Finding A Development Process For a Small Startup Team
stuartkhall.com
stuartkhall.com
The thing that struck me immediately was focus on tools. Process is not about tools. Tools do not solve problems (believe me as you grow they'll cause many problems).
Figure out* process, only then look for or make the tools that you need. Best to start out with the simplest thing that could possibly work. Which for many is whiteboards or some similar low tech solution.
* you (should) never stop evaluating and improving process. One of the best processes to adopt is "iteration" with bits of evaluation and planning in between.
I've been in all sorts of startups from small <$80K to $150M; the tools we used always changed, but post-it notes and whiteboarding were universal no matter the size. :) I know this post is about small startups but just for perspective...
The most consistent processes, which a lot of startups misunderstand when scaling up hence why MBAs fit in well here, are the ones that flow between the various departments like business, sales, engineering, marketing.
How each project is then executed within the various teams will change greatly based on the business. For an engineer at a previous bank I worked for, you have to consider audit trails, PCI compliance, two-person authentication for deployments, etc. It took 8 people to make one deployment to a production server with less than 1,000 uniques per day.
To most tech startups, the inefficiency is appalling and frustrating. That's why I left. But to federal regulators, it's necessary processes in place to maintain integrity.
Processes definitely come before tools. People come even before processes, though.