How we work
How we’ll design, develop, and deliver your AdTech & MarTech platform
Deliver value to both you and your clients, users, and stakeholders at every stage of the way — that’s our goal. Below is an overview of the development process that we’ll get us there.
Discovery
Typical duration: 2-3 weeks
In the Discovery Phase, we’ll hold a series of meetings with you and engage one of our business development representatives and business analysts to learn more about your business goals, technical requirements, and the scope of the project.
This phase requires no formal commitment from you; we’ll simply gather information about your project so that we can prepare for the development phases if it heads in that direction.
The goal of the discovery phase is to:
- Understand the goals, vision, and context of your project.
- Identify your project’s initial requirements and possible technical challenges.
- Answer the various technical questions that arise during this phase.
Sprint 0
Typical duration: 4-6 weeks
In some cases, the Sprint 0 stage will mark the beginning of your project’s MVP, but in other cases it could involve scoping out your project’s requirements or conducting a proof of concept (PoC).
We’ll engage one of our business development representatives and business analysts, as well as a development team consisting of a project manager, backend and frontend developers, UX/UI designers, DevOps, and QA specialists.
The goal of the Sprint 0 phase is to:
- Select the features for your MVP and create a list of user stories (tasks) that will create and shape the product backlog.
- Identify the technical unknowns of your project and look for possible solutions.
- Assess whether the vision and goals of your project are achievable and provide you with alternative approaches to overcome major obstacles.
After this stage, you’ll have the option to continue development with short-term or long-term development or postpone development, e.g. to gather feedback from stakeholders and investors.
2-week sprints
Our teams work in 2-week sprints whereby they aim to release new or improved features at the end of every sprint.
Agile development
MVP Development and Launch
Typical duration: 3+ months
In this stage, we’ll begin work on your project’s minimum viable product (MVP).
You’ll be working closely with your dedicated project manager and development team. As we work via the agile methodology, we aim to produce new or improved features at the end of every 2-week sprint for
your review.
The goal of the MVP Development and Launch phase is to:
- Build your project’s MVP — including frontend, backend and infrastructure development, UX/UI design, and QA and testing.
- Launch your MVP to initial users or stakeholders.
- Start gathering feedback for the Post-MVP Development phase.
- Monitor the platform and respond to emergencies (optional).
3+ months
We’ll aim to release your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within 3 to 4 months, depending on the complexity of the project.
MVP development
Post-MVP Development & Maintenance
Typical duration: ongoing
Once your project’s MVP has been built and released, we can continue developing new features, maintaining the performance of your project or hand over the project to your team.
Here are the 3 main options for this phase:
- Continue the development of the platform via our agile development process (2-week sprints) and aim to provide new or improved features at the end of each sprint.
- Provide ongoing support and maintenance of the software and infrastructure (subject to a separate SLA).
- Hand over the project to your team and provide you with documentation that covers your project’s architecture, infrastructure and codebase.
There is also the option to hand the project over to your team.
ONGOING
We can provide you with ongoing support, continue development or hand the project over to your team.
Post-MVP development and maintenance
“We chose Clearcode as a partner because of their expertise in developing AdTech solutions.”
Luke Tuttle
VP International Product, Klarna
“I had a wonderful experience working with Clearcode on several projects. The Clearcode team is extremely professional and deliverables were always received both on time and on budget which I greatly appreciated.”
Allen Klosowski
SVP ADVANCED SOLUTIONS GROUP, SPOTX
“We chose Clearcode for their experience with header bidding technology and that expertise proved valuable in the implementation of our system.”
Gerry Bates
CTO, FATTAIL
Our Agile Development Process
During the PoC Development and MVP Development and Launch phases, we’ll follow our agile and incremental development process.
Your project will be organized into two-week iterations (sprints), which include:
- Sprint planning
- Development
- Product backlog refinement
- Spikes
- Sprint review
- Retrospection
64% vs 49%
Agile produces a higher success rate (64%) compared to the Traditional method (49%).
Ambysoft
9%
Agile’s failure rate stands at just 9%, compared to a failure rate of 29% for the Traditional method
The Standish Group
Quality
Agile greatly outperforms the Traditional method in areas such as product quality, stakeholder value, ROI, and time/schedule.
Ambysoft
Here’s how we’ll release your MVP within 3 months
In order to produce new or improved features on a regular basis, our developers work in two-week sprints (increments). Each sprint is like a mini-project in itself, with tasks centered around the most necessary or most important areas that need to be completed for each phase of the project.
- Use our set of ready-to-extend components and validated proofs of concept to help us shorten the development cycle of the minimum viable product (MVP) and reduce project risk.
- Deliver a new or improved part of your project at the end of each sprint.
- Reduce the number of bugs and ensure that new pieces of code are compatible with the rest of the software by running various software tests on every new component.
Your involvement in the development process
We strongly encourage and welcome your involvement during the entire process. We see the best results when our clients have a full-time Product Owner on their end with our project manager acting as a proxy Product Owner, working with our team directly.
In particular, we will:
- Hold regular update meetings to inform you about the progress of the platform and answer any questions you may have.
- Work with you to keep the backlog, roadmap, and priorities up to date.
- Ask you to review and provide feedback on the new and improved features and functionalities, as well as solve certain action points that may arise from time to time.
- Consult with you on key decisions and describe the pros and cons of each decision to help you make an informed choice.
- Proactively suggest possible approaches that we can take with the project and offer solutions to problems based on our experience.
Our teams
Full-service development teams
Our development teams consist of all the required resources needed to build your AdTech or MarTech platform and can handle all the technical aspects of your project or collaborate with your teams.
UX/UI and graphic designers
Our in-house design team will be involved in the early and later phases of the project where they’ll sketch, create wireframes, and produce an interactive (clickable) mockup of your project’s user interface.
Developers and DevOps
They’ll be involved in preparing the story map, selecting the right tech stack, and then later, building, testing, and maintaining your AdTech or MarTech platform.
Project Management
Your designated project manager will provide you with regular updates regarding the progress of your project, consult with on proposed changes and new features, and work with you to create your software’s roadmap.
The AdTech Book by Clearcode
The platforms, processes, and players that make up the digital advertising industry
Find out how we can help you with your project
Schedule a call with us today and find out how we can help you with your AdTech or MarTech development project.