DEV Community: Alessandra Anyzewski

How to fail in applying the Shape Up methodology

Alessandra Anyzewski — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 15:42:44 +0000

Software development is tricky: it sounds like an exact science but, in practice, is much more related to a craft than other Engineering areas. To control this "artistic" aspect, Product specialists have developed several agile methods over the years (e.g., Kanban and Scrum).

Among them, Shape Up, from Basecamp is one of the latest we keep talking about. Using it, we migrate from seeing software development from a machinery perspective—where we aim to drag cards as fast as we can—to this broader concept of enabling safe spaces for constant co-creation. We set up an environment connected deeply with the business goals and look after delivering the most value to users within a predictable time box. In other words, we evolve from the waterfall approach to a new one: an ongoing revision of product/software decisions through an obsession with business and product development optimization.

Here's a quick summary of Shape Up:

Find your best bets (that is how Shape Up refers to projects) for how your product should evolve. Describe them in every detail in the problem domain and at a high level in the solution domain - leaving room for iteration over it;
Gather stakeholders to invest up to 6 work weeks in each bet;
Delegate all in-project decisions to the team, and they will methodically do the best they can, strictly honoring the invested time.

If you are unsure of the outcomes of it, you got the idea! There is no guarantee of the final delivery results, except that the team has given its most to reach business goals, reviewing product specs at a very high frequency. Would that sound good enough if your money was on the table?

Seducing as it may seem to be to set this workflow for the team (why not take the members' empowerment to a sky-high level, right?), willingness to apply the framework may not be enough. What is implicit in Basecamp's framework is a strong sense of product direction and, afterward, the high confidence built through the stakeholders' management. To add complexity, the more innovative you are, the higher the stakes and the more effort you must put into developing a solid product strategy. How to combine these assurances to my managers and still leave a lot of room for taking the best of those brilliant minds within the team? I am still trying to find this balance.

In a broader context, a few years ago, nobody would see it coming to this new economic moment in the technology industry: lay-offs, down pacing on the investment rounds, and so on. Naturally, it unfolds in risk aversion. 6-week work was supposed to be a low investment in the framework proposal, but.. what if it is not?

From what I could apply the ideas in Shape Up, I felt astonished. I have seen the team come up with brilliant, innovative ideas. Strict to the point, fearless, focused. True empowerment right in front of me. Carving this creational space requires different efforts over time, depending on the company's moment. Expected.
To keep the good parts of the framework even in the hard times, we have evolved it into a "Waterfall-Shape-Up" framework, as illustrated below.

It considers the stakeholders' alignment for the overall plan but leaves some space for the team to "deviate" the water's course based on business knowledge. Iterations continue to be intensive, and the building plan is evolving daily.

I see this parallel with management styles: it suits us better to use a commanding voice in crisis and leverage collaboration in calmer times. Those are excellent strategies, varying on the best time to use them.

Having this sensitivity to the broader context so that one or another tool is more appropriate is a constant challenge to SWE Managers. I have absorbed Shape Up as a perfect one to keep in my toolbox.

Past 10 years, I finally got into a Hackathon

Alessandra Anyzewski — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 01:46:18 +0000

I am completing 10 years of my Software Engineering graduation and last week I was able to participate in my first Hackathon.
I do not recall it as so popular in SWE courses by the old times as it is nowadays, but I do not doubt I missed some opportunities during graduation too. Fact is that 6 years in the oil industry made me miss this moment where every SWE student had a solid track of Hackathons she/he has engaged in.
As I came back to the SWE career I certainly belong to, very soon I had the opportunity to work at VTEX Hackathon and my first reaction was "I feel to old to work overnight eating snacks and drinking soda". I was 30. Behind that feeling, there were layers of insecurity about my capacity of learning something new and contributing in a constrained amount of time. I respect my sense of guarding myself by then: overcoming ghosts is a process, and a career change cannot be seen as something simple.. everybody has their pace for assimilating the new place and feel belongingness.

FUN FACT: 😛 In this meanwhile I helped organize and mentored VTEX's partners Hackaton in the biggest event of the company, the VTEX Day. 🤷‍♀️

Now, 3 years later, it was time to debut! It was another VTEX Hackathon, and we had 2 days to cover an interesting idea for the company. It was SO. MUCH. FUN! It is like daily work but much more chilled out. Felt fresh, easy-going, and made me connect with all the things that makes me believe that SWE is my thing. It was a time to create/reinforce connections with colleagues and learn interesting things. Worths mentioning that I also felt proud about the results.
We used Gather Town to simulate the office environment and the experience close enough to working in presence. Loved it!

I must say that I am not sure I will make it to other hackathons.. I really feel a bit old for that 😆. But most of my adventures started with something I was a bit old to be doing.

