Why Regular Demos are Part of Our Development Process

Posted by Brian Luft on May 15, 2012. Filed under development

Our team functions in different capacities for each business engagement, but we typically have a project or few where we’re exclusively building a large site for a client. In those scenarios we tend to use a loosely defined two-week development cycle anchored by a demo presentation at the end. Seeing this tweet reminded me of why the demos are so important:

In the early-mid phases of a project, code and features can change significantly over the course of a couple weeks. Later in the project, or after launch, features deserve more scrutiny to ensure they provide value and don’t conflict with the direction of the product or site. Regular team reviews via demo meetings help all parties come together and identify bigger picture decisions that don’t surface in project management tools or ticket queues.

What a developer thinks is code-complete, what the user experiences, and what the ...

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The Last 10% or: How to Keep Your Software Development On Time and Under Budget

Posted by Peter Baumgartner on November 17, 2009. Filed under development

As Lincoln Loop has evolved and grown over the last year, we’ve learned a lot not only about software development, but also about all the things that accompany it like budgeting, estimating, and scheduling. Probably the most important one is the ninety-ninety rule. It states:

The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time.

The lesson here is that when you think you are almost done with a project, chances are there is still a lot of work left to do. Knowing the rule is all well and good, but it doesn’t help you overcome it. The important skill is being able to adjust your thinking and planning to match the estimated amount of work to the actual amount of work. When you can do this, budgeting ...

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