

Feature Development and Traffic Growth at Justin.tv - mwseibel
http://blog.justin.tv/2008/03/feature-development-at-justintv.html

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slider7
Looks like they are hiring: <http://news.ycombinator.com/jobs>

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abstractbill
Yes we are. Feel free to contact me (bill@justin.tv) if you are interested, or
if you have any questions.

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nraynaud
It sounds like agile, but really, is putting 12 bazillions features on a
website a agile thing ? Agile is a company-level thing, not a development team
matter.

Look at this : <http://www.justin.tv/> it feels like clutter to me. I suppose
that they wish that putting "features" by the dozen will help them getting
more users, but I think when your users start to wonder "where do I click next
?" or "what do they want me to focus on ?" ; You are not on the good tracks.

Like soccer : stop for a second, raise your head, look around, if you run fast
with your head down, you'll end in the corner.

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emmett
Have you seen myspace.com? It's proof that clutter isn't the problem tech
people think it is.

See
[http://andrewchen.typepad.com/andrew_chens_blog/2007/11/do-y...](http://andrewchen.typepad.com/andrew_chens_blog/2007/11/do-
you-ever-say.html) for more in depth coverage of the same idea.

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nraynaud
ok, maybe I'm not the guy to sell average product to average people then.

So this is a proof that agile can be applied to average products for average
users.

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kul
nice post Mike. think having a regular release day is a great idea. well done.

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justin
Wow that guy who made Justin.tv must be really sexy!

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joshwa
Sounds like Agile to me.

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emmett
We don't share much with "agile development" except a rapid development cycle.

"Agile development" things we don't do do (from the wikipedia article):

 _Exhaustive unit and integration testing_ \- our testing is sparse and only
for things that need it worst

 _Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers_ \- getting
business people involved in day to day development is horrible, at least in
our experience

 _Even late changes in requirements are welcomed_ \- we don't really have
"requirements"

 _Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication_ \- face to face
communication is essential, but it's not the "best form of communication".
It's extremely costly in comparison to email.

Although we are "agile" in the following ways, they seem so self-evident that
it's difficult to think anyone would ever admit they don't follow them:

 _Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software_ \-
vs. slow, halting delivery of useless software?

 _Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)_ \- this
we do, and it's good advice. Small things we'll even do on an hourly, or
minutely basis.

 _Working software is the principal measure of progress_ \- broken software or
nonsoftware is the measure of progress?

 _Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted_ \-
projects are built around commitees who can't be trusted?

 _Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design_ \- no
attention to technical excellence or design?

 _Simplicity_ \- complexity?

 _Self-organizing teams_ \- top-down organized teams? unorganized?

 _Regular adaptation to changing circumstances_ \- rare adaptation to changing
circumstances?

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abstractbill
_Exhaustive unit and integration testing - our testing is sparse and only for
things that need it worst_

Agreed, and I don't think we suffer for it.

Something we do that has a bigger bang-for-buck imho is a lot of monitoring.
Just about every one of our live systems gets automatically and regularly
tested to make sure it's always working. I sleep better for knowing this.

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gibsonf1
Is this why Hacker TV falls on a Thursday? (Testing day)

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abstractbill
That's just a coincidence - we started Hacker TV before we settled into this
weekly cycle.

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cousin_it
The rhythm method for development. Sounds great, will try.

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SprintNXT
I love the justin.tvs, its awesome.

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honestguy420
justin.tv is the best :)

