Project OzMoving to Australia using Jira

Matthew Cobby matt@andamooka.com

Melbourne AUG Feb 2015

Who am I?

Who am I?Senor Consultant & Architect Former London AUG Leader 8+ years Atlassian user & hacker.

Finance, Trading & Energy Industries Currently DevOps for a bank

Who am I?Lived in London for 15 years Australia is a second home Young family Decided to move to Melbourne Needed a tracker…

The ProblemHard deadlines Lots to track • Removals • 3 years of “life debt” • Renting home • Disconnections • Change of addresses • Financial planning • Holiday planning • ….. and 2 toddlers!

The Problem

Very limited capacity Every moment counts Work from anywhere Harvest “small moments”

24 Hours"Free Time"

9%Relationship

4%Chores

7%Commute

7%Children

13%Work35%

Sleep26%

Sleep Work ChildrenCommute Chores Relationship"Free Time"

The Problem

This wasn’t going to work… or this

The Solution

You want to do what?A very understanding & long suffering partner.

The Solution

You want to do what?A very understanding & long suffering partner.

The SolutionNormally host on Mac mini at home NAT & Dynamic DNS for external access One off licence costs But shortly about to be “homeless” No DSL

Cloud Hosting 1&1 VPS not capable; too many limits Atlassian Cloud, Contegix, Adaptavist* Higher cost; simplicity; no hassle

* Other Atlassian hosting options exist!

The SolutionComponents

• Arrival - Finding a new home • Employment - Resign & find a new job • Holiday - flights, car hire, accommodation • Leaving - Shutting down our life • Rental - Becoming 1st time landlords • Shipping - Packing, customs

The SolutionIssue Types

• Tasks • Sub-Tasks • Change of Address Records

The SolutionSprints & Versions

• Initially tried sprints • Wanted burndown charts & velocity • Unpredictability of resource availability (i.e. me)

made them unreliable • Same problems as running BAU & a sprint • Versions focussed the mind on fixed events e.g.

Departure from Heathrow

The SolutionAgile vs Kanban

Kanban boards proved useful Highlighting tasks as they came close to due Resource constraints around due dates

We couldn’t give sprints the full resource

The Solution

Lessons LearntSledgehammer meet nut…

What we really wanted was a simple collaborative, online task tracker. Only used small % of functionality Confluence tasks might have done. But I’m a Jira nerd!

Lessons LearntProcess

Full agile approach was too heavyweight Standups were very useful for heartbeat Constant feedback Encouraged experimentation Keep it lean

Lessons LearntCultural

Speak to your partner before assigning issues Conversations through comments aren’t helpful Don’t email list of tasks every morning Don’t suggest having a wallboard at home

Promote it as a way of storing information in one place Reinforce achievements (tasks closed)

Lessons LearntPracticality

Going agile doubles your cost Not a mobile first solution natively Difficult to create issues on the go Considered SMS to email gateway Jira phone apps a must for productivity

Lessons LearntPracticality

A client can cost more than a licence Jira phone apps a must for productivity • ResolveIt • Jira Connect (Free/Pro/Enterprise) • jira.me • Jira Anywhere • Wings for Jira • Cricket for Jira • My Jira Client • Pocket Desk • Jira RealLife - MIA

Lessons LearntAtlassian Cloud

Can feel slow after using on-prem Limited customisations Costs escalate fast with additions No control over outages

Takes away system admin headaches! No emergency updates Great way to try out tools So easy!

Where next….?

Project LIFE

• Medium to long term tasks & personal goals • Jira too much overhead for very simple tasks

like “get milk” & “tidy toys” • Pen & paper is hard to beat for simplicity • Still looking for that perfect tactical solution

Where next….?Family Days Out • Storing ideas for those rare sunny weekend

days in Melbourne • Reports: Good for… sun / cold / wet

Restaurants • List of potential places • Workflow tracks if you have been • Reports: Pick a suburb / cost / rating

Change of Address Register • Perpetual list of records • Every time you move, reopen all issues

Where next….?Beyond Jira

The Agile Family • Rapid feedback • Collective ownership • Self determination • Encourage experimentation • No fail in failure

Maybe when they are older.

@mcobby

Matthew Cobby

mcobby@gmail.com

mcobby

matt@andamooka.com

matthew-cobby

Thank you!

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