Forbes Technology Council Insights: How to Optimize Your Software Development Process
TurnKey’s CEO, Sterling Lanier is an official member of the Forbes Technology Council. In his latest article – “Quinoa Salad And Other Ways To Choose The Right Software Development Process” – Sterling writes about the critical choices to make and questions to ask when setting up a software development process, and why sometimes startups veer off track.
Short on time? Here are some key excerpts from the article you can implement today:
Agile is the bee’s knees
“Almost every tech aficionado agrees that an agile methodology is pretty much the only option on the table. This is because unlike its predecessor—called “waterfall”—agile breaks up the software development cycle into separate and more frequent releases of deliverables. This allows you to collect real-time feedback as you go and course correct whenever needed.”
The three most important questions to ask
“There are three key elements that every software development process should include (but most don’t):
- Step One: What features should we build? High-performing product development teams work closely with their customer-facing colleagues to understand which new features have the best prospect of resonating with their core audience.
- Step Two: When should we build these features? After the proposed features have been stack ranked based on how much value they potentially bring to the customer, the best software development teams then filter this list based on the complexity of the build and the resources needed to complete each feature.
- Step Three: How should we build these features in the most efficient way? The main activity in this step is to craft a thoughtful plan that outlines scrum cycles and key milestones and aligns the relevant team members around a common goal.”
Product/Market fit should be your North Star
“The biggest error that most software development teams make is not spending serious time and energy on the first two steps (above) of understanding what to build and when to build it.
Have you ever heard of a startup or high-growth company that failed because it couldn’t deliver its software in time? Except for the rarest of examples, the answer is a resounding no. Instead, startups fail when they deliver a product that no one wants. Or, as translated into boring Silicon Valley jargon, they fail when they don’t achieve product-market fit.”
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About our CEO Sterling Lanier
Sterling Lanier is the co-founder and CEO of TurnKey, which helps venture-backed startups and high growth companies build and scale dedicated offshore software development teams across Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Prior to TurnKey, Sterling was the co-founder and CEO of Tonic Health, a venture-backed startup that remains the leading patient intake software platform among large enterprise health systems in the U.S. and is used by tens of millions of patients annually. Tonic was acquired by R1 (NASDAQ: RCM), the largest revenue cycle management company in healthcare. Prior to Tonic, Sterling founded and ran Chatter, which became one of the leading market research firms in the videogame and television industries. Chatter was acquired in 2012 by Coherency. Sterling holds a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.
TurnKey Staffing provides information for general guidance only and does not offer legal, tax, or accounting advice. We encourage you to consult with professional advisors before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business or legal rights.
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