Greenfields considered harmful

Greenfields considered Harmful

Or at least not very Agile

by Mike Wessling

[email protected]

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< I feel drained... >

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Long term views required

Greenfields cost time and investments

+

Greenfield opportunites are big and rate events

=

Must cover a large chunk of future

->

But the Future is harder and harder to predict

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< Et Voila >

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Illusion of Done

Goal is to delivery the complete thing

Versus

continuous improvable thing

Big integrated solutions->

Less focus on modular & replaceable designs->

Unknown dependencies->

Stuck with the solution for a long time

Consider : Multiple generations

Danger big monoliths

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< I don't like grass >

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Long Feedback Loops

Starting from scratch + big goals->

Long time to deliver->

Separates Dev from Ops/Users->

Long time before feedback (from users, reality, operations)

->Lots of invested time and money

->Hard to change course

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< Happy now?? >

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Scowleton

Creates Legacy

What about the last generation greenfield?

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What about the cows in the old fields..

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Deny new features?

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Wait until they die/leave?

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< Rest in Peace >

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From Cradle to what??

Think about Retirement when designing

->

Even consider a test retirement

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Easier to replace/upgrade parts when needed.

In summary – Design for Change

• Now is old and the future is fluid.

• Changeability is the main feature

• Usage and Fast Feedback is essential

• Run 1 system with multiple generations

• Consider obsolescence from start

(Note Greenfields are not forbidden.. Just hard to do right)

Thanks&

Open Fire!!