As the business community across North America continues to adapt to physical distancing restrictions, many business leaders, from manufacturing companies to fintech startups, have started to re-engineer their technology roadmaps for an uncertain “new normal.” This blog post explains how a promising Silicon Valley startup partnered with a leading software development company located in Toronto to learn how to improve their build process and dramatically improve application performance.

When a startup comes calling

By the second half of 2019, a promising private and funded Silicon Valley startup with offices on both coasts had reached an impasse with their application development efforts. They had just terminated their agreement with their existing development partner and weren’t sure where to turn to next.  The decision to change tack was due to ongoing doubts regarding speed to market, the quality of their code, and their inability to coordinate efforts with a development team located many time zones away in Eastern Europe.

Unexpected Canadian connection

Intent on meeting the next milestone of their technology roadmap, one of the startup’s senior executives asked his network of fellow Canadian expatriates for advice. From several conversations, a referral emerged. Feeling a little burned from their previous partnership, a discovery call with their new potential partner helped confirm they had found the right software engineers.

As Canada’s first Agile development firm, Intelliware’s reputation for developing software solutions for the financial services and other sectors is solidly anchored in the successful delivery of working solutions. But among Silicon Valley startups, Intelliware, which is headquarted in Toronto, remains a well-guarded secret. The discovery call was a success; the Intelliware team of developers, led by one of their experienced Delivery Managers, made a great first impression. And so, a new partnership story began.

Working remotely together

Intelliware identified several key opportunities to help their new client achieve their ambitious roadmap milestones. But first, they needed to introduce their client counterparts to the concept of co-teaming remotely using an Agile build methodology. With only a few months to develop a functioning prototype for one of the last big technology events of 2019 and an original go-to-market target date of April 2020, time pressures were significant. But adopting Agile practices enabled the team to quickly ramp up development to a pace needed to meet the deadlines.

Starting with a code assessment and a full discovery process, Intelliware identified three focus areas: remote Agile development (RAD) training, re-platforming, and code organization. The client and Intelliware technical teams gelled quickly using proven Agile Remote practices developed by Intelliware over the course of dozens of projects with clients located across Canada, the United States, and in the EU.

The startup achieved several significant milestones as they took full advantage of the expertise provided by the Intelliware team. When interviewed for the final assessment report, senior developers, in chorus with the startup’s chief technology officer, effectively summarized the key takeaways and benefits from the nearly seven-month co-teaming engagement with Intelliware. Aside from praise for a memorable collaboration, stakeholders at the startup credited Intelliware for helping them to re-platform to Always-On services to enhance their internal build process, and to establish new parameters for continuous integration. Like many successful startups in the Valley, they adopted those important cornerstones of innovation for real competitive advantage.

The power of partnership

Often undervalued, strong working relationships define more than just successful outcomes. Although each client collaboration requires some level of customization, co-teaming can deliver exceptional benefits such as fresh ideas, insights, and best practices that startups and tech companies can apply to transform their culture internally.

 

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Toronto Skyline

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