Agile Strategies for Startups: Harnessing the Power of Agility

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.

---

Tyler Candee

Vice-President of Engineering, PrivOps

ATDC Fintech Hackathon - Winners of the Worldpay Prize

I really had a great time at ATDC's Fintech Hackathon last week.  The energy was amazing and it didn't hurt to come back with a share of the prize money as part of the PupWalkr team - wnners of the $5,000 Worldpay prize. 

Faith, Family and Startups: Why we chose Atlanta for our startup

Originally posted on the Bridge community blog:  BridgeCommunity.com/blog

---

It was the fall of 2014 and we were finally ready. Nearly 10 years after getting my MBA in Entrepreneurship from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, we had finally built up enough savings and it was time to leave the corporate world to embark on the new, uncertain path to building a new company. But my home in San Antonio, TX wasn’t the right fit for the new venture – lacking in both a strong personal and startup network – we needed to move.

But where?  Since I’m in the cloud computing space, the Bay area in CA is an obvious first choice, but after looking at how quickly we would burn up our savings, it seemed too risky.  We could go back to Dallas and I could make great use of all the school and business connections there, but the tech startup scene is only just emerging and more importantly, our family was really feeling a need to reconnect with our roots in the South – so we took a look at Atlanta.

At first glance, the main redeeming qualities for Atlanta were the major airport and the relatively reasonable cost of living.  I figured worst case, the flights to San Francisco and Seattle would be reasonable and we’d be within a day’s drive from our families in Alabama and Florida.  But after beginning the process of inserting our family into the fabric of our local community we found that, almost by luck, we had found the ideal place for us to start our tech company.

Soon after moving to Alpharetta, the fastest growing large city in GA and the home of great schools for our 2 sets of twins (as well as a number technology companies large and small), we joined Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). Our membership turned out to be a great way to get engaged with Atlanta’s technology community and an amazing source of resources.

I quickly realized that Atlanta had a vibrant technology startup scene with Tech Square, Atlanta Tech Village, the Tech Alpharetta Innovation Center and lots of startups – especially in the Mobile, Fintec, Security, and, increasingly, the IoT space.  And unlike my experience in the Bay area, there’s a strong faith based component to our technology communities with organizations like High Tech Ministries, which was an unexpected but welcome bonus to being part of the Atlanta technology scene. The other thing we have going for us is the large number of innovative large companies in Atlanta, companies like Coca-Cola, SunTrust, The Weather Company, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UPS, Cox Enterprises, Delta, NCR and many others that could serve as early adopters of new technologies.

Atlanta’s strong community of large companies is a clear benefit for B2B startups focused on businesses, but there’s a catch – corporate cultures can be risk averse, slow to move and difficult to navigate, and this is a real challenge for startups. Enter Coca-Cola’s BridgeCommunity. This program, sponsored by 7 Atlanta companies, was created to bridge the gap by partnering startups with Fortune 500s for pilots and the commercialization of new technologies. It wasn’t easy for us to get in – we went through 2 rounds of selection, and out of more than 200 startups, we were one of just 22 selected.  Now, as a BridgeCommunity startup, we are in a great position to build deep corporate relationships and potentially land one of Atlanta’s giants as our customer – a win that would catapult our startup to the next level.    

Atlanta provides a unique place for startups. For us, the combination of faith and family, the vibrant startup scene, and the strong corporate business economy have proven to be an ideal fit. I know that we’re losing large numbers amazingly talented Ga Tech, Ga State, KSU, Emory and other grads to competing tech hubs, but as they mature and want to start families while still participating in world class innovation, they’ll realize that coming home to Atlanta is a great option. Our company is still early, but with the help of our Atlanta community and the BridgeCommunity, Convergent is in great shape to be a huge success.

PrivOps selected for 2017 Bridge Community

Great news to share! We’ve been selected as one of the 22 startups in the BridgeCommunity’s 2017 program cohort. To say we’re thrilled would be an extreme understatement. This program connects us to Fortune500’s looking to partner and pilot with startups to solve their most pressing issues. The amazing line-up of enterprises we get the opportunity to connect with over the next 6 months includes: Capgemini, Coca-Cola, COX Enterprises, InterContinental Hotels Group, Porsche Financial Services, SunTrust Bank, The Atlanta Hawks/Philips Arena, and The Weather Company.

The BridgeCommunity’s sole objective is to help startups find the right customer inside the walls of large corporations. Based on the results from their first cohort last year (10 participating startups with 9 proof-of-concepts and pilots created), we’re in an excellent position to make strong corporate connections and land one or more deals within the program.

What Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" quote & Jesus have to say about innovation & thought leadership

If you’re interested in technology innovation or our mission to empower people through data, check us out! Click here for more

Not too long ago, I came across one of Brené Brown's masterful TED talks where she referenced Theodore Roosevelt's famous "Man in the Arena" quote: (re-posting here since it's great prose)

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

In the last few years, you may have noticed there's a growing trend for top technologists publishing books related to their craft as a way to achieve thought leadership in their respective fields. Makes sense:

Many are the challenges of being heard in an increasingly noisy, Internet driven marketplace of ideas.

There's nothing wrong with writing books of course (I read them avidly as it turns out), but there's a fundamental disconnect between "thought leadership" and innovation. As Brené Brown puts it:

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change."

While putting Roosevelt and the queen of vulnerability together might seem antithetical, they do make the same point:

Innovation (or any change for that matter) requires risk.

Thought leadership as it turns out is about building your personal brand and establishing your credentials. You need other thought leaders to broadly share your insights and to present yourself as an expert. Controversial ideas, authenticity, and vulnerability can and often do get in the way of establishing your brand. As it turns out:

Risk (and innovation) is antithetical in many ways to the current model of thought leadership.

What do you do? There is no right answer, but for me the answer was stop worrying about appearances, enter the arena, and that means becoming vulnerable. I have given up the safety of a securing a middle class lifestyle by leaving a lucrative job and re-learning how to code in order to build an unproven software platform that no one may ultimately pay for until proven otherwise. At the same time, I get to watch our family's savings dwindle along with the prospect of a comfortable retirement.

Jesus also has something to say on this topic:

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?" 

I thought about this quite a bit earlier this year as we laid my mother to rest. At the end of my days, will it matter to me how much money I made or how comfortably I lived? No, what will matter is the impact on those around me, and how I tried to improve the world, be it successful or not. So for me, the question of should I focus on writing (note this is my first post in months) or coding is clear:

I choose to code.

I have faith that if I work hard enough for long enough, it will be enough. It's a work in progress though. It was hard when I quit coding last night at 2AM after finally solving a bug more experienced coders might have found much sooner in software nobody's decided to pay for (yet). Doubt creeps in...

At any point in time, you might look at your results and say "that's not world class" or "that's not good enough", but I'm going to keep going anyway, keep improving, keep trying: And let God be the judge of if it's good enough.

I know He'll forgive me if it's not... (although my broke family may not :-)

Matthew 6:21 "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

If you’re interested in technology innovation, check us out! Click here for more

-Tyler