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Jonathan Hall
Jonathan Hall

Posted on • Originally published at jhall.io on

How to release 2 years of unfinished code, the "Agile way"

I was recently conversing with someone who just joined a new team. This new team has been working on a new software project for about 2 years, and they haven’t released anything yet. Now management has decided it’s time to release something, and the team has 8 weeks to get something out the door.

How would you address this situation?

Take a moment and consider, if you like. I’ll wait.

I'll wait...

So what did you come up with?

I, and the others talking with this person, came up with a few pieces of advice. I’ll mention some of them briefly. Let me know if you agree or disagree, or what you might do differently.

  • Release something ASAP.

  • Treat the last 2 years worth of code as “warehouse of old parts”

  • Don’t make an 8-week plan.

There’s a ton more that could be said. Unless/until I hear back from this person in 8 weeks time, it’s a hypothetical from my standpoint. So it’s fair game for any other suggestions. I’d love to hear yours!


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