Software startup: how the operations fit together
Small product teams building and selling an app.
The jobs software does
Most companies like this use one tool for each job. The ones listed are common choices, in no ranked order.
Plan and build
Issues linked to code keep the roadmap honest.
Ship and host
Automatic deploys from the main branch, with previews for changes.
Catch problems
Error tracking and uptime checks tell you before customers do.
Understand usage
Know which features matter and where people get stuck.
Talk to customers
Track trials and customers, and send onboarding emails.
Automations that join it up
Each one moves information between two jobs so nobody has to copy it.
Engineering · Easy · Built-in integration
Follow code changes in a team channel
Pull requests waiting for review slow everyone down. Posting them where the team talks gets reviews done sooner and keeps others aware of what's shipping.
Engineering · Easy · Built-in integration
Move issues along when code is merged
Updating issue status by hand after every pull request is easy to forget, so boards drift from reality. Linking them keeps status accurate.
Engineering · Some setup · Built-in integration
Turn app errors into issues the team will fix
Errors seen only in a monitoring tool are easy to ignore. Creating an issue from the error puts it into the normal planning flow, with the stack trace attached.
Engineering · Easy · Built-in integration
Tell the team the moment your site goes down
Finding out about downtime from customers is the worst way. An alert in the channel the team already watches gets someone looking within minutes.
Product · Some setup · Built-in integration
See revenue next to product usage
Knowing which features paying customers use helps you decide what to build. Bringing payment data into product analytics answers that without spreadsheets.
Product · Some setup · Built-in integration
Give sales a view of how customers use the product
Sales and success teams work better when they know who is active, who is stuck and who has stopped. Sending usage groups to the CRM puts that on each contact.
Advice
- Start on free plans where they exist, and upgrade when a limit actually gets in the way.
- Set alert thresholds early so the team doesn't learn to ignore them.