The Problem A SaaS startup had a South Asian outsourced offshore team as its primary application development team. The team had a project leader, who, while very capable and reliable, was a bottleneck for communication with the rest of the team. Stakeholders simply threw requirements over the fence to the project leader and were not … Read more »
Technology
Case Study: Building a Sustainable Platform for Long-Term Growth
The Problem A B2B SaaS startup (henceforth referred to as the Company) had built their platform 4 times in 6 years (that’s an average of a 1 version per 1.5 years). Each time a new version was built, new features and capabilities were baked in, but inevitably, some features and business logic were also lost. … Read more »
Scrum is Like Training Wheels for an Agile Mindset
In the last few years there has been a growing but steady backlash against Scrum and some its corollary concepts such as using story points to estimate work and make projections. As a proponent and practitioner of agile product development methodologies, this bothered me at first. But upon further reflection, I have come to welcome … Read more »
Rise of the CPTO (Chief Product & Technology Officer)
I thrive as a cross-functional digital product development leader, where I can see the big picture and how each discipline integrates to make cohesive, integrated products that delight customers. Asking me to choose between engineering, product, UX, and project management is like asking me to choose between my kids. The title of “Chief Product & … Read more »
Jack of All Trades, Master of “Done”
I am an unabashed generalist. Sure, I’m more competent in some areas over others, and of course I enjoy some types of work over others — but I find that I am most comfortable in roles that allow me to bring my breadth of knowledge and experience to bear. Usually this works in my favor, … Read more »
Not Another Sherlock Holmes Reference, Watson
I’ve been following the Jeopardy! IBM Challenge with interest over the past few days. Pitting man against machine in the arena of language comprehension and general knowledge is just good television. I can’t claim to be an expert on Artificial Intelligence, but I am programmer, interface designer, and trivia buff. Let’s get this out of the … Read more »