Agile Strategies for Startups: Harnessing the Power of Agility
We should consider the context in which Agile will be implemented when strategizing for startups. To better understand the benefits and challenges of using Agile in startups, let's look at various examples of good and poor implementations.
We should consider the context in which Agile will be implemented when strategizing for startups. The objective of incorporating Agile should be to improve efficiency and productivity across the engineering department, regardless of size. We want to decrease development overhead (e.g., excessive meetings, complex workflows, redundant tasks, etc.). To better understand the benefits and challenges of using Agile in startups, let's look at various examples of good and poor implementations.
No Implementation
Without an Agile strategy, a company may struggle with a lack of flexibility, limited communication and collaboration between teams, difficulty adapting to changing customer needs or market conditions, and difficulty estimating project timelines. An Agile approach provides structure that can prevent complexity and inefficiency. This can lead to missed deadlines, decreased customer satisfaction levels, lower quality products or services delivered to customers, higher costs due to rework, or delays in delivery times.
At the start of my career as a developer, I worked with a small engineering team at Far Corner Technology in Columbia, Maryland. Without any guidelines or structure to our work, we had a startup mentality that led to production and deployment issues. We tested new features in production instead of using separate testing environments and lacked structure for workloads or meetings discussing upcoming projects and initiatives. Tracking progress was also challenging since we relied on manual change logs.
Solid Implementation
A company that has a solid implementation of an Agile strategy is one that understands the value of collaboration and adaptability. Such a company will have established processes in place to ensure teams are working together efficiently, such as sprint planning meetings and retrospectives. They also understand the importance of having clear communication between team members so everyone is on the same page with tasks and goals.
At my second career job at mHelpDesk in Fairfax, Virginia, I gained hands-on experience with Agile and its practical application. As a mid-level developer on a team of 8-10 developers that continued to grow, I was introduced to proper Pull Requests and work tracking through a task management system (Jira). Through the Agile process which included Ticket Grooming, Sprint Planning, and Retrospectives, I could see the impact of my work on the customer - it was an incredibly fulfilling experience.
Additionally, I had the opportunity to take on a full stack development role for building out a separate scheduling module project which we successfully delivered within a few months. With the Scrum meetings, we wouldn’t have been able to pull that off. Through this experience, I gained an appreciation for how much more effective Scrum is than Kanban in an Agile work environment.
Corporate Implementation
A corporate company that has an overkill implementation of an Agile strategy may cause teams to struggle with efficiency due to too many processes and layers in place. These companies often require multiple meetings and reports just for the approval of a task or project before any development can begin, leading to long delays between the start of a project and its completion as bureaucracy takes precedence over actual progress.
Furthermore, these organizations tend not be as open with their communication compared to other companies using more streamlined approaches; this makes it difficult for team members to understand what's expected from them during each phase which can lead to misunderstandings or missed deadlines down the line.
At my third career job with Angi in Indianapolis, Indiana, I moved into a full-blown manager position. In addition to acting as the Scrum Master for our projects, I was now managing my fellow developers. Here, I saw first hand the downside of running Agile in a large company. Despite our team delivering work quickly and having well defined processes that were documented and directed, we still didn't receive much recognition within the company due to so many other initiatives being undertaken at once.
There was a lot of bureaucracy to get through in order to have work accomplished and released. The processes were so precisely defined and structured that it required navigating multiple layers just to have one's voice heard. Our team ran efficiently within these processes, but we felt like a small cog in a large machine.
Startup Implementation
A startup company that utilizes a streamlined Agile strategy without bureaucracy but with structure understands the value of collaboration and adaptability. They have established processes to ensure teams work together efficiently, such as sprint planning meetings and retrospectives. Clear communication between team members ensures everyone is on the same page with tasks and goals.
This approach provides quicker delivery times due to less time spent navigating complex bureaucratic systems. It also allows for more flexibility when changes or unexpected roadblocks arise during development, since there's not as much red tape to cut through in order to make adjustments along the way. Additionally, experimentation leads to innovation within organizations as well as improved customer satisfaction due to more frequent releases with fewer bugs or other problems associated with them.
By streamlining their process while still maintaining structure, startups can get projects completed effectively without sacrificing quality. All stakeholders know what's expected from them throughout each phase which helps build trust amongst team members and keeps everyone focused on meeting deadlines rather than dealing with unnecessary paperwork or waiting for approvals from higher-ups who may be unfamiliar with how software projects should actually be run.
Conclusion
I believe there is a balance between process and relationships in Agile. Structure is important for the development process. But without a connection to the bigger picture, developers may feel like they are just working without seeing results.
When working with a team of 4 or more developers, the Scrum method can be effective as it provides structure for the development process, enables tracking of work, and allows for team discussions on the work's progress. However, the approach should not become bureaucratic, where developers are disconnected from the actual usage of their work or where changing processes takes too long.
In a startup environment, the Agile approach may need to be modified to allow for a more constant stream of work. Rather than having Sprint Planning meetings, have longer-term roadmap discussions and work on larger batches of features. Instead of scheduled retrospectives, have daily discussions on what is going well or what needs improvement.
Tracking work using a task management system and having a proper testing strategy are crucial. Testing should be done in a separate environment before going live and using a Pull Request method to review work can provide a clear history.
In conclusion, structure in the development process is important but should not take priority over the relationship with the development team. Maintaining a balance between relationships and process is crucial in the development world.
