Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Is the Joel Test a good indicator for the “quality” of my startup?

Some times ago I seen a test made to check if your development company is “well structured” in its way to work.

Should I take seriously this test in count when analysing my company ?

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html

Answer 4201

Note that the title of that article is “12 Steps to better code”. Coding is only a small part of what goes on in the development department and an even smaller part of what goes on in a development company.

The practices in the article are ranging from essentials to general good practices for a development house. Your startup should have a lot more than than those to be a professional development house but they are a good starting point. Among the things I can think of to add to that list in a professional setting would include:

  1. Product life cycle management
  2. Project management
  3. A determined development methodology - waterfall, rad, prototyping, SDLC , agile, waterfall etc
  4. Standardization - Coding standards, committing standards, design patterns etc
  5. Maintenance practices
  6. Internal project documentation
  7. Product documentation
  8. Standardized work flow and operating procedures
  9. Formal pre-market testing
  10. Formal post-market evaluation

A startup is also more than just about development and would also need good standardized practices on the business side as well. Such as on sales and marketing, customer service, HR and policies and good management practices.

In a business setting, a development department cannot survive if the other structures such as sales are not holding up. So the evaluation for the quality of a startup as a whole would include the evaluation of the practices of these departments as well and not just the coding practices in the development department.

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