Rocket Fueled Process by William Belk

Rocket Fueled Process

Rocket Fueled Process is a book that explores the realities of software product develepment from a Lean perspective. Stop wasting time; stop learning loss; and start reducing risk. Rocket Fueled Process will help you visualize key concepts of software developement, like waterfall process, work in process (WIP), total risk evaluation, batch size, lean, kanban, scrum, and more.

This book was influenced by almost 20 years in the software and product development space. Another huge influence on this book was the work of Don Reinertsen and his book The Principles of Product Development Flow.

Contents

Chapter 1: Product 101

  • The Beauty of Deconstruction
  • User Centered Design 13
  • The Declaration
Rocket Fueled Process - Product Serendipity

Chapter 2: Reality & Constraints

  • Traditional Models of Product Development
  • What is the Reality of Building Software?
  • Mastery & Unrealistic Behavior
  • Prioritize The Real Value We Are Creating: ROI Reality
  • The Beauty of Constraints
Rocket Fueled Process - Waterfall Process

Chapter 3: Intro to Lean

  • What is Lean?
  • Lean Startups and the Democratization of Learning
  • Concept to Iteration
Rocket Fueled Process - Lean TPS

Chapter 4: Total Cost of Ownership

  • Understanding Total Cost of Ownership - Lifecycle Economics
  • Understanding The Impact of Debt
  • Debt In Code
  • Debt In Culture
  • Debt In Process
  • Debt In People
Rocket Fueled Process - Cost of Incorrect Assumptions

Chapter 5: Batch Size & Work In Process

  • Understanding Batch Sizes and Risk
  • Implementing Work in Process Constraints
  • Eliminating Unecessary Work In Process (WIP)
  • Synchronicity Is Essential
  • Synchronize Small Batches Around Common Goals
Rocket Fueled Process - Risk, Batch Size & Work In Process

Chapter 6: Tools & Methodologies

  • Tools are just artifacts of our foundation
  • Overview of some popular dev methodologies for startups
  • Agile
  • Scrum
  • Step 1: Planning Meeting
  • Index Cards
  • Step 2: The Sprint, also called the Cycle or Work Iteration
  • Step 3: The Daily Standup
  • Step 4: Retrospective
  • Kanban

Chapter 7: The Simple Team Principle

  • The Simple Team Principle
  • 1. Simple Scope Agreement
  • 2. Simple Build Agreement
  • 3. Simple Validation Agreement
  • We Have Completed One Iteration
Rocket Fueled Process - Simple Team Principle

Chapter 8: Structuring Teams for Success

  • Building Ethical Systems
  • Team Structure
Rocket Fueled Process - Employee Wellness

Chapter 9: Sketches, Whiteboards & Wireframes

  • Do It Like Picasso
Rocket Fueled Process - Idea Development Pyramid

Chapter 10: Financial Modeling

Chapter 11: Key Metrics & Success Measurement

  • Metrics and Validation Analyisis
  • Team Measurement
  • Micro Experiment Testing & Optimization
Rocket Fueled Process - Teamwork Wins

Chapter 12: What Makes A Great Dev Team

  • Product Managers
  • Experienced Engineers
  • Systems Engineers
  • Hiring Personalities
Rocket Fueled Process - Senior Engineers vs Hackers

Chapter 13: Go Make A Customer Happy, Tommorrow

Chapter 14: Random Musings

  • Good companies are always in Beta
  • Advice for Small Startup Teams
  • Advice for Small Teams in Large Organizations
  • Advice for Product Managers Advice for Engineers
  • About the Author