Well it's been a while and i've been getting quite excited about the Lonely Planet ebooks development that I have been doing, so what the hell, time to blog!
So, the first thing I did when I got involved in the project was set it up with CI (continuous Integration). Now it's a little different than your usual CI becauwe I am using it not only to run unit/integration test, but I am also using it to build the actual production ebooks!
To illustrate, here is our very simple production line:
The other very simple but very effective piece of software which i insisted on setting up, is an online agile board/cards. Generally at LP we use cardboard and bluetac on the walls, however because the team is spread all over the building (well 2 floors) and has been some work done in other countries, it just made sense to shift to an online version!
Now, there has been such demand for the first round of ebook products http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mobile/apple/ebooks.php that there was pressure to produce some more. We have set up some technology (as see above) to help with this, however there was still a significant amount of work to do. Being such dedicated staff, we decided to come in on the weekend and get ahead on some tasks. Here is Mark doing a bit of dual-UAT on the iPad:
To combat RSI and just have a bit of fun we trialed a bit of reverse-programming:
Then i decided to step it up a notch and do some dual-keyboard-reverse-TDD:
I am not sure if our new experimental techniques will take off, however we do believe that it is important to try new things (even if it is just to get a laugh).
Lachy also did a great job organising our task cards, coffee, pizza and coke. I evne let him win a game of table tennis just to keep him interested.
All around it has been great fun - I am really enjoying my small foray into the publishing world and hope that I can get more involved in the future!
So, the first thing I did when I got involved in the project was set it up with CI (continuous Integration). Now it's a little different than your usual CI becauwe I am using it not only to run unit/integration test, but I am also using it to build the actual production ebooks!
To illustrate, here is our very simple production line:
The other very simple but very effective piece of software which i insisted on setting up, is an online agile board/cards. Generally at LP we use cardboard and bluetac on the walls, however because the team is spread all over the building (well 2 floors) and has been some work done in other countries, it just made sense to shift to an online version!
Now, there has been such demand for the first round of ebook products http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mobile/apple/ebooks.php that there was pressure to produce some more. We have set up some technology (as see above) to help with this, however there was still a significant amount of work to do. Being such dedicated staff, we decided to come in on the weekend and get ahead on some tasks. Here is Mark doing a bit of dual-UAT on the iPad:
To combat RSI and just have a bit of fun we trialed a bit of reverse-programming:
Then i decided to step it up a notch and do some dual-keyboard-reverse-TDD:
I am not sure if our new experimental techniques will take off, however we do believe that it is important to try new things (even if it is just to get a laugh).
Lachy also did a great job organising our task cards, coffee, pizza and coke. I evne let him win a game of table tennis just to keep him interested.
All around it has been great fun - I am really enjoying my small foray into the publishing world and hope that I can get more involved in the future!
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