How To Build The Right Software (And Choose The Right Stack)
Published 11/2024
MP4 | Video: h264, 1920x1080 | Audio: AAC, 44.1 KHz
Language: English | Size: 683.71 MB | Duration: 2h 35m
NEW COURSE! Reduce scope creep and technical debt, design software and make stack choices that solve the right problems.
What you'll learn
Learn how to define clear requirements by asking "why" to dig deep into the real needs behind every request, moving from solution to the underlying problem..
Gain skills to prevent and control scope creep while encouraging creative solutions by embracing constraints.
Learn to choose a tech stack, from JavaScript frameworks to Low Code solutions, and understand the strengths of each approach to make smart technology choices.
Harness the power of user research to uncover real user needs, test usability, and express requirements as problem statements that guide development.
Approach feature requests as clues to underlying problems, not requirements. Learn techniques to uncover the real issues and make impactful additions.
Make the most of legacy software, recognize missed opportunities in direct rewrites, and practice building lean, purposeful solutions.
Requirements
No programming or design experience needed.
Description
New Course Released November 2024!It's one challenge to build software, it's another to know what software to build and what stack to build it in. How can you solve the real problems of your users, stakeholders and clients? How can you prevent and control scope creep while deciding what to build? How can you arrive at the most effective MVP? How can you decide on the most effective technology stack for your project? How can you manage feature requests properly? Where do you begin when rewriting legacy software?All these questions and more are answered in this course. I bring to this course 25 years as a software developer, manager, and user experience designer in small, medium, and large organizations, and I'll cover real world examples, let you practice with quizzes, and provide a PDF worksheet to use in your work.Who is this course for?Developers, designers, team leads, project managers, and requirements engineers. Anyone who has anything to do with deciding what software will actually be built and deployed.What we will I learn?Techniques to reverse engineer requirements, feature requests, and existing software into problem statements that can be used to determine the best software solutions to actually create.How to overcome the weaknesses of the concept of Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) to make the best decisions on what features are truly needed for the software to be successful.Decide on your software stack, looking at JavaScript frameworks, static site generators, content-driven frameworks, Low-Code and No-Code solutions, content management systems and more, analyzing the purpose of each kind of tool to determine which is best for your project.Build the best software by embracing user research (user interviews, user observation, usability testing, and more) as a fundamental aspect of your software development process.Handle feature requests the proper way, viewing them as clues to problems yet to be solved rather than requirements to be estimated.Learn how to view legacy software as a treasure trove of existing user research, and avoid making the mistake of rewriting software screen for screen.This course will give you concrete tools to immediately implement in your software development process. Save time, money, and stress by learning to build the right software in the right stack.
Overview
Section 1: Introduction
Lecture 1 Introduction
Section 2: Requirements and Solving the Right Problem
Lecture 2 Requirements and Solving the Right Problem
Lecture 3 Clients and Users are Not Software Designers
Lecture 4 The Why Down
Lecture 5 The Why Down (Practice)
Lecture 6 Control Scope Creep with Alternative Solutions
Lecture 7 Constraints Produce Creative Solutions
Lecture 8 Silos Are the Enemy
Lecture 9 MSP not MVP
Section 3: Choosing a Stack
Lecture 10 About This Section
Lecture 11 Choosing a Stack
Lecture 12 The Interactivity Question
Lecture 13 JavaScript Frameworks (NextJS, Remix, Vue, Angular, Solid, Qwik, and More)
Lecture 14 Static Sites
Lecture 15 A Mix Of Things
Lecture 16 Vanilla JS, Lightweight Libraries, and Server Frameworks
Lecture 17 PHP, Laravel, and Toolboxes
Lecture 18 Low-Code and No-Code Solutions
Lecture 19 Content Management Systems
Lecture 20 Use Design Systems and Templates
Lecture 21 SQL vs NoSQL
Lecture 22 Fundamentals Beats Tribalism
Section 4: The Power of User Research
Lecture 23 The Power of User Research
Lecture 24 Existing Software and User Observation
Lecture 25 Discount Usability Testing
Lecture 26 Control Requirements with User Research
Lecture 27 Express Results as Problems
Section 5: Handling Feature Requests (the Right Way)
Lecture 28 Handling Feature Requests (the Right Way)
Lecture 29 Feature Requests Are Not Requirements
Lecture 30 Why Down Feature Requests
Lecture 31 The Why Down (Practice)
Lecture 32 Reduce Technical Debt: Make the Smallest Addition Possible
Section 6: Software Rewrites
Lecture 33 Software Rewrites
Lecture 34 Existing Software is a Research Goldmine
Lecture 35 1-to-1 Rewrites Are a Wasted Opportunity
Lecture 36 Build Less Software
Section 7: Conclusion
Lecture 37 Why Down Worksheet (Free Download!)
Lecture 38 Conclusion - How To Build The Right Software
Developers, designers, team leads, project managers, and requirements engineers.
How To Build The Right Software (And Choose The Right Stack)
