Atomic Spin :: Elements of Software

Allan Kelly draws some interesting conclusions about Agile software development methods as related to forming business strategy. The impetus for his post was a piece in the MIT Sloan Review entitled “Should you build strategy like you build software?.”

From Allan’s “Make strategy like you make software?”:

...for companies which use a lot of technology software and strategy are increasingly converging. Ultimately your software is your strategy – so much so that I sometimes imagine software code as liquid strategy.

...many of the practices and techniques used in Agile software development can be applied to strategy formation and execution. McFarland focus on techniques such as small iterations, collective ownership, overlapping phases, direction changes (i.e. refactoring), organising around people not tools and abolishing big up front design.

It is not only software development where managers and companies have suffered from the Illusion of Control it occurs in strategy formation and planning. Strategy formation is an emergent process, in the same way that software design is emergent.

More client news:

The idea came to Rick DeVos while he listened to church leaders describe how they were going to use email to help people get involved in church activities.

“It seemed like a nightmare of useless emails filling up everyone’s mailboxes, and an administrative nightmare,” DeVos says. The more he thought about it, the more he realized there was no online tool to help organizations connect people in need with the people who could help.

So DeVos talked to Ben Gott and the two created TheCommon.org, an online site that helps people lend a helping hand.

Grand Rapids innovators develop online ‘helping hand’

Client news:

So far the 2-year-old firm based out of Franklin has three full-time employees and has raised more than $1.3 million in seed money from venture capital firms and angel investors.

CircleBuilder, which offers Yahoo Groups-like services to churches, is about to bring in another “big chunk of change” as it prepares to close another round of seed money investing. The firm hopes to open its site to the general public this summer and hire 15-20 people by the end of next year.

“I am trying to do all of my business in Michigan,” Brown says. “My lawyers, CPA and technology firm [that’s us! -ed.] are in Michigan. You have got to start something in this state because we’re too reliant on the auto industry.”

CircleBuilder paces its growth, looks to add 15-20 jobs in two years