At Pongr, we don’t like to waste too much time in meetings discussing theories over and over. We like actionable information, ideas and requirements so we can rapidly execute to push the limits of what we build in terms of software, science and our business. We operate several distinct teams: scientific research, software development, business development, and operations – and many of us are remote workers.  Every so often it definitely helps to meet-up in person. This week we brought the remote team members to Boston for some planning and coordination around new product development stuff that we’ve got cooking.  As some of you know, we’re big proponents of agile development.  We do short, but highly detailed daily scrum calls for the engineering side of our operations. The other teams conference 2 to the 3 times weekly for 15 minutes to an hour, depending on what got done, what needs to be done, and who’s blocking who.

Effective communication is critical for start-ups to move swiftly, decisively and get meaningful stuff done. Our project management tactics have developed as we’ve grown, but the underlying themes of crystal clear tasking, accountability, visibility and success criteria have remained constant. That’s not to say we don’t have to revisit prioritizing tasks and backlog management, in fact we do it weekly.  By keeping a real clear sense of what tasks need to be accomplished each and every week, we ensure that tangible progress occurs. After all, we’ve got some big ideas, but it’s all about the execution.