DHH Keynote at RailsConf '09: Rails 3 and the Secret to High Productivity

http://railsconf.blip.tv/file/2081411

by NewWorldOrder • 17 years ago

22 7 17 years ago

railsconf.blip.tv

alexfarran• 17 years ago

He starts speaking about the secret to high productivity at 45:45. It's 'Renegotiate Requirements'. Small tweaks in the requirements can reduce the amount of work dramatically. Don't be a hero, nobody really cares and you'll just wear yourself out.

lsb• 17 years ago

Here's an hour of your time: the secret to high productivity is doing less and feeling more motivated, so make things more fun by pushing back against requirements.

In short, work on things that matter, and if you see an easy shortcut, ask for permission to take it.

evdawg2• 17 years ago

If you're interested in the Rails 3 side of things, here is also an hour of your time:

* New Router can route other Rails apps, Sinatra apps, and possibly apps from non-Ruby frameworks (he mentions Django)

* New Javascript agnosticism uses HTML5's data-* attributes

* ERB's html_escape on by default, <%=raw to escape escaping

* Lots non-public-facing stuff being refactored

nir• 17 years ago

I thought it was actually pretty insightful.

Instead of stakeholders crafting requirements and coders trying to meet them, the process involves the developer in the product design stage, using their input on what's easy/hard together with the other stakeholders' input on what's high/low priority to determine what to build.

It's similar to agile vs waterfall, where the process is extended to product level rather than just the code. Sounds obvious yet rarely executed.

jamesbritt• 17 years ago

"Sounds obvious yet rarely executed."

It's often hard. I've been trying to do this for some time. It works if the client is open to the idea that he or she doesn't really know what they want, because they don't know all the things they could have, or what things may cost (both in upfront time and money, and long term maintenance).

I've had most trouble where the client is a team, one of whom has the job of defining the app. They often want to pick your brains ("Is this possible?"), then ignore your advice ("Yes, but that will eat a lot of time and money, which will bite you in the ass later.") and focus on what seems "cool".

I don't think this is approach is rare, though, just maybe not as discussed as much.

evdawg2• 17 years ago

Anyone else underwhelmed by the keynote? I was hoping for some new material regarding Rails 3, but if you've been following the commits there should be no surprises.

Except when he was alluded to mounting Django apps through Rails 3 ;)

kentf• 17 years ago

I kinda like the low keyness of the talk. A departure from the norm.

DHH Keynote at RailsConf '09: Rails 3 and the Secret to High Productivity

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