An Experience in Combining Flexibility and Control in a Small Company's Software Product Development Process

This paper presents a longitudinal case study at Smartner Information Systems, a small software product company operating in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Smartner successfully combines flexibility and control in their product development process. Flexibility is gained with monthly sprints, after which new decisions about project scope can be made in planning the following sprint. Control is achieved through mapping the sprints to management decision points, where the management team makes decisions conserning the whole project portfolio. The development team and other stakeholders of the product participate in sprint planning facilitating communication of business/customer needs to development. Product roadmapping and sprint demonstrations give visibility of development plans and progress to the whole organization. Freezing the development scope for a month at a time helps in giving the development team a chance to work on their assigned tasks and creates a more relaxed atmosphere.