On Fireproof, Future-Proof, Failure-Proof Things.
Dylan Wilbanks OpenWebCamp VI, July 2014
!
Web: dylanwilbanks.com Twitter: @dylanw
Two huge caveats.
1. I have (almost) no answers.
2. I have (almost) no takeaways.
Philadelphia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericsbinaryworld/130500981/
Fireproof?
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/february/philadelphia-fire.htm
What about the web?
“Building codes would never work for building code.”
“It’s different!”
“The built environment is planned!”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/structures-nyc-photos/5595474378/
“Development is not pre-planned!”
“What’s on fire today?”
The Hierarchy of Startup Code Needs
Technical debt
New features
Fixing bugs in working code
Shipping working code
The Hierarchy of Startup Code Needs
No Money, Many Problems
MAKE IT RAAAAAAAAIN
MOAR MONEY!
MONEY
Let’s talk debt.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ward_Cunningham_at_Wikimania_2006.jpg
–Developer, Apptio
“Six years ago I was asked how long it’d take for me to internationalize our code
base. I said two weeks. But we didn’t do it. Now, it would take months of work — with
multiple developers.”
Kinds of debt• Technical debt
• Design debt
• Accessibility debt
• I18N debt
• Security debt
• DevOps debt
Tech debt
• Code upgrades
• Refactoring
• “Temporary” hacks
• TODO
• Not staying up to date
Design debt• Poor usability
• Sub-optimal user flows
• Mobile Last, Mobile Not, What’s Mobile?
• “Experience rot”
• “Patch and paint” UX solutions instead of “replacing the wall”
Accessibility debt
• Doesn’t work with screen reader
• ARIA hooks not used for AJAX-based sites
• Accessibility never tested, never a priority
• “Yes, but are they the 80% case?”
You will never not have debt.
Resources vs. Revenue
But…• Poor architecture kills velocity and sales
• We always have to keep up with change in market, device, user
• Not planning for I18N is costly
• Bad security mistakes cost us money (and face)
• Bad accessibility costs us face (and money)
What do we do?
We need a building code for the web.
Clear rules: Retrofit, replace, new construction
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/New_and_Old_Bay_Bridge_(8859593785).jpg
http://www.districtenergy.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Seattle-SouthLakeUnionAerial_big.jpg
Standard sizes, standard practice.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/duiceburger/3312213574/
http://idighardware.com/2010/01/survey-q3-how-can-you-tell-a-fire-door-from-a-regular-door/
Beyond web standards, beyond frameworks,
it’s practice.
What can we do?
My little part for UX
StoryCore
2014 Home Edition Live* 365! (pre-alpha preview)
StoryCore• Bootstrap for applications
• Sets the nuts and bolts pieces in place for a basic web application
• Import stories into your bug tracker of choice
• Build in key user experience requirements
• Accessibility and security acceptance criteria
Available… soonish.
What are you going to do?
Kinds of debt• Tech debt
• Design debt
• Accessibility debt
• I18N debt
• Security debt
• DevOps debt
Thank you.
Dylan Wilbanks Web: dylanwilbanks.com
Twitter: @dylanw And other fine social media networks
