Nulab Mixer #3: How startups do project management
On July 22nd we hosted our third successful Nulab Mixer at the Taipei Moso Space. Over 70 attendees joined us on their valuable Friday evenings to talk all about “How Startups Do Project Management.” The space was packed, energy was high, and we were delighted by the enthusiasm and active participation we received throughout the event.
Our first speaker was internationally-certified Project Management Consultant and Co-founder of Project Club Gibson Yu. Gibson is what you might call a “serial entrepreneur,” so he has seen it all when it comes to the kinds of pitfalls and mistakes startups often face when launching a new service. Gibson focused on one of the most important sets of guidelines a business can use to avoid these vulnerabilities: Agile methodology. Gibson demonstrated how these simple project management principles could help startups not only avoid common mistakes, but improve quality, reduce costs, and expedite delivery times. “Startups can’t afford to waste time on unnecessary matters,” Gibson stressed. “They must choose the right tools/methods to maximize the outcome with limited time.”
Gibson Yu introduces Agile methodology to attendees
Next, Nulab’s CEO Masanori Hashimoto discussed the specific Agile approach Nulab’s Backlog team uses for software development, namely Scrum. There are many approaches to Agile that fall in line with the Agile Manifesto, but Scrum is by far the most popular method amongst development teams. We started using Scrum at the beginning of 2016, and we’ve continued to iterate the process to keep our teams running as efficiently as possible.
Nulab’s CEO Masanori Hashimoto explains how their Backlog development team uses Agile mythology
As a special surprise just for attendees, Masa also shared a preview of how Backlog’s new UI (set to deploy later this year) will look. The new UI had never before been presented to the public, so mixer attendees got an exclusive preview into how our new UI is going to make day-to-day tasks even easier to manage in Backlog.
Taiwan startup FishChat then demonstrated how they use Backlog to manage the development process of their upcoming iOT service, a smart fish tank. FishChat’s CEO, Jen, uses Backlog to communicate and assign tasks to distributed teams as well as track each member’s progress. As a professional designer, she especially appreciates how easy to understand the product is. Every member of her team has learned the product quickly and easily. She’s also a heavy user of another Nulab product, Cacoo. She has found that using the two tools together has made her startup projects move faster, and she’s very excited by the outcome.
Jen, CEO of Taiwan startup FishChat, demonstrating how they use Backlog
The Mixer proved to be a fun opportunity to share what we love with Nulab users. We’re excited to see how each attendee applies what they’ve learned to their projects of their own.
Thank you to all of our speakers, volunteers, and attendees! Your participation made this an excellent experience. See you soon!
Nulab Mixer event volunteers and guest speakers