This presentation was given at the Agile Australia 2011 (http://www.agileaustralia.com/) Startup businesses face significant risk in the search for a sustainable, profitable and scalable business model. Consequently, the success rate for Startups is low, making them a typically high risk investment. Agile methods offer a way of reducing the risk for both the technical implementation and the development of customers. This is achieved by increasing the ability for a Startup to adapt to change and to incorporate the lessons learned from early customer engagement. In this presentation the nature of technology Startups is examined and the application of Agile principles, practices and tools discussed.

1. Agile for
Startups
Adrian Smith
@adrianlsmith
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

2. Thursday, 11 August 2011
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3. Why
Startups
Matter ?
Thursday, 11 August 2011

4. Railscamp ~150 Developers
Thursday, 11 August 2011

5. Why Startups Matter
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

6. Why Startups Matter
1. Innovation
Innovation provides businesses with a
source of competitive advantage
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

7. Why Startups Matter
1. Innovation
Innovation provides businesses with a
source of competitive advantage
2. Solve Problems
Startups are able to solve complex
problems with very few resources
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

8. Why Startups Matter
1. Innovation
Innovation provides businesses with a
source of competitive advantage
2. Solve Problems
Startups are able to solve complex
problems with very few resources
3. Great People
Startups have a culture that attracts smart,
creative and motivated people
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

9. Why Startups Matter
1. Innovation
Innovation provides businesses with a
source of competitive advantage
2. Solve Problems
Startups are able to solve complex
problems with very few resources
3. Great People
Startups have a culture that attracts smart,
creative and motivated people
4. New Markets
Startups define and validate new markets
with actual customers and revenue
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

10. What is a
Startup ?
Thursday, 11 August 2011

11. Startup Business
A Startup is an entity created to search for a
sustainable, profitable, and scalable business
model.
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

12. Startup Business
A Startup is an entity created to search for a
sustainable, profitable, and scalable business
model.
Startups don’t last forever
Startups are transitional by nature and eventually
end in either success or failure
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

13. Startup Business
A Startup is an entity created to search for a
sustainable, profitable, and scalable business
model.
Successful
Business
Startups don’t last forever
Startups are transitional by nature and eventually
end in either success or failure
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

14. Startup Business
A Startup is an entity created to search for a
sustainable, profitable, and scalable business
model.
Successful
Business
Startups don’t last forever
Startups are transitional by nature and eventually
end in either success or failure Failed
Business
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

15. Startup Life Cycle
NAIVE
BUSINESS
GROWTH
GOOD
EXIT
POINT
BAD
VALUE
EXIT
POINT
REAL
BUSINESS
BUILD HARD
UP WORK
TIME
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

16. Doll House Fallacy
NOT a Small Business
A Startup is NOT just a smaller version of
an established business.
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

17. Doll House Fallacy
NOT a Small Business
A Startup is NOT just a smaller version of
an established business.
High Risk
Startups require greater flexibility to
cope with the high level of risk and
change.
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

18. Startup
Ingredients
Thursday, 11 August 2011

19. 1. Idea
Making New Things
“Find (a) simple solutions
(b) to overlooked
problems (c) that
actually need to be
solved, and (d) deliver
them as informally as
possible, (e) starting with
a very crude version 1
then (f) iterate rapidly.”
- Paul Graham
Six Principles for Making New Things
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

20. 1. Idea
Making New Things
“Find (a) simple solutions
Personal Need (b) to overlooked
These ideas originate from personal necessity problems (c) that
but have wide appeal. actually need to be
solved, and (d) deliver
them as informally as
possible, (e) starting with
a very crude version 1
then (f) iterate rapidly.”
- Paul Graham
Six Principles for Making New Things
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

21. 1. Idea
Making New Things
“Find (a) simple solutions
Personal Need (b) to overlooked
These ideas originate from personal necessity problems (c) that
but have wide appeal. actually need to be
solved, and (d) deliver
them as informally as
possible, (e) starting with
a very crude version 1
Speculative Need then (f) iterate rapidly.”
These ideas are based on the speculated needs
- Paul Graham
of a group of people other than yourself. Six Principles for Making New Things
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

22. 2. Good People
Good Developers
“The most important
factor in software work
is the quality of the
programmers.
The best programmers
are up to 28 times better
than the worst
programmers.”
- Robert L. Glass
Facts and Fallacies of
Software Engineering
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

23. 2. Good People
Share the Vision Good Developers
Understanding the vision is critical because it
forms the basis for decisions about direction “The most important
and implementation factor in software work
is the quality of the
programmers.
The best programmers
are up to 28 times better
than the worst
programmers.”
- Robert L. Glass
Facts and Fallacies of
Software Engineering
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

