Doing things differently at Quatronic
Four months ago I decided to join a young ambitious company on a mission: Quatronic. With this short story, I am sharing my freshly gained experiences and illustrate why I chose to become part of this team.
Q. who?
When I was looking for my next challenge, I knew that I wanted to help clients leverage the digital opportunities of today’s world. Quatronic seemed to be the perfect fit. This group of adventurous professionals designs IT- and business solutions, optimizes organizational processes and builds customized low-code applications. The Quatronic Framework leads to a faster time-to-market, increased scalability and the delivery of high quality products/services. But what do we do differently? Let me tell you my experience.
Designing things differently
We develop and deliver software, sure. But more importantly, we figure out what to build and why. Traditionally, this starts with setting up a large project. Months or years of endless meetings follow until every potential stakeholder has agreed. Once the full scope, budget and solution are clear, a roadmap for the coming years is established.
“When experiencing my first Design Sprint, I was truly amazed to see that in only a few days we came up with a solution supported by everyone.”
At Quatronic, we have a different approach. We start with a Design Sprint. This means, gathering every important stakeholder (including end-users!) and bring them together in one room. First, we get everyone on the same page by unraveling the current process including everyone’s pain points. Then, we use creative and interactive techniques (like Crazy 4’s, Art Galleries and Story-boarding) to define the best process. This we turn into a solution with clear functionalities. Result? Plenty of ideas for development and an inclusive design.
Me, myself and I (and the team)
Now that everyone is on the same page, it’s time for development. One of my main reasons for joining Quatronic is the all-round involvement of the role. As Business Technology Consultants, we are responsible for everything from A to Z. At the start I will be with you during the initial conversations. After, I will guide your team through the design session. Later, I am there to develop the solution and finally I will be there to implement it.
100% transparency and nothing lost in translation.
This is a crucial difference from traditional product development, where handover moments between these phases are at least with four different people (if you’re lucky 😉). Customers are positively surprised when we explain our way of working and extremely pleased when experiencing it.
Pivoting swiftly
But having the right people is not everything. The way we develop software enables us to realize our full potential, deliver the best results and in the most efficient way. The two backbones of this are development using the OutSystems Low-Code platform and a completely Agile way of working.
The first helps us to develop complex solutions rapidly and of consistently high quality. Using Low-Code, we can realize this without the need for detailed programming knowledge
The latter ensures that we develop the right solution to the real problem. We do so by continuously validating our assumptions and hypotheses and pivoting swiftly when needed. A personal example:
“In the morning I identified and built an important feature and after lunch I was able to show the result and gather stakeholder feedback.”
IT is your best friend
Our way of working leads to faster time-to-market, high quality solutions and significant cost reductions. For SMART AIS, we were able to reduce costs by 60% without making concession on quality and speed of delivery.
We are able to turn IT from a supporting burden into a strategic differentiator. It is great to see that our happy customers recognize this distinctive way of working and ask for involvement in other parts of the organization as well.
This is just the beginning
Now, four months later, I can say that I am amazed by what I have experienced already. I knew all the latest ‘’product development theories’’, but did not yet see them in practice. It is eye-opening to see what can be done in such a short time: I have had a month of intensive training and delivered my first Minimum Viable Product (which outperforms the current solution). And on top of that, I developed a prototype to visualize a company’s dream.
I am thrilled for the future with this amazing team…
