Demo-nomics 101

Why Demo?

Because:

1. Demos spread siloed knowledge.
2. Demos boost team morale.
   • Showing improvements to our app, user experience, developer experience, etc helps us feel like we’re making progress. The lack thereof can fill our minds with doubt about the work we’re doing.
3. Demos demonstrate your ability to add value as a developer.
   • Silently shipping bug fixes and features isn’t enough to earn you street cred 😎 💸. If you want to be recognized as a valuable team player then you have to show your work.

When Should I Demo?

Depends on the scenario and your audience. Here are a few opportunities:

• AdHoc (whenever you want)
  • During standup
  • In Slack (or MS Teams or wherever)
    • Asynchronous demos are great, especially for a remote company. Record your demo and put it in a channel for people to view at their convenience.
  • If you have questions about functionality or look and feel of a feature you’re currently working on, it’s a great idea to get eyes 👀 on your stuff early on in the dev process. This is a much quicker way to iterate on feedback instead of waiting for PR review, QA validation, PM/designer feedback, etc.
• In your team’s Sprint Review meeting
  • In my opinion, you should always demo in this meeting. Even if it’s small. Demos in this meeting are a great opportunity to help everyone learn and grow.
• In a cross-team, technical meeting
  • If you’re demoing to people across multiple teams, make sure it’s valuable for each one of those teams. Avoid demos that are too niche to help other teams.
• In a product or stakeholder meeting
  • Product people and stakeholders care about the product itself (not the technical details). As such, we should present with the end user in mind. A few questions to answer during your demo: How is this feature solving a user’s problem? What makes this a good user experience? How will we measure whether or not this feature is successful?

How Should I Demo?

Do your demo however you want. Just make sure to do these two things:

1. Start with why.
   • So many demos fail to communicate the bigger picture. As a viewer of your demo, I want to know why I should give a damn. Don’t forget to step back and explain how this feature or functionality is valuable to the end user.
2. Be succinct
   • Long demos put people to sleep. Cut out the fluff, highlight the interesting parts, and do a few practice rounds. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but some preparation goes a long way.

Conclusion

Do more demos. Keep them short. Make them relevant.