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In this video we will set up the Minimal Viable Product, or MVP for the project we will build during this course. I will introduce several key Agile concepts that we will refer to during the remainder of the course.
Agile resources
- Check out the awesome and fun course, Scrum Basics
- Trello
- Minimum Viable Product
- Agile Software Development
- Agile Manifesto
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[MUSIC]
0:00
We are now armed with enough information
to build out the project for this course,
0:04
and I feel extremely confident that we can
knock out a game of hangman pretty quick.
0:09
Now, I'd like to use this fun project
to introduce you to a couple of
0:14
agile software development practices.
0:16
The agile methodology is a set
of practices to use when
0:19
programming that help you maintain
focused on your project and
0:22
stay organized, both personally and
within your team.
0:25
While not specifically related
to Java these practices
0:28
are quite common amongst most
software development teams.
0:31
Owing to more info in the teachers notes
0:34
if you're interested in
delving deeper into agile.
0:36
All right, so let's review how
the classic hangman game works.
0:37
So the game is usually played
by two people first one person
0:43
will call them the Prompter comes up
with the word that the other person
0:47
will call the Guesser is going to try and
guess a letter at a time.
0:50
The guesser is showing blank spaces for
each letter.
0:55
The proper keeps track of how many times
the player has had an incorrect guess.
0:57
There is a fixed number of
incorrect guesses that can be made.
1:02
If the guesser guesses
all the letters they win.
1:06
If they don't well, they lose.
1:08
One strategy that is used by some agile
software development teams is to define
1:11
a minimum viable product or MVP.
1:14
What this helps us to do is to define
the minimum requirements to prove
1:18
that our product is working
as we hypothesized it would.
1:22
This helps us keep our scope to only
the required tasks and nothing more.
1:25
Now for example in our project we might
be tempted to add a scoring system or
1:30
ask the guessers name.
1:34
But that doesn't really help us get
the software out the door any quicker.
1:36
This is sort of along
the same lines as YAGNI, or
1:40
ya ain't gonna need it,
that I mentioned earlier.
1:42
The idea here is to get your
product out as soon as possible and
1:45
then change it based on how users
are actually using your software, or
1:48
even better,
what is actually being requested by them.
1:52
A common way of handling scope is to build
a prioritized backlog of user stories.
1:56
Now, I setup a board that we
can use to track our progress.
2:01
Let's go check it out.
2:04
So, this is Trello.
2:05
It's a free web application and
it's primarily used for
2:07
keeping track of things.
2:10
Now, I've used it for several gigs and
I think it's awesome for
2:11
doing software development
through user stories.
2:14
User stories are another agile practice,
but
2:17
basically there are development requests
that are written in a certain form.
2:20
Now writing a good user story is a skill
and definitely its own art form and
2:23
its way out of the scope of this course.
2:27
So please check the teacher's notes for
more.
2:29
Now the main idea though is to communicate
on a high level that everyone,
2:31
both the people requesting the product.
2:36
And the people developing
it can understand.
2:38
It shows what will be delivered and
for what reason
2:41
it does not expose the how that's our
job as developers to figure that out.
2:45
So I've written a few stories that
will run through here together
2:49
as a guess I should be able to submit
a guess so that I can play the game.
2:52
So I'm going to do this
I'm going to click it and
2:57
I'm a drag it over to the to do column.
2:59
Now as you'll notice this is
a common format for users stories.
3:01
As a persona,
I should whatever the feature request is.
3:06
So that and then the reason of why.
3:10
So that really helps convey the message
of what it is we're doing and why.
3:13
So the next story up,
as a guesser I should be presented with my
3:18
current progress so
that I can make an educated guess.
3:21
That makes sense, hangman's hard
without knowing the current progress.
3:24
As a guesser, I should know
how many tries I have left, so
3:28
that I'm encouraged to be cautious.
3:32
Okay, next step, we have as a guesser,
I should be stopped from making
3:35
a guess that has all ready been made so
that I do not waste turns.
3:40
As a guesser I should be able to
know that the game is won or lost so
3:45
that I can acknowledge completion
with celebration or tears.
3:49
Okay, and
I'm gonna stop right here, awesome.
3:53
So we've got the stories that we're
planning to do all set up for us.
3:56
The amount of stories you choose is
sometimes based on an estimate of
4:00
effort that you agree upon as a team.
4:03
Now I estimate that together we can finish
these stories by the end of the course.
4:05
In most agile practices, the word sprint
is used to find a set period of time
4:10
during which specific work will be
completed and made ready to review.
4:15
So in that case this to do column here
is going to represent our sprint and
4:19
this backlog is going to be
stuff that we're going to not,
4:24
say we're not going to do this right.
4:27
This is where we we're talking
about doing things like
4:28
know the name of the guesser or know
the high score we're not gonna do that.
4:30
We're gonna keep that out of the MVP
because we think that we can prove our
4:33
hypothesis of fun hanging.
4:36
I think if we complete all those
stories that should give us our MVP or
4:39
again minimum viable product.
4:43
That is to say as long as we
can deliver on these stories
4:45
we should have a working product that
we can get out the door and iterate on.
4:49
Let's get building.
4:53
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