24. 2. Good People
Share the Vision Good Developers
Understanding the vision is critical because it
forms the basis for decisions about direction “The most important
and implementation factor in software work
is the quality of the
programmers.
Understand Startups The best programmers
Working in a Startup is different from a regular are up to 28 times better
job and requires passion and flexibility than the worst
programmers.”
- Robert L. Glass
Facts and Fallacies of
Software Engineering
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

25. 2. Good People
Share the Vision Good Developers
Understanding the vision is critical because it
forms the basis for decisions about direction “The most important
and implementation factor in software work
is the quality of the
programmers.
Understand Startups The best programmers
Working in a Startup is different from a regular are up to 28 times better
job and requires passion and flexibility than the worst
programmers.”
- Robert L. Glass
Common Culture Facts and Fallacies of
Software Engineering
It is important to be able to work under pressure
without personal difficulties
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

26. 3. Customers
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

27. 3. Customers
Customer Development
Customer development is much more important
than product development
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

28. 3. Customers
Customer Development
Customer development is much more important
than product development
Field of Dreams
Waiting for the product to be complete before
developing customers is a very bad strategy
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

29. 3. Customers
Greatest Risk
Customer Development “The greatest risk—and
Customer development is much more important hence the greatest cause of
than product development failure—in startups is not in
the development of the new
product but in the
development of customers
and markets.”
Field of Dreams - Steve Blank
The Four Steps to the Epiphany
Waiting for the product to be complete before
developing customers is a very bad strategy
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

30. 90% of
Startups Fail
Because of a
Lack of
Customers
Thursday, 11 August 2011

31. Can we
reduce the
risks ?
Thursday, 11 August 2011

32. Lean Startup
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT
Problem is
GO GO GO
NO/GO NO/GO NO/GO Unknown
DECISION DECISION DECISION
Customer Customer Customer Scale
Discovery Validation Creation Company
PIVOT
Data
Feedback
Hypotheses Insights
Experiments
Insights
Product Iteration Deployable
Backlog Backlog Product
RELEASE ITERATION
PLANNING PLANNING
Solution is
ITERATE
Unknown
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Diagram adapted from Steve Blank & Eric Ries Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

33. Lean Startup
IDEAS
Learn Faster Develop Faster
LEARN BUILD
Customer Interviews Test-Driven Development
5 Whys - Root Cause Analysis Continuous Integration
Cross-Functional Teams Minimize Pair-Programming
Retrospectives
Feature Prioritisation
Total Shared Code Ownership
Code Standards / Metrics
Cycle Evolutionary Architecture
Incremental Deployment
Time Open Source Software
DATA CODE Cloud Computing
Just-In-Time Scalability
Measure Faster
MEASURE
Analytics
Usability Testing
Split-Testing
Production Monitoring
Search Engine Marketing
Customer Feedback
Feature Branching
One-Click Deployment
Diagram adapted from Eric Ries and KISSMetrics Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

34. Lessons
Learned at
Ennova
Thursday, 11 August 2011

35. Envision.
Browser
Smart Tablet
Phone
Envision is a SaaS (Software as a Service)
construction management tool that reduces
project administration effort and cost while
radically improving field productivity. Project
Dashboard
Executive
Summary
Project
Reporting
Photo
Libraries
Document
Integration
Material
Management Envision.
Custom
Time Schedule 4D Model
Management Updates Animation
Work Kanban Quality
Packages Board Management
Event
Correspondence Notifications
Management
Features
ts
en
m
u
oc
D
ERP Schedule
Thursday, 11 August 2011

36. Garage
Work Space
Meeting
Ping-Pong
Table
Thursday, 11 August 2011

37. Planning Wall
(Customer + Product Coffee
Development Work) Schedule
Pairing
Stations
Pairing
Stations
Meeting
Ping-Pong
Table
Agile
Work Space Cloud-Based
Infrastructure
Thursday, 11 August 2011

38. Adapt Based on Feedback
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

39. Adapt Based on Feedback
Original Idea
The original idea is not as important as being able to quickly adapt to meet customer
needs while still maintaining the original vision
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

40. Adapt Based on Feedback
Original Idea
The original idea is not as important as being able to quickly adapt to meet customer
needs while still maintaining the original vision
Be Embarrassed
Be prepared to be embarrassed by your product when you first show it to customers
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

41. Adapt Based on Feedback
Original Idea
The original idea is not as important as being able to quickly adapt to meet customer
needs while still maintaining the original vision
Be Embarrassed
Be prepared to be embarrassed by your product when you first show it to customers
Observe your Customers
Spend time watching your customers actually using the product - what seems obvious to
you is often not to them
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

42. Thursday, 11 August 2011

43. Thursday, 11 August 2011

44. Feature Growth
Before First Customer
Schedule!
30%!
Material Supply! 4D Model!
20%!
WorkPackage
Material Demand!
Management!
10%!
Document Events
0%!
Management! Management!
Photo
Reporting!
Management!
Notices! Time Tracking!
iPhone!
Distribution of features based on the ratio of
Lines of Code normalised by Total Lines of Code
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

