up slow down a little bit assess where you're at and then decide where you're going to go that does take time but does allow you to more easily adjust so if you don't know where B is if you don't know where your destination is then you want to regularly pick your head up assess where you're at and make some adjustments another thing and really this is the I think the best value of a Sprint when we're thinking about that race again you're running hard you are driving towards your destination when you complete the Sprint you get to recover you think about if you can picture in your mind Racers running a Sprint remember or think about them running really hard and they're just all out trying to get to that finish line and then cross the finish line they slow down a little bit maybe they walk around take a deep breath and they recover and depending on where they're at and what they're doing that allows them to you know recover get a drink of water whatever it is and then maybe 30 minutes later hour later whatever it is come back and do another Sprint so now you are making progress you know you're winning that race or you're racing that race anyways you're racing that Sprint and then you get to recover and go right into the next one so you are steadily making progress at very High pace for a while and then you adjust you rest you can make some adjustments and then you go do it again and so you are able to get the benefits of focus of being able to really get into whatever that challenge is that feature is that software that you're building that specific piece of it and really understand it really do it well not have distractions get it done and then move on to the next one it's a you know so you get it done put it on the shelf or whatever it is deploy it and then you move on to the next thing and this allows you to have that that benefit of what Focus gives you so you're not spending time Switching gears you're not spending time trying to adjust to another feature or another section of code you're in the code you're that is what you're doing and I think all of us realize that there is value in that that is how we build the best software is that we really focus on it we get rid of the distractions we think through it we implement it all sort of in the same breath as it were so that it's all fresh to us because if you write some code and you come back six months later it's going to be a little challenging it's not going to be the same so that is a Sprint and the value of one we're going hard for a short period of time we've got a small group of tasks and the benefit is that we get to really focus on those we get to really worry just about that smaller bite-sized chunk instead of having to think about the big picture it goes back to the old saying of you know how do you eat an elephant you eat an elephant elephant a bite at a time you can't just like take it in one big bite it's the same thing with our software projects it's better off if we take those essentially small bites chew them digest them move on to the next one and it does sort of fall into that slow and steady wins the race but it is a series of very fast Paces steady that win the race we go hard rest recover go hard rest recover and we do that until we get the end of this larger race that we want to get to thank you foreign
Transcript Segments
thank you
[Music]
welcome back to building better
developers today we are going to talk
about one of these sort of foundational
kinds of things but it's also something
that a lot of people have questions
about
what is a Sprint where is the value in a
Sprint
these are common questions particularly
what is a Sprint how does it work I
think a lot of people have an idea these
days developers have gotten into that
agile approach to software development
but
I don't know that you've maybe stepped
back and said what's the value of a
Sprint why are why would we do that
now first let's step into the definition
a bit about the what is a Sprint
the shortest way or a very
straightforward way to define it is that
a Sprint is a predefined period to get
something accomplished so yeah it may be
a day a week a month a year but you
could essentially say that you know and
it yes there are different time frames
are going to sort of a different meaning
specifically because a Sprint is usually
going to be a shorter period so maybe
weeks if it's a year that's probably a
marathon or something like that thinking
to the physical real world race
application of a Sprint
a Sprint is going to be a short High
Energy race you are running a Sprint is
actually most people attribute that to
running as fast as they can for a short
period of time
the software development concept of that
is very similar to it we're going to run
hard
and get to our destination
now one of the things that a Sprint
helps us with
is that we're doing bite-sized pieces
think about that race concept a little
bit we are going for a short period of
time which means we're not going to be
able to do a lot during that
you're not going to be doing
you know a front end and a back end a
middle tier and
hundreds of hundreds of pages and things
like that
this is where we're saying okay we're
going to focus on
a feature or a group a small grouping of
features
this allows us to really do it right
essentially we're not going to have to
worry about Switching gears and what are
we working on here this thing's only
partially done things like that
another thing we get from Sprints is we
get regular wins we get to the end of
that Sprint and we are done we have
accomplished something
obviously you know if you don't get
anything done during the Sprint then
it's a regular loss but typically what
it is is that we build a Sprint or plan
a Sprint so that we are making progress
and we have a marker of the Sprint
completed and we made the progress to
whatever that point was
and with this because it's bite-sized
pieces and things like that we can
easily make adjustments to where we want
to go
think of a big software application
that's got a lot of different features
and lots of forms and reports and pages
and things like that
within the Sprints you may only tackle
you know a report or two or a page or
two or one or two features
and you can really get those done but in
the meantime there may be other things
going on in the background the industry
may change things like that that we now
have not invested in all of these other
pieces we've only invested in these
little pieces at a time which means that
we can easily make adjustments think
about running a race like a a marathon
where you are heads down you're just
your head down driving forward to your
goal
the best way the most efficient way to
do so to complete that marathon is to go
heads down and go you know you're going
from point A to point B
and just go get on the road and go
if you don't necessarily know where B is
where point B where your destination is
you're going to have to look up
periodically you're gonna have to pick
your head up slow down a little bit
assess where you're at and then decide
where you're going to go
that does take time but does allow you
to more easily adjust so if you don't
know where B is if you don't know where
your destination is
then you want to regularly pick your
head up assess where you're at and make
some adjustments
another thing and really this is the I
think the best value of a Sprint when
we're thinking about that race again
you're running hard you are driving
towards your destination when you
complete the Sprint
you get to recover you think about if
you can picture in your mind Racers
running a Sprint remember or think about
them
running really hard and they're just all
out trying to get to that finish line
and then
cross the finish line they slow down a
little bit maybe they walk around take a
deep breath and they recover
and depending on where they're at and
what they're doing
that allows them to you know recover get
a drink of water whatever it is and then
maybe 30 minutes later hour later
whatever it is
come back and do another Sprint
so now you are making progress you know
you're winning that race or you're
racing that race anyways you're racing
that Sprint and then you get to recover
and go right into the next one
so you are steadily making progress
at very High pace for a while and then
you adjust you rest you can make some
adjustments and then you go do it again
and so you are able to get the benefits
of focus
of being able to really get into
whatever that challenge is that feature
is that software that you're building
that specific piece of it and really
understand it really do it well not have
distractions get it done and then move
on to the next one
it's a you know so you get it done put
it on the shelf or whatever it is deploy
it
and then you move on to the next thing
and this allows you to have that that
benefit of what Focus gives you so
you're not spending time Switching gears
you're not spending time trying to
adjust to another feature or another
section of code you're in the code
you're that is what you're doing and I
think all of us realize that there is
value in that that is how we build the
best software
is that we really focus on it we get rid
of the distractions
we think through it we implement it all
sort of in the same
breath as it were so that it's all fresh
to us because if you write some code and
you come back six months later it's
going to be a little challenging it's
not going to be the same
so that is a Sprint and the value of one
we're going hard for a short period of
time we've got a small group of tasks
and the benefit is that we get to really
focus on those we get to really worry
just about that smaller bite-sized chunk
instead of having to think about the big
picture it goes back to the old saying
of you know how do you eat an elephant
you eat an elephant elephant a bite at a
time you can't just like take it in one
big bite it's the same thing with our
software projects it's better off if we
take those
essentially small bites chew them digest
them move on to the next one and it does
sort of fall into that slow and steady
wins the race but it is
a series of very fast Paces steady that
win the race we go hard rest recover go
hard rest recover and we do that until
we get the end of this larger race that
we want to get to
thank you
foreign