An interesting experiment – 70 developers, caffeine, and a goal of launching a product in 48 hours.
It failed, but they learnt:
“You learn from failure and you get better.”
It’s an interesting microcosm of the entire lifecycle of development…and some interesting lessons (which i still don’t heed all the time):
1) To make the goals clear both inside and outside the room.
2) To make your most experienced and respected folks the team leaders. Development is hard. This is all that will matter.
3) To not be so laid back as a group about important decisions.
4) To make the deadline very firm. Launch something at that time, no matter what.
Sounds like they should have read Getting Real…