

DHH Keynote at RailsConf '09: Rails 3 and the Secret to High Productivity - NewWorldOrder
http://railsconf.blip.tv/file/2081411

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lsb
Here's an hour of your time: the secret to high productivity is doing less and
feeling more motivated, so make things more fun by pushing back against
requirements.

In short, work on things that matter, and if you see an easy shortcut, ask for
permission to take it.

~~~
nir
I thought it was actually pretty insightful.

Instead of stakeholders crafting requirements and coders trying to meet them,
the process involves the developer in the product design stage, using their
input on what's easy/hard together with the other stakeholders' input on
what's high/low priority to determine what to build.

It's similar to agile vs waterfall, where the process is extended to product
level rather than just the code. Sounds obvious yet rarely executed.

~~~
jamesbritt
"Sounds obvious yet rarely executed."

It's often hard. I've been trying to do this for some time. It works if the
client is open to the idea that he or she doesn't really know what they want,
because they don't know all the things they could have, or what things may
cost (both in upfront time and money, and long term maintenance).

I've had most trouble where the client is a team, one of whom has the job of
defining the app. They often want to pick your brains ("Is this possible?"),
then ignore your advice ("Yes, but that will eat a lot of time and money,
which will bite you in the ass later.") and focus on what seems "cool".

I don't think this is approach is rare, though, just maybe not as discussed as
much.

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alexfarran
He starts speaking about the secret to high productivity at 45:45. It's
'Renegotiate Requirements'. Small tweaks in the requirements can reduce the
amount of work dramatically. Don't be a hero, nobody really cares and you'll
just wear yourself out.

------
evdawg
Anyone else underwhelmed by the keynote? I was hoping for some new material
regarding Rails 3, but if you've been following the commits there should be no
surprises.

Except when he was alluded to mounting Django apps through Rails 3 ;)

~~~
kentf
I kinda like the low keyness of the talk. A departure from the norm.

