Project Management - Demoing Flashcards
Demoing
What is a demo?
A demonstration of your software to an audience
What types of audiences is there?
External: Stakeholders/customers, conference delegates (potential customers, partners). commonly the aim is to advertise and sell the software
Internal: Development team(s), management team, senior executives. Aims to keep everyone informed and use their feedback to improve things
Why should everybody be able to demo (sell)
We are very fortunate that as software engineers, we probably get to design, build, market and sell in our careers.
Internally, good demos get projects sponsored
As your career progresses you are likely to do more product management than pure engineering
Good product managers teach salespeople how to sell their product
What is the difference between a sprint review demo and sales demo
A sales demo:
- Aims to sell the product
- It is produced owner to customer
Sprint Demo (aka sprint review):
- Aim: The completed product backlog items are demonstrated to allow the team to assess the readiness of the product so far.
- A product manager is one of the key people to attend.
- It is engineering demoing to product owner.
What is the Seating arrangements in a demo?
You will be at the front
You want a colleague at the back to divert attention if you get into trouble
Your customers are likely to be sat at the back on the opposing side
It is bad form to outnumber the customers
What could go wrong in a demo?
Hard to drive software and talk to audience at the same time
Have a plan and stick to it!
- Write a storyboard
- Don’t try anything you haven’t tried before
- Same ordering
- Same timing
- Have a backup
- Software crashes
Find a way to keep going!
- What do you need to keep going?
What to consider when working with other people on a demo?
Some people are better at presenting than others
Stick to time well
Stick to content well (go off on tangents)
Do as they practice (variations)
Different levels of nerves can affect performance
People fall back to their highest level of preparation
Whatever you have not done before, you will not do as well as if you have practiced
What to do when things go wrong when demoing?
Just stop and try to correct the error?
Keep talking and get someone else in the team to get things up and running again.
Find another communication channel if one goes down
Use the opportunity to answer questions, have a discussion, talk about things that you are about to show.
People will be impressed if you can find a way to do something to keep the session alive and useful/interesting.
Watch what reporters do when they are live and commentating on a situation that they are waiting for
What should be considered about the timings of a demo?
The shorter the timeframe the greater the need to prepare – why?
Should you leave time for introduction to speakers and questions at the end?
Should you give a break?
Have a backup material ready to show if you do things too quicky.
It is more common for people to take too long to present and go over time
What are the things to consider when introducing yourself when demoing?
When introducing yourself, the most common mistake is to say your name too quickly.
In language, we don’t hear every word, so we make inferences to figure out what was said. With names, this is very hard to do.
So, say your name clearly and slowly.
This is your chance to make sure everyone knows who you are
At conferences it’s an essential networking skill
Everyone knows the name of gurus
- Do they know your name, do they have a chance to know your name?
Concluding the demo
Bad: Run out of time and don’t get chance to conclude/end gracefully
Focus on the key (“Take aways”)
Show the best bits last?
Summary
- Don’t show new things here
- Allow time for questions
What are useful tips for answering questions after a demo?
Prepare (brainstorm and mental run-through)
Request to take the conversation off-line (discuss later)
Use your team – back one another up
Best, but hard to do: turn the question into (a related) one that you want to answer, then answer that. Politicians do this
Expect the unexpected
- Panels: The chair does not always ask you what you expect ( even when you have been told the questions before)
- Dealing with difficult and aggressive people: “What’s the point of your work?”, “Why didn’t you use the latest X framework instead?”