45. Feature Growth
Before First Customer After First Customer
Schedule! Schedule!
30%! 30%!
Material Supply! 4D Model! Material Supply! 4D Model!
20%! 20%!
WorkPackage WorkPackage
Material Demand! Material Demand!
Management! Management!
10%! 10%!
Document Events Document Events
0%! 0%!
Management! Management! Management! Management!
Photo Photo
Reporting! Reporting!
Management! Management!
Notices! Time Tracking! Notices! Time Tracking!
iPhone! iPhone!
Distribution of features based on the ratio of
Lines of Code normalised by Total Lines of Code
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

46. Current Feature Distribution
Schedule!
20%!
Material Supply! 4D Model!
WorkPackage
Material Demand! 10%! Management!
Document Events
0%!
Management! Management!
Photo
Reporting!
Management!
Notices! Time Tracking!
iPhone!
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

47. Focus on Quality
Code Quality Code Quality
Focus attention on quality and technical health to
ensure that features can be easily adapted based
“Continuous attention to
on feedback
quality can help maintain
velocity, maintain the ability
to deliver, without it the
Automated Testing team will slow down”
Maximise the use of automated testing to enable
rapid change with confidence - Robert “Uncle Bob” Martin
(Author of Clean Code)
Automated Deployment
Automated as much as possible of the build,
provisioning and deployment process.
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

48. Code Base Changes
6000!
!"#$%&'(&)'*$& After First
!"#$&'(&+$%,&
5000! Customer
4000!
Sustainable
Pace
3000!
2000!
Before First
1000! Customer
0!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
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10
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10
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10
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20
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0
20
0
20
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20
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20
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20
20
2
/2
/2
2
2
/
9/
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1/
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5/
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/8
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/1
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3/
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9/
20
17
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31
14
28
14
28
11
25
23
/
6/
/
31
20
Excludes libraries and acceptance test code
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

49. Code Base Changes
6000!
!"#$%&'(&)'*$& After First
!"#$&'(&+$%,&
5000! Customer
4000!
Sustainable
Pace
3000! Many Late
Nights
2000!
Before First
1000! Customer
0!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
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!
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!
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!
!
10
0
10
10
10
10
1
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
1
11
01
01
01
20
20
0
20
0
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
2
/2
/2
2
2
/
9/
/
/
1/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
5/
/
/8
/9
10
12
12
/1
/1
/2
/2
/3
/3
/4
/4
/5
3/
3/
9/
20
17
17
31
14
28
14
28
11
25
23
/
6/
/
31
20
Excludes libraries and acceptance test code
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

50. Be Ruthless with Features
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

51. Be Ruthless with Features
Minimum Viable Product
Watching your users will help you identify the minimum viable product and prioritise
features for implementation
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

52. Be Ruthless with Features
Minimum Viable Product
Watching your users will help you identify the minimum viable product and prioritise
features for implementation
Eliminate Unused Features
Remove unused features because the cost to maintain is waste and will slow down
development of valued features
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

53. Be Ruthless with Features
Minimum Viable Product
Watching your users will help you identify the minimum viable product and prioritise
features for implementation
Eliminate Unused Features
Remove unused features because the cost to maintain is waste and will slow down
development of valued features
Half a Product is better than Half Arse Product
Poorly implemented features are difficult to use and limit the usefulness of customer
feedback and usage analysis
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

54. Agile
Methods in
Startups
Thursday, 11 August 2011

55. Agile Planning
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

56. Agile Requirements
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

57. Agile Architecture
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

58. Agile Implementation
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

59. Agile Testing
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

60. Agile Process
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

61. Startup
Manifesto
Thursday, 11 August 2011

62. Startup Manifesto
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

63. Startup Manifesto
Useful software over Comprehensive business plan
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

64. Startup Manifesto
Useful software over Comprehensive business plan
Customer revenue over External funding
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

65. Startup Manifesto
Useful software over Comprehensive business plan
Customer revenue over External funding
Validated customer learning over Secret launch plan
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

66. Startup Manifesto
Useful software over Comprehensive business plan
Customer revenue over External funding
Validated customer learning over Secret launch plan
Building it well over Building it to sell
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

67. Startup in 13 Sentences
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

68. Startup in 13 Sentences
1. Pick good cofounders
2. Launch fast
3. Let you idea evolve
4. Understand your users
5. Better to make a few users love you than a lot ambivalent
6. Offer surprisingly good customer service
7. You make what you measure
8. Spend little
9. Get ramen profitable
10. Avoid distractions
11. Don’t get demoralized
12. Don’t give up
13. Deals fall through
- Paul Graham
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011

69. Useful References
Thursday, 11 August 2011

70. Agile for
Startups
Adrian Smith
@adrianlsmith
Engineering Innovation.
Thursday, 11 August 2011