How we introduced a little process into our startup

While I love startup style — build what needs to be done, cross items off a whiteboard or spreadsheet software development — there comes a time in every company’s lifespan when it needs to introduce just a bit more process to keep the boats all rowing in the same direction. 

During my time at Bond (RIP post-Newell Acquisition), we were in that transitional phase from pure startup to implementing some light processes. 

Below is a presentation I used to outline the terminology and approach for our product managers, designers, and developers to share while building products. We heavily emphasized the importance of having a shared language between cross-functional teams.

Using this process alongside rolling out Jira and Confluence to manage our software development lifecycle and documentation, gave us a good foundation to start having multiple product team workstreams.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to figure out the minimal viable process necessary with an early-stage company whenever possible, so while this presentation and approach worked for Bond, each company and team needs to figure out what helps them move quickly as a team. 

I think parts of this presentation could be helpful for tech folks already with product <> market fit, and now figuring out how to add on multiple workstreams and product teams.

Agile and Scrum Overview for PMs, Designers and Developers from Aaron Roy