Whole-Company Agile

A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

Challenges of the Development Cycle

Previously, the company had a five-week development cycle. It was often interrupted by changing business opportunities. As a result, much time was spent context-switching and merging code. External commitments were missed, and stakeholders were unsatisfied. The development team was also working with an annual roadmap that was forecast assuming a 66% larger team.

I chose experts Steve Blank and Eric Ries as guides, in an effort to “accelerate, scale, and increase quality”. We let customer-validated metrics define progress.

Tailored Modes of Development

1. Lean Routine

The first step was to shorten development cycles to one week. The team was small enough that the coordination burden was low. There were few feature requests or fixes that could not wait seven days. This meant radically fewer interruptions. Frequent releases of value-enriching features became the rule. Close communication with stakeholders led to a comfort level and a shared mental model.

2. Deal-Driven Sprint

Occasionally, business opportunites attached to new features arose. The development team and stakeholders would evaluate the deal. When significant revenue was available in a narrow window, the Lean Routine was set aside, and I would conduct a Deal-Drive Sprint. This allowed the team to execute before market needs changed. Communication and feedback with external stakeholders kept these efforts in sync with business priorities.

The Moment We Knew

We used and refined these modes of development over several months. After an all-company brainstorming session, the Chief Architect and I were developing one of the ideas on a whiteboard. The more we drew, the more we realized broader applications of the invention. We got to the third whiteboard. It had some old writing burned-in: our previous 5-week development process, when to “freeze requirements” stage, and a number of rules restricting stakeholders from communicating directly with developers. Excuses and “if-only” statements. He and I just looked at each other, both of us holding an eraser in each hand. We shrugged, and wiped it all away. With the limiting ideas gone, we could see that Whole-Company Agile had won.