At Thrive TRM our goal is to build a solution as tailored and nuanced as executive search. While COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we work, it hasn’t changed our ability to deliver a high-value product to our customers in an agile and iterative way. Established long before COVID-19, our agile software development processes and tools are empowering our teams to deliver value quickly and consistently to all Thrive customers. In this post, we discuss how Thrive is able to deliver results even while working with a fully remote team. To put it simply – we listen intently, deliver quickly, and iterate continuously. We Listen Intently The mission of Thrive’s product team is to understand the needs of our customers. We believe that our customers are the experts and will always guide us to the most important challenges they face. In order to better understand them, we connect with customers across four main channels. Connect Directly More often than not, the best use of a product manager’s time is to get on a call with a customer. With a solution-oriented mindset, we engage with customers in candid conversations to understand their challenges. Through these discussions, we think of creative ways to address their unique circumstances to release results that deliver real value to all end users. Customer Portal If we are unable to coordinate a call, or if our customers simply want to let us know their thoughts in the moment, we encourage them to utilize Thrive’s Customer Portal. The Customer Portal is an open line of communication that is always available to provide real-time feedback. The feedback collected through the Customer Portal is thoughtfully reviewed by Thrive’s product team and prioritized for development. Customer Success Team Thrive’s top-notch customer success team is always ready to help our customers in any way they can. They spend most of their day listening and gathering tangible feedback from customers regarding product improvement opportunities. Tight-knit collaboration between product and customer success supports streamlined internal communication, ensuring all customer feedback is heard. From there, we’re able to hone in on new feature ideas and enhancements that will have the biggest impact. Sales Team While we spend much of our time tailoring Thrive to the needs of our customers, we also keep a very close pulse on the entire executive search industry. Thrive’s sales team stays informed of the changing market landscape and what prospective customers are looking for in a talent relationship management product. Their feedback is critical to keeping Thrive ahead of the curve and remaining relevant to our key audience. Through the four channels of communication above, Thrive is able to gather sufficient insights and prioritize the most meaningful tools to build. From there, we shift our focus to determine the best course of action to build those solutions efficiently and effectively. We Deliver Quickly The surest way to determine if we’re building the right tools is to get them in the hands of our customers. Delivering solutions quickly and collecting feedback is part of our DNA, and an important value-add we provide to our customers. Agile Methodologies At its core, agile development is about releasing quickly, validating and measuring releases with end users, and adjusting the product based on results. To ensure effective agile development, Thrive follow’s a scrum delivery process, taking a feature from idea to delivery within two weeks. Working in Sprints At the start of each two-week sprint, Thrive’s product team reviews a list of ideas collected directly from current and prospective customers. We thoughtfully consider both the value to our customers and the level of effort required to determine which features should be prioritized above others. During the sprint, product, design, and engineering teams collaborate to bring the feature to fruition. At the end of the sprint, Thrive releases those features to users and proactively collects feedback using one of the four channels mentioned above. Collaborative Tools In addition to the agile software development processes in place, Thrive also uses tools like GitHub, Jira, Confluence, and ProdPad to effectively collaborate. These resources allow us to operate with a fully remote team and continue to deliver value to our customers without skipping a beat. We Iterate Continuously Thrive strongly believes that the job is not finished when a product or feature is shipped. The most effective use of our resources is delivering outcomes, not output. While some companies measure success on their ability to churn out features, Thrive measures success by our ability to deliver the right solutions to our customers’ problems. The First Release is Never the Last Thrive recognizes that delivering useful products is never a straight path. It takes several tries and multiple iterations to truly solve a customer’s problem, and we humbly accept that we might not perfect it the first time around. Products are Designed Collaboratively We strive to get features in the hands of customers as quickly as possible to confirm we are on the right track or determine if we need to pivot. Based on feedback collected from the initial version of a product or feature, we change course as needed. In turn, this ensures our customers have a voice in defining the final product. There’s Always a Better Way Iteration isn’t just for new features. Thrive looks at each feature, new and old, with a discerning eye to make sure the product is always functioning to the highest standard. Just because a feature solved a particular problem at the time it was developed doesn’t mean that it’s the best solution today. There may be advancements in technology and design that enable us to improve existing features, so we regularly explore those possibilities. We Love What We Do At the end of the day, Thrive is able to deliver a high-quality product because we are passionate about what we do. With thoughtful collaboration between Thrive and current and prospective customers, rest assured that Thrive solves real problems for executive search professionals—and we love to do it!If you would like to learn more about how we develop our product and features, please reach out to us at contactus@thrivetrm.com.