How does an enterprise launch a successful MVP? Find out with the newest eBook and checklist written by Stride CEO and Founder, Debbie Madden

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/24/2016 -- The latest eBook by Debbie Madden, CEO and Founder of Stride -- a Manhattan-based Agile consultancy -- is now available. The content is geared toward enterprises wishing to get products to market quickly and efficiently.

Much of the consulting work Debbie Madden's company does for New York businesses is about embedding Agile engineers with tech teams to help them up their game and get stuff done.. Over the past two decades, they've noticed that many tech teams function like startups by building and launching Minimum Viable Products, but struggle to focus their efforts or find success.

"The practice of launching MVPs has become extremely commonplace in 2016," explains Madden. "MVPs are a great way to keep up with the competition and test products out on the market quickly and effectively, but many teams are left with the nagging suspicion that they could be operating leaner or approaching the process more efficiently."

In "The Enterprise Guide To Launching MVPs" eBook, Madden outlines 11 necessary steps tech teams must undertake to successfully achieve their goals, including:

- Getting the Right People on the Bus
- Defining SMART Goals
- Creating Upside, Downside, and Nestled Targets
- Getting out of the Building to Confirm your Hypothesis
- Learn-Measure Building Your MVP
- Holding Monthly Goal Meetings With Team and Stakeholders

Also included in the eBook is a helpful checklist / worksheet titled, "How To Launch An MVP Within An Enterprise" to get teams organized. The free download can be accessed at the Stride NYC website via http://www.stridenyc.com/the-enterprise-guide-to-launching-mvps.

"Of all the steps, I can't iterate the importance of 'getting the right people on the bus' enough," Madden explains. "Far too often, companies try to pull people internally who really aren't up to the task. They figure they're just operating lean. This critical mistake will cost you time, money and hassle."

She adds: "It's worthwhile to invest the time and resources into a proper hiring strategy designed to find the right people for the project, even if you have to recruit a few heads from outside the firm. My team members often fill that role, adding expertise and energy where it's needed to keep the process moving along toward measurable targets."

Anyone in the New York area wishing for more help further organizing MVP efforts or implementing these steps should contact Debbie Madden directly at the contact information listed below.

About Stride
Stride is an Agile consultancy in NYC that embeds and co-locates with tech teams (like Plated, Simon & Schuster, Equinox and The Daily Beast) to help tech teams up their game and get stuff done.. Stride leverages the skills of your entire team and helps companies improve code quality and Agile processes. Whether you seek process refinement (TDD, Refactoring, Tech Debt, Estimates, Continuous Delivery, etc.) or need to get high quality code out the door to launch your MVP, Stride is here to help.

About Debbie Madden
Debbie Madden has built five companies from the ground up and has been CEO of three of them. She is currently the CEO of Stride, an Agile software development consultancy in NYC. Prior to Stride, Debbie was the CEO of another Agile consultancy, which she ran for 10 years, grew into a five-time Inc. 5000 winner, and Crain's NY Best Place to Work.

Contact:
175 Varick Street
Suite #423
New York, NY 10014
212-634-7240
info@stride.nyc

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/stride-launches-new-ebook-geared-toward-companies-launching-minimum-viable-products-675554.htm

What makes a successful CTO? Find out by taking a quiz developed by Debbie Madden of leading Agile software consultancy Stride (www.stridenyc.com).

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/03/2016 -- "Whether you've been a CTO for one year or 20, there's always room for improvement," says Debbie Madden, CEO of Stride, an agile consulting firm in New York City. Yet, it can be difficult to gauge one's own progress without others for comparison.

Madden has developed a quiz for curious executives and bases her questions, answers and feedback on more than two decades of mentoring Chief Technology Officers in the NYC metro area. Once CTOs complete the quiz, Debbie emails them a copy of their score, along with a special offer of one hour in free mentoring if they so choose.

