Agile Software Development and your small business
Businesses are focused on a pretty discrete set of activities, based on their size
- Startups and small businesses should focus all their efforts on finding new customers.
- Medium Sized Businesses should focus their efforts on growing their organization by solving their cashflow challenges by streamlining their accounting and investing in growth for their most profitable lines of business (as indicated by their accounting)
- Above medium size, investing in internal IT staff and infrastructure starts to make sense. This means that below 10M in annual revenue you have to execute your growth strategies while using outside consultants or vendors for your technology projects.
For the last two years I’ve been looking for ways to serve the needs of startups, small businesses, and even some medium sized businesses. I’ve been focusing on those businesses that are looking for technology, specifically web/internet based technology to provide a growth opportunity.
I’ve come to the following conclusions
- If all you need is a simple web site. Don’t go out looking for a “web shop” that can implement a simple website, rather start blogging about your business.
A simple online journal, that you regularly post to, will deliver both a simple website and provide you much, much more visibility than an online brochure ever could. - If you’re looking for technology to provide you a growth opportunity, you have to invest in creating something really unique and easy to explain.
You should be able to easily describe your repeatable, profitable business process. If you can do that, then quantifying how much to invest in automating that process becomes very easy. - You must implement your solution and get it in front of it’s intended audience in no more than 30 days
December 17th, 2007 06:34
I do think your right on the spot here, i am going to bookmark your site to see if other people have different views.