Schematic Ventures’ Post

Discover how overengineering can derail your startup with practical insights and tips to keep your projects on track.

Investing in documentation architecture early on should be a strategic imperative for startups. Here’s why. In the early days of a startup, the significance of robust documentation often emerges as an afterthought. The product developed by a startup evolves rapidly which makes investment in other areas, such as documentation, seem less worthwhile. Why create world-class documentation for a product that might look completely different in a few months? Basic, reference-style documentation (usually) reluctantly written by engineers might suffice in the early days. However, at some point, this approach becomes untenable as the product matures and the user base expands, and the company (maybe not a startup anymore) typically hires their first technical writer with the task to get things in order. This practice places enormous burden and responsibility on the first technical writer who might not be equipped with the resources and guidance to make these big strategic decisions that will impact the shape, performance and scalability of the documentation for many years to come. Moreover, companies delaying important decisions ultimately miss out on the transformative potential of good documentation strategy. This is why companies who think they are ready for their first technical writer also need to think deeply about documentation architecture. Documentation architecture is the high-level, overarching structure and long-term vision behind documentation projects. The architecture aligns business goals, user needs, and organisational objectives, and also determines the big “why,” guiding principles, objectives, measures of success, style guides, toolsets, and seamless integration within the broader organisational framework. Companies that invest in good documentation architecture early on reap significant benefits like higher customer satisfaction, higher trial signups and sales form submissions, and fewer support tickets. #dailydocs #documentationarchitecture #documentation #startupstrategy #businessgrowth #technicalwriting

Startup folks ( with limited resources ), How do you balance product delivery with sustainable engineering, so that you don't end up with code that can not be maintained in the future? The amount of time and money invested in this area depends on future stability, agility, and certainty. I believe Engineering managers should prioritize technical debts effectively with the product teams. Also, over-prioritizing engineering sustainability and tech debts can result in no or very slow product shipping.

I've found it! I've been searching for a more effective, relatable analogy to use with non-makers in software companies for many years. In attempts to try and stimulate a deeper understanding of why accurate estimates (from engineers) about "when a thing will be ready" cannot give reasonably accurate predictability of when some feature/improvement/fix, or new capability will be "done". Particularly when it is used to predict the right time to go to market with something new. This has been known for decades, and there are well-known better ways. What is new here is how to position this with people who have no idea what writing software in products is actually like at the coalface, but they should. Can you host a dinner party? https://lnkd.in/gwnu8AaJ #productdevelpoment #startups

95% of new products fail. 🤯 Start-up’s aren’t failing because they run out of funds, it’s because of their product market fit, according to Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School (see article in comments). “There’s no market for the solutions they’ve created.” Because there’s no market, no true need they’re solving, start-ups run out funds. Serving your customers starts with knowing them - having a conversation, asking questions, and empathizing with their problems. How is your team prioritizing customer discovery? Ben Christensen, Theo Hooker, Annemarie Ciepiela Henton, Joseph Coffia, Tim Haywood, Chloe Waller, RESET AIR AP, Cecilia Pacheco, Finnegan Shepard, New Mexico Angels, Inc., Frankie Hermosillo.

What people hear when I say “Quality Engineering” is: Invariably testing. Last week at #ctocraftcon I spoke to someone who asked me what I do, and I explained I teach people how to do quality engineering, which includes shifting test left. And they responded that they usually work with pre-seed startups, where they don’t have time for testing. This is something I hear often - we don’t have time for testing. Besides that this is a false economy - no testing will slow you down, not speed you up - it’s also a rather short sighted view on what quality engineering really means. Because there are other components to it, like: - good communications - a team that feels psychologically safe - so they can innovate - and problem solve - with curiosity - and yes, testing, too - all of this wrapped in unwavering focus on what your customer needs.

Want to build top-notch internal tools for your agency? Focus less on automation and more on product management. Here's where to start your research: 📘 "Inspired" by Marty Cagan 🚀 "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries 💡 "Product-Led Growth" by Wes Bush.

“When you read management books about org design, they always show you these perfectly balanced charts. Symmetrical tree diagrams and curated grids that fill up to the margins. But creating a pretty-looking chart is not a KPI,” Nan Yu, Linear’s Head of Product says. While it may look good on paper, narrowing the product scope into several, small and even-sized teams can be detrimental to your startup’s focus. This week on the Review, Yu unpacks why conventional thinking around org design is slowing startups down and lays out the three key pieces to constructing a flavorful, asymmetric “heirloom tomato” org chart instead.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 Engineering leaders often work hard to improve team speed by refining processes, technologies, and skills. But often, the main reason for slow progress is working on the wrong things—features that aren't used or projects that don't get finished due to changing priorities. In simple terms, the #1 velocity killer stems from outside the engineering team. Developing the wrong things has a double negative impact on velocity. It not only wastes valuable engineering resources on their development but also generates clusters of unused code that require future maintenance, increasing technical debt. What can you, as the engineering manager, do about it if you want to increase engineering velocity? The most important step is to 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 —those that have a genuine business impact. 👓 Make sure you understand the business well: know how customers use your product, what they like about it, and where their pain points are. Understand your competition and the challenges your sales team faces. Don't just rely on product managers to tell you—question their decisions with your own knowledge and data. 👓 Be sure to join the initial discussions on initiatives. Ask tough questions, especially: what problem are we solving? If the answer isn't clear, keep pushing for clarification. If the problem isn't clearly defined and agreed upon as important, and if the investment doesn't seem worthwhile, chances are the project won't get finished or won't be used. 👓 It's a common practice to experiment with several solutions when the right one is uncertain. However, it's your responsibility to ensure that the problem you're addressing is clear and that the success criteria are well-defined. Experimentation should occur in small increments, with continuous feedback from real customers, to minimize wasted efforts. Don't get stuck in "supplier" mode, where R&D's sole aim is to fulfill stakeholder requests. This approach is unlikely to succeed, as stakeholders' demands often exceed available resources. Moreover, it diminishes perceived engineering velocity. Instead, strive to be a genuine business partner. Express your views and assist your organization in prioritizing initiatives that have a genuine business impact. #engineeringmanagement #startups #velocity