Posts by Scott Barstow

  1. What Are the Different Ways Software Gets Released?

    If you're building your first technology project, you'll need to understand the different ways software gets distributed to your users so that you can make intelligent decisions on what is...

  2. “Why Don’t My Developers Build What I Asked For?”

    There are many reasons why technology projects go over the cliff, but the inability to clearly communicate between product owners and developers is at or near the top of the list....

  3. How to Use Demo Days to Stay on Track

    When I was running the product team at Symantec responsible for building a new IT Service Desk product, one of the best things we ever did was put in place...

  4. Your App Just Crashed – Will You Survive?

    It's rare, particularly in early stage companies, to find any kind of disaster recovery plan. It's a common misconception that disaster recovery (or DR for short) is what big companies...

  5. What is a Spike?

    There will be times when you have to make a key technical decision about your product and the right answer is not known. It might be that you're deciding between...

  6. What Kind of Company Are You?

    I heard this brilliant gem through the grapevine and wanted to share it with you. (HT to Mike at First for passing it along) When you're building a technology company,...

  7. Product Roadmap vs. Development Calendar

    What's the difference between the product roadmap and the development calendar? It's not uncommon to think that they are the same, especially if this is your first technology project. However,...

  8. How to Deal With “It’s Not Possible”

    Inevitably when you're building a technology product, you're going to have a run-in with your development team where they defiantly tell you "Um, that's not possible!" Developers are generally a...

  9. Take Your Developers with You

    When was the last time your developers spent time in front of your customers? If you're like most of the business owners I work with, you probably think that the...

  10. What’s Your Leap?

    Take the next few minutes and watch this video from Victor Saad. I'm putting everything I know about building great technology products on this site for free. I have no...

  11. How to Prioritize Your Product’s Features

    You've built the first version of your product, or perhaps an early prototype. You've shown it to your prospects. You're confident you know the product you need to go build....

  12. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

    On this Christmas day, 2015, I wanted to share with you a few wise gifts of my own, in keeping with the spirit of the day. Gold For the soul....

  13. You Don’t Get to Punt

    How ludicrous would it be if I started a restaurant but didn't understand how to create recipes that people love or how to create an atmosphere where people liked to hang...

  14. How to Structure Contractor Deals

    A few articles ago, we talked about the economics of hiring a US-based contract software development shop and how to find contractors to help you build your product. As we talked...

  15. What is a Build?

    A build is a central component of every software project. The term "build" means different things, depending on what programming language you're using, but generally when developers talk about a...

  16. How to Find Software Contractors

    This is the second in a series of articles on hiring and working with software contractors. In the first article, we talked about the economics of contract software development. In this article we're...

  17. First What, Then How – How to Not Give In to the Sunk Cost Fallacy

    One of the hardest decisions a leader has to make when building a product is to evaluate all of the options of how it should be built and make the...

  18. How Continuous Integration Helps Your Product Win

    "All I Do is Win Win Win, No Matter What What What" - DJ Khaled At some point in a meeting with your developers, you'll probably hear them talking about...

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