The software engineering that makes a startup successful is not the kind you learned in school.
Too many first-time early stage technical leaders make the mistake of building for the approval of their computer science professors instead of the venture they’re entrusted with making successful. And less-technical founders take their advice, not necessarily knowing any better.
Don’t get me wrong: the principles of software engineering taught in school are actually correct … for stable companies, established product categories, or road-tested markets. Lord knows we don’t want anything experimental controlling our surgical robots or managing our air traffic. Very few startups fall into that category, and using formal software engineering principles almost always hurts the ability of the startup to succeed.
Here’s an infographic with Eight Important Principles of Startup Software Engineering and how they differ from “Correct” Software Engineering.
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