As a SWE, I prefer to plan my tasks using paper

Alessandra Anyzewski — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:58:05 +0000

Every day is the same routine: sip a cup of coffee while trying not to be late for the first work meetings in the day. And as long as I have at least 15 minutes available in this meanwhile, I work in a very specific question: what do I have to come up with today so my day is successful?
Argh, not easy. First of all, there are the tasks I wasn't able to accomplish yesterday and usually they get into the zero priorities without invitation. Then.. usually no space left. But I always believe that my highest potential workforce will make it possible not only to finish all delayed tasks but also invest on my health, do the housework, all regular duties AND 5 new tasks that I have not started yet. That's the recipe for finding yourself completely anxious at 9am.

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1425785775355056134-587'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1425785775355056134&theme=dark" }

Just being drifted by the work that comes up is not a good strategy to reach your goals, so I have always been a huge fan of thinking proactively about what I expect to evolve in myself for the next x amount of time. That has brought me to a place I really never thought I would be. However, since I changed my job to work in a software company, I could not avoid the anxiety: lots to do, lots to learn, many possibilities..
I have always loved to organize myself into task lists, but it felt crazy. My favorite app in the past days was Todoist: great usability, amazing set of free features, and very reliable. BUT, the number of projects kept increasing, the backlog lists were overwhelming and starting the day or week was torturing. I felt like I was not progressing at all (even though this feeling was totally unfair to my results).

Afterwards, I changed to use one of the bests technologies ever: paper. Planning became slooow, in a good way. It was not anymore about filtering a never ending list already charging me in the app. It was about filling a beautiful paper with my never ending dreams, using my amazing colorful pens (that I have postponed buying for years and now brings me so much joy).
I use colors for tagging different goals: self care, family, work, love life.. and I use a pencil for tasks that I need to do but are not aligned with my life goals.
At Sundays I just throw the past week paper away, and have the great feeling of a fresh start again. I guess that is how life is supposed to be taken.

Why working in contingency days is harder than regular remote work

Alessandra Anyzewski — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 01:33:14 +0000

We are experiencing a new reality for this generation: Coronavirus has come and many companies decided to send their employees home. Thus, as programmers, it was not supposed to feel this different from being in the office: we are all prepared to chat anytime, we have tuned the way we communicate with our team when remote and we feel it can be very productive having focus to concentrate in one task at a time. I risk to say I was even a bit glad with the perspective of coding uninterruptedly and the diminishing on time spent on meetings.

Ergh, that is not what happened until now.

News are reporting calamities, people feel freaked out. Our family members sometimes worry too much and transmit a lot of panic, other times they are too much relaxed, leaving their home in totally avoidable situations. You are in your house, dealing with tasks you are not used to (like cooking, cleaning or preparing your own coffee all day long). Things get messy, you have to set a cozy spot to work on if you do not have any. All non-critical health concerns are postponed, as you are not able to go out to see a doctor, continue some treatment or do exams. These factors brings anxiety, and it mounts everyday with the news claiming there is no expectation of when this situation will be over.

Well, it is important to say that the correlation of what we are dealing with now and a regular remote work is not that high as many think.
If you had the opportunity to work remotely in a normal world status, you can feel the differences: first of all, it was a chosen activity and you had time to prepare psychologically for it. It was not something imposed unexpectedly by fear. When I work remotely usually my day starts with some exercise outside or at the gym, I have all services available so I can decide how to follow my day and I relax in social encounters when the job is done. Now, I just feel I have nowhere to go but keep working all day over. Getting stuck with your job is not exactly a dream. Sure I can have some fun caged home, but it is not about that. The very first experience of confinement is not pleasant and you cannot appreciate your spare time at home the same way because it is not a decision.

By now I developed some strategies to feel better (what directly causes me to produce more):

Be cool. Do not give attention to the anxiety that rises in your chest. When you feel this way, try to reach what is bringing this feeling and take your mind in the opposite direction.
Do not force to be productive. It will come sometime, relax. Try to set things up for the days to come. Stock up on things that are really necessary to you, buy whatever you are needing now, and most important, try not to get into this idea that everybody is ok and being able to work normally and you are an exception to that. Everybody is struggling with their own bad feelings now. Opening up about those things to your colleagues will get you to feel included.
Exercise. There is a movement on physical educators to give remote classes, and a lot of apps to practice sports at home. Or simply you can put some music on your living room and dance! If you are close to any kids, play with them as you were 5. For me this is the most difficult task, but it makes the larger difference.
Define a routine. Waking up too late, having no time for meals or even to stop working can mess a lot with your body and your mind.
Connect. Specially with yourself. What do you like to do? What plans did you have that were waiting for an opportunity like that? How can you have fun with your friends? How can you feel closer to your family? What will make you feel calmer? Go for it, reach those positive things.

Let's keep it up, good days are about to come and we have to be prepared for them as well.