The Agility Advantage in Startups

One of my favorite aspects of startups is their agility and the ability to pivot rapidly, free from burdensome bureaucracy, swiftly addressing market needs.

There’s a unique thrill when everything clicks in a startup environment. The intense effort and risks taken become incredibly rewarding.

The Pitfalls of Rapid Pivoting

However, this agility often leads to a common trap: scope creep and vision change. This invariably invites a trio of troubles: miscommunication, finger-pointing, and missed deadlines.

The liberty to pivot, inherent in startup culture, shouldn’t translate to haphazard changes.

A Case Study in Scope Creep

I recall a startup juggling the development of three products simultaneously within a year. None reached completion, each stalled at a semi-functional phase, yet all aimed at solving the same issue. This chaos led to frustrated investors questioning deadlines for onboarding users and overall viability. Blame was hastily directed at inexperienced developers.

Identifying the Real Issue

However, the inexperience of the developers wasn’t the crux of the problem. During team interviews, complaints about scope creep were rampant. Each team member had a unique interpretation of the ‘vision,’ which seemed to shift constantly.

A significant issue was the lack of user involvement. Decisions were made in isolation, disregarding the end-user perspective.

Back to Basics: Defining Vision and MVP

Addressing this mess required a return to the basics: defining a clear vision and an achievable MVP for user onboarding, aligning with the commitments to investors.

The first step was to level with the CEO/Founder. Contrary to his belief, we were months, not weeks, away from user onboarding. Though this news was met with disappointment, it marked the start of a turnaround (and yes, there’s a happy ending ahead).

Implementing the Turnaround Strategy

The turnaround involved efforts to clarify the vision and scope, incorporating feedback from team interviews. Surprisingly, certain aspects deemed crucial by some were irrelevant, and vice versa. 

I facilitated a meeting of the full team, and we established a definitive MVP, documented it, and, most importantly, we published it where everyone could reference it (pinned in a key Slack channel in this case).  We then referred back to it whenever new ideas emerged, asking ourselves whether altering the MVP and extending the timeline was worth it. 

The answer to whether we should change the scope for a new idea was a consistent ‘no.’ As we didn’t yet have user feedback – getting the MVP to completion so we could gain that feedback was deemed more valuable than any new idea or feature for the moment (however, all were documented as there were some great ideas that we are now working on post-MVP).

Overall, we focused on developing one of the three products, integrating useful elements from the others where feasible. We chose which of the three based on which was both closest to completion and closest to the MVP definition and worked forward from there. In addition, the streamlined Agile process facilitated smooth development, testing, and, ultimately, the completion of the MVP. 

Onboarding and Continuous Learning

Recently, we began onboarding users, marking a significant milestone.

This startup has now broken free from its siloed approach. We’re actively learning from user feedback, identifying areas of delight and improvement. These insights are invaluable for refining the product and market positioning. Exciting ideas continue to flow in, but they’re now balanced against our broader goals, avoiding daily or mid-sprint scope changes. This new approach has led to meeting targets and deadlines more consistently.

Similar Challenges in a Mature Startup

A similar challenge surfaced at a more established startup. New features were rushed and incomplete, leading to a pivot to the next ‘big thing,’ leaving a trail of half-baked features and user-facing bugs. While these features initially attracted customers, poor retention rates plagued the company due to these unresolved issues.

Over time, we adopted a similar strategy of defining and communicating a clear scope. This change halted the blame game and reduced bugs, significantly boosting user retention. 

The introduction of new features slowed but resulted in more polished, reliable, user-friendly enhancements. This startup’s story also concludes on a high note, with an acquisition, a testament to the power of focused scope and effective execution.

Key Lessons Learned and Quick Checks

• Define and regularly discuss a clear, written vision
• Establish and publish your scope and MVP definition
• Set priorities as a team
• Evaluate the allure of new features against these questions:
  • Is there external validation (like product-market fit or user feedback) for a pivot?
  • How does this affect our development velocity?
  • How frequently are we pivoting?

Quick ways to tell if this is an issue:

• Missing Deadlines
• How often do you reference your MVP definition
• If you quiz in an All-Hands – do what folks say aligns with the Vision and MVP Definition

Please share your experiences and strategies with me, and let’s collaborate to create more streamlined, effective, and successful startup journeys. Comment below, join the conversation, and let’s transform challenges into triumphs together!