Methodology & Best Practices

Methodology & Best Practices

Methodology comes in many forms and frequently a management instinct is to avoid it. For good reason: too much methodology can choke a product development initiative, too much ceremony can stifle innovation, and too much red tape can become off-putting to key stakeholders and critical staff. Balancing against this is taking basic steps to ensure that products are built and launched successfully, projects are executed on time within budget constraints, and that quality objectives are met.

Through years of experience and real-world conditions, Venturesoft product engineers have been exposed to enough methodologies that we have developed our own systems and recommendations for when to add — and when to remove — process.

Venturesoft has preference for the leanest methodology possible that organizes the most senior labor to the level they perform best, and then stops applying methodology. Our rationale for this approach is that junior or untrained staff need more methodology, and as a result you frequently see this applied with offshore and remote teams as form of "grafted governance". In reality, smart individuals with experience know what they are doing, prefer to roll up their sleeves, and get working with checkpoints that help them prevent rework, retracing their steps, and wasted work effort. It is these latter individuals that prefer light, nimble methodologies — embracing the spirit of lean teams and fast execution.

We can benchmark your team to determine where they fall on the spectrum. Accordingly, we can recommend, train, and coach your organization in the best balance of methodology to achieve the reliable rhythm and cadences of a high performing product delivery team.