Developing The Why

07/10/18 • 19 min

As a developer it is common to focused on only the What and How of what you are developing. Those helps you plan a solution, but they do not allow you to understand if you are delivering the correct value. In this episode we talk with Dwayne McDaniel (@McDwayne), developer advocate for Pantheon about the importance of understanding the Why of your development. We discuss why it is important to know the goals of your project. How doing so allows you to deliver the correct product and results. Further we talk about how that allows you to deliver value to your clients and your development career.

Key Takeaways

Always ask "what are we trying to accomplish, what is the end goal"?
Build for the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are relevant to your project.
Present your solutions/products in terms of how they drive the expected results/goals.

Links from this Episode

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Knowing What Not to Build

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Key Takeaways

Always ask "what are we trying to accomplish, what is the end goal"?
Build for the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are relevant to your project.
Present your solutions/products in terms of how they drive the expected results/goals.

Links from this Episode

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Knowing What Not to Build

Have an idea for a future episode?

Tweet Us: @devuppodcast
Email Us: [email protected]

Previous Episode

Challenging Yourself

A career in development is full of challenges. However it can be easy to slip into a cycle of development stagnation, approaching every problem the same way, with the same tools. In this episode we talk with Mark Robert Henderson (@hackforthesea), a lead developer at CUASHI and organizer of the Hack for the Sea hackathon about the values of finding ways to challenge yourself as a developer. We discuss how challenging yourself allows you to grow as a developer, as well as, some examples of ways to challenge yourself.

Levels of "Developer Enlightenment"

Not knowing things and knowing you dont know things.
Not knowing things and thinking you know (all) things.
Knowing things and thinking you know (all) things.
Knowing things and knowing you still dont know things.

Methods to Challenge Yourself

Question your approach to solving a problem, and try a different method.
Be open to feedback to your work in code reviews.
Attend a Hackathon, use a new tool, language or framework.

Links from this Episode

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Next Episode

Values of Networking

Networking plays an important part in a career in development. Connecting with other people can provide opportunities for personal and career growth. In this episode we talk with Chris Free (@chrisfree), Partner and Creative Director of Chromatic, about the value of being able to network with other people. Chris shares how his career is partly the result of the people he has surronded himself with and how it has benefited his own growth. We discuss why networking with others is vital, the values and opportunities it provides, and go over a few methods for building those personal connections.

Key Takeaways

Careers are not built in a vacuum, they rely on other people.
Attend conferences, meetups and development events to find others who share your passion.
Talking with others can be challenging, start by emulating someone you know who is good at it.