Soooooo, as we get ready for the grand revealing of Spinscape chock full of its new GUI goodness (notice I didn’t say launch), a few things come to mind.
Scrum has really been a beautiful ally in the development of this product. I hate to personify something so inanimate as a software development methodology, but I can’t help it. The idea from the beginning was to create Spinscape so that it could evolve organically from the development side (read as architecture) based on the needs and desires of our customers. The question was how to accomplish this approach from a development, project management, and business side. The answer (I bet you already guessed it) was Scrum.
Now I have used Scrum a bunch in the past with awesome results. In fact, I think I have to be one of the only people (if not the only one) ever to use Scrum in a US Army development project. The point is, things change, so as Kent Beck says EMBRACE IT! (Sorry to mix methodologies here, I just like Kent and don’t get to write his name enough.)
We are so stoked about the Scrum/Spinscape nuptials that we have created a template and a plugin that will be introduced in an upcoming sprint that helps Scrum teams do their Scrumming!
The concept of “Evolving Beta” is a concept we are embracing completely and Scrum is the vehicle that helps us get there. In fact, knowing that an application will constantly be upgraded and improved is a very exciting sales point to me.
Damsel in distress: “You mean I don’t have to upgrade my application?”
Spinscape: “Why of course not madam! This is a web application that always has the latest features and bugfixes already installed. Let me untie you from the railroad tracks before the upgrade train runs you over!”
Damsel no longer in distress: “You mean, as new features are developed, I get them right away?”.
Spinscape: “Yes maam.”
(Cheesy? Possibly, but the visual made me laugh! It was a great excuse to ask the art team to create an image to go along with the blog too!)
For those of you scoring at home…Spinscape is currently only available with an invite. If you are attending the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco later this month, you will receive an invite code that will let you in to peruse a swanky new app. If you won’t be attending, fear not, you will get to indulge in the sweetness that is Spinscape a couple weeks later. Stay tuned for more info on when/where/who/how/yadda yadda Spinscape will be open to everyone.
I’ll give you a hint, the first iteration will have a 30 day free trial.
Ok, so I know the title of this is Scrum, Evolving Beta, and Creative Quips…so, I know I hit the first two, I’m just going to have to owe you on the Creative Quips! More info soon, the “I’m not going to call it a launch” is coming in a few days! Stay tuned!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 10:05 am by Mark Salamango and is filed under General Spinscape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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April 16th, 2008 at 8:32 am
And for the uninitiated, lest you think we are talking about Rugby, this is Scrum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development)