"Over the years, I've seen seven distinct habits weave a thread among the most successful of the bunch and I'd like to share that knowledge to help others achieve greater success in their careers," says Madden. "One of the biggest habits people miss is what I call 'managing up.' They work well with people below them in the hierarchy but may not even know who their bosses are. Proactively seeking these people out and updating them with your progress and understanding of their expectations will take you farther in your career than you imagine."

The "Are You An Effective CTO?" quiz helps tech leaders assess themselves in the following areas:

- Do you make good decisions fast?
- Do you know when to code?
- Do you create a culture of trust?
- Do you delegate effectively?
- Do you know what your boss expects of you and progress toward those goals?
- Do you know how to set reasonable expectations and measure success?
- Do you give timely feedback to your team?

The quiz can be accessed directly here: http://www.stridenyc.com/blog/habits-of-highly-successful-ctos.

Debbie Madden's Agile software consultancy is a unique business concept in the New York City area. So much consulting takes place solely online or by phone these days. However, Madden's team travels to their clients' locations to embed themselves with their clients' IT teams, get to know the core business goals, and provide mentorship on site. For more information on Madden's software consulting firm, visit www.stridenyc.com.

About Stride
Stride is an Agile consultancy in NYC. We embed and co-locate with tech teams (like Plated, Gust, Sailthru, Intent Media) to help you be your best. Think of us as Agile SWAT teams. We partner highly skilled Agile developers with your dev team. As a result, we leverage the skills of your entire team and help you improve code quality and your Agile process in perpetuity. Whether you seek process refinement (TDD, Refactoring, Tech Debt, Estimates, Continuous Delivery, etc.) or need to get high quality code out the door to launch your MVP, Stride is here to help.

About Debbie Madden
Debbie Madden has built five companies from the ground up and has been CEO of three of them. She is currently the CEO of Stride, an Agile software development consultancy in NYC. Prior to Stride, Debbie was the CEO of Cyrus Innovation, which she ran for 10 years, grew into a five-time Inc. 5000 winner, and Crain's NY Best Place to Work.

Contact:

175 Varick Street
Suite #423?
New York, NY 10014
(212) 634-7240
info@stride.nyc

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/cto-quiz-launched-by-new-york-software-consultancy-stride-661762.htm

Stride is a leading Agile software consultancy. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business recently honored the company as startup of the year with CEO Debbie Madden and VP of Engineering Lisa Van Gelder winning individual awards as well.

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/24/2015 -- NYC Tech Firm Stride won three Stevie Awards at the 12th annual ceremony in New York City on November 13th. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world's most coveted honor, chosen among more than 1,300 nominations from 26 countries.

Candidates go through a rigorous process of judging to win a Stevie Award. After submitting an application, nominations are first selected as finalists by the average scores of more than 120 first-round judges. Finalists are then reviewed again by more than 40 members of five specialized judging committees.

The three Stevie Awards given to Stride and its members include:

GOLD STEVIE WINNER: Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Business Products – 11+ Employees (Debbie Madden, CEO)
GOLD STEVIE WINNER: Startup of the Year – Business Services Industries
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER: Woman of the Year – Technology (Lisa Van Gelder, VP Engineering)

"We're so pleased to be recognized by so many esteemed judges for our work in the tech industry, where women tend to be so underrepresented," says Debbie Madden. "I think it speaks volumes that, not only did I win an award as the CEO, but the company itself was seen as providing a crucial and valuable service for NY firms and our VP of Engineering, Lisa, was also singled out as a top-level contributor to the community. No matter who you're working with at Stride, you are guaranteed top-level service."

Madden adds that her startup distinguishes itself from other NYC tech consultancy firms in that they co-locate at their clients' geographic locations to offer a direct, hands-on technology partnership. "We really embed ourselves in the companies we work alongside. We take the time to get to understand your culture, which enables us to significantly increase our value to your team.

For more information on the Stevie Awards, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/women/

For more about Stride, visit http://www.stridenyc.com/blog/stride-wins-3-awards-in-nyc/