What does coding life look like when you are a continuous coder? Well, as the Beatles once said, “8 days a week, I love you.” That's what many people think of when they hear of continuous coding for the first time. But we are here to offer a better way. 2 weeks for a sprint is a pretty good lenght of time. And as a continuous coder, you'll be able to make those sprints 8 days long. Let's work towards 8 days a sprint. It might be enough to show you how much I care.
Over the next 8 articles, we will describe in great detail how a sprint might go, with a few detours to show alternate timelines.
But first, let's spell out an ideal schedule:
Pomodoro = 25 minutes of work, followed by a 5 minute break.
Below is an idealized schedule for every day of the week.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata |
| 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day |
| 09:30: Daily Stand-up | 09:30: Sprint Planning | 09:30: Daily Stand-up | 09:30: Daily Stand-up |
| 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) | 10:30: Post planning Pairing (Pomodoro 1) | 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) | 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) |
| 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 | 11:00: Pomodoro 2 & 3 | 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 | 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 |
| 11:45: Lunch | 12:00: Lunch | 11:45: Lunch | 11:45: Lunch |
| 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders | 13:00: Review sprint, update stakeholders | 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders | 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders |
| 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 | 13:15: Pomodoros 4 - 6 | 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 | 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 |
| 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:15: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family |
| 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 | 15:30: Pomodoro 7 - 10 | 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 | 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 |
| 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. | 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. | 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. | 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata | 09:00: Morning Kata |
| 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day | 09:25: Review tasks for the day |
| 09:30: Daily Stand-up | 09:30: Daily Stand-up | 09:30: Sprint Retrospective | 09:30: Daily Stand-up |
| 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) | 10:30: Post Retro Mobing (improve) | 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) | 09:45: Post stand-up Pairing (Pomodoro 1) |
| 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 | 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 | 11:30: Pomodoro 1 (speed up some tests) | 10:15: Pomodoro 2 - 4 |
| 11:45: Lunch | 11:45: Lunch | 12:00: Lunch | 11:45: Lunch |
| 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders | 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders | 13:00: Review plans, update stakeholders | 12:30: Review tasks, update stakeholders |
| 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 | 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 | 13:30: Pomodoros 2 - 6 (prepare for context swtiches) | 12:45: Pomodoros 5 - 8 |
| 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:30: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family | 15:00: Nap time. Check emails, and chats, talk to the family |
| 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 | 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 | 16:00: Cross department meeting | 15:30: Pomodoro 9 - 12 |
| 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. | 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. | 17:00: Wrap up the day, tripple check your plans. | 17:30: Wrap up the day, tripple check your work. |
The schedule will obviously vary each day, and we will explore those variations in each post.
This means that each day, if you are well disciplined, you will deploy 12 times.
On some days, when you are tired and careless, you'll deploy more than 12.
On most days, when you are alert and cautious and thinking, you'll probably only want to deploy 3 times.