team, agile, process, leanThere has been plenty of talk and discussion about the importance of Lean, UX and Agile in developing software products and services in startup companies. Each of these areas require a lot of investment in time and resources, and for a startup to do all three at once seems like a big gap to bridge. Does anyone have experience with introducing these approaches and practices into startups, and in what order should they be introduced to ensure that the business is not overwhelmed and under resourced to operate effectively.
My guess is that for a digital product/service related business, you would start with a Lean business structure/model, then create an Agile software development team that designs and refines the product using UX practices.
They are not alternatives.
Lean is about how to scientifically reduce the risks in starting a business.
Agile is about how to work in teams effectively (for a subset of all business tasks; there are some who argue that Agile does not apply to long running tasks)
UX is an approach to product management, focusing on an outside-in model (looking at the business as a user, rathr than an inside-out model, where you expose company resources to users and let them work it out).
They are complementary and you can pick and choose. But they solve different problems. After 30-something years in startups and software R&D, I use them all. They’re useful ways to think about problems and cut down a lot of wasted effort.
You have to start with Lean - that’s about whether you should even have a dev team or do UX. Fail the cust-dev component and the rest is pointless - a waste, that Lean exists to avoid.
These “methods” are TOOLS to help your company, NOT THE AIM of your company.
There is a lot of “hype” about all the “new management methods” but don’t forget your own business. Read one book about each of these methods and use what fits the best the needs of your company / your product / your clients. Taking into account your available resources (time, money,…).
It’s useless to spend weeks of work to be sure that your business structure is LEAN or if your company is Agile and not working on your product/service.
It’s not because your company is LEAN/Agile/… that your business will work great.
Know what these methods are about and adopt what looks the most useful for your company/business. There are more important things to take care of than the selection of the coolest and the most hype management method!
You should use what works for you. Just ensure that the product is in the hands of the customers, the fastest. That is what agile would help you with, but then that is just the path.
End of the day, what matters is what works for you in your environment.
Improvement frameworks are just generalization of patterns that worked for someone, in a given context, and nothing more. Might be wrong, but it appears that your selection of frameworks is more based on what you’ve happened to run across than anything more.
My suggestion would be to ruthlessly focus on the context you’ve been presented and how you’re able to respond to it in a way that creates the most opportunities for the least risk.
The more you learn about startups, the more you will find how rich and diverse the field truly is. Any attempt to define generalization that apply to all startups is what it is in my opinion.
All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.