Rails Maturity Models

Most Endorsed Practices for this firm

• Everyone Together

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• Shared Work Environment (No Cubicles)

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Story Carding

  Though we started with a mix of cards and software to track requirements, it quickly became clear that the software was slowing us down. We decided to get rid of the software and haven't captured a story in digital form in over a year. Not only that, we switched from 3x5 cards to 3x2.5 (half-index cards) which seemed to have had a major impact on how much more clear and precise the stories tend to be.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• One Week Iterations

  Not only our iterations are one week long, we also go live every week. At least for the most part. Once in a while we can't break something into small enough chunks and can only go live after 2 weeks. But even then, we make sure we provide measurable value every week.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• Pair Programming

  The MicroPlace development team has an odd number of developers and 100% pairing is not possible. However because of the intense pair rotation we practice, no one is ever soloing on production code for long.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• Continuous Integration

  The development team integrates several times a day. We also have a monitor mounted on the wall, which runs a home-built screensaver to show the build status. The screensaver also displays the code coverage which oscillates between 98% and 99.5%.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• Scripted Deployments

  Since we go live most weeks, it was important to be able to deploy quickly and accurately. Between the time we say "are we ready do go live" and the new functionality running on the site, it takes us less than an hour.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Julio at Microplace
    • Scott Brown
  2

• UI Specialist Role

  Our UI specialist tends to be a few weeks ahead of us, thinking about how the site should look like in the near future. When the time is right, stories with new functionality are added, and the new look and feel is then incorporated.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Sustainable Pace

  Overtime is very rare, and when it does happen, it's still within the realm of sustainability.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Pair Promiscuity

  Because we have an odd number of developers, we rely on pair rotation even more, so no one is soloing for very long. Usually no one stays in the same pair for more than a a couple of days.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Collective Code Ownership

  Because at MicroPlace we pair and rotate pairs a lot, the code truly belongs to everyone. No one owns a certain aspect of the code base vs. another and fixing /refactoring code we're looking at is not only allowed but also expected.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Frequent Releases

  Most releases happen every week, in sync with the end of the iteration. Some releases take slightly longer and might only happen after 2 or 3 weeks.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2

• Daily Project Standup Meeting

  If it's a work day, there is going to be a stand up meeting. 9:30 sharp, and lasts for 10-20 minutes on average. Because the communication flows so well during the day, there isn't really a need for asking for help and whatnot. That happens naturally throughout the day. We use the standup as a mechanism to reset expectations with the larger team.

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  • Endorsed by

    • Scott Brown
    • Julio at Microplace
  2