Our engineers kick off the process by digging into the client’s domain and pinpointing problems that need to be solved. Once goals are set, a cycle of continuous improvement begins. We have adopted Kaizen – a strategy where employees at all levels work together to achieve regular, incremental improvements – in all aspects of our work. Each of our cloud-native software tools are developed with this philosophy in mind.
Continuous Delivery of Value
ViaTech maintains close client relationships to help facilitate collaborative discovery. Our engineers are trained to push past the surface of a domain's problem space to unearth innovative solutions. Value is channeled through an iterative development process, during which user stories are broken into the smallest deployable unit that will improve the product. This process allows for continuous experimentation and learning, while maintaining a preparedness to release on demand.
New features are showcased to clients in the early stages of development to build trust and buy-in. Collaborating with clients also helps us remain focused on developing the right solution, even after ground breaks on a project. We are free to experiment within our test environments; failure isn’t frightening, because we optimize for mean time to recovery (MTTR), rather than perfection on the first attempt.
Cloud-Native Pipeline
ViaTech software is built on DevOps principles and cloud-native services. Our code pipeline and development process are synchronized to amplify feedback loops between developers and the system. We cultivate flow state by ensuring every component can be run simply and tested locally. Builds and deployments are optimized to be predictable and take only minutes.
Pull requests allow developers to share technique and take part in peer review. Meanwhile, trunk branching keeps code merges simple and guarantees that the main branch of the code repository always up to date. This system enables us to continually deploy small verifiable changes to ensure each update adds value for users.
ViaTech defines entire solutions with infrastructure as code and configuration as code so that applications can be torn down and rebuilt with just a few clicks. Additionally, we make heavy use of functions as a service (FaaS) on consumption plans so that we can scale our solution to zero; when the functions are not processing a request, all the infrastructure turns off and incurs no charges. These tools help to ensure that our infrastructure is as agile as our development process.
Customer Centricity
At ViaTech, we recognize that products shouldn’t be built in a vacuum. Our engineers depend on industry studies, customer service agents and implementation analysts to truly understand how end users experience our applications on a daily basis. We work to predict the capabilities that will be needed by our clients, and the agility built into our products allows us to scale and pivot for new requirements. We also monitor transactions taking place in our production facilities and on our servers to maintain observability for consistent quality.
By shifting away from a transactional mentality and focusing instead on the total relationship, we are able to create unique value for our customers. We are motivated to design complete solutions that evolve as needed to serve customers long term.
Dillon Culpepper has been with ViaTech since 2018. Dillon is responsible for leading ViaTech’s software engineering initiatives. If you want to learn more about Dillon or ask him about the innovative work being done at ViaTech, connect with him on LinkedIn here!