My current work is aimed to explore how tech start-ups use software engineering practices to devise and evolve their products. There is a belief that “traditional” software engineering practices and processes are too heavyweight and bureaucratic for fast moving start-ups. On the other hand, purely ad-hoc practices can backfire with product quality issues and expensive maintenance if a start-up succeeds in a market.

My goal is to understand what engineering practices are best suited for start-up environment and what are the considerations for selecting the engineering practices in start-ups. In my work, I collect primary data from start-ups and analyze what works, what does not work in start-ups at different product stages, markets, product types and so on. In other words, the goal of my PhD is to create an engineering roadmap for start-ups and to pilot it with tech start-ups.

At the moment I am interested in collaboration with tech start-ups that would be willing to share their experience with product engineering in exchange for access to expert knowledge and global best practices.