The recipe for a successful software project

I recently had a conversation with Charlie W. White about different types of developers, and I wanted to expand on it a little, and discuss how these personas apply to Power Platform development

In Charlie's initial post he spoke about "Data Chefs" and "data warm up types"

The concept of a data chef (someone who creates, can use raw ingredients to make brilliance, uses the tools but only to drive innovation) or a data warm up type person again referring to food (heating things up, using pre made stuff etc) came up. There are far more heat up people in the world.

At this point I introduced the concept of a third type... the artisan, who constantly looks for new ways to present something in a unique and interesting way.

We spoke a little more about the three types:

• Cooks: great a following a recipe, use tried and tested methods to get the job done.
• Chefs: more creative, capable of adapting previous recipes to create something new.
• Artisans: Thrive in situations where something has never been done before.

Getting the right blend of personalities in a project is key:

If you have too many cooks, you will end up with a standard product that looks and behaves like every other app out there, sure it will work, but its never going to be ground breaking stuff!

Chefs cost more than cooks, and having a chef build something that is tried and tested isn't the most cost effective.

If you have too many artisans the focus will be on innovating everything, this isn't always needed, and again can be expensive.

I believe there is a place for all three personalities on a software development project:

• Cooks can churn through simple tasks quickly, with very little support, and always have a place on a project, if you want a simple Power Automate flow to send an email when a status changes, your cook is the most appropriate resource for this job.
• When a trickier requirement comes in, that doesn't have a tried and tested approach, this is where your chefs step up. They have the ability to consider similar requirements from past projects, and slice and dice the ingredients they used for other requirements, to come up with a solution that fits.
• The pace of releases of new functionality is staggering, we are seeing new features at least monthly in Power Platform - our artisans thrive in looking for new ways to tackle a problem, in a manner that has no precedent. They often use the fail fast mentality, sometimes it will take a few attempts, or a LOT of creative thinking to get the job done, but the outputs will be beyond your wildest dreams.

Getting the right blend of personalities will allow your team to focus on what they are good at, and will inevitably lead to a better experience for your customer.

A successful project isn't just lead by the development team, there's also a supporting cast that should be considered...

• The critic: This role is filled by our QAs and our Product owners, they critique the work of our kitchen, and validate that the outputs are to a suitable standard
• The executive chef: This is your architect, they are responsible and accountable for the success of the project, overseeing everything, and making sure that everything works together.
• The Front of house manager: this is your project manager, they manage the expectations of the customer, and help the team to perform at a high level.

In summary, the success of a project relies on having the right personalities doing the right things, at the right time. Too much of one personality will lead to friction, lack of innovation, and the inability to produce what the customer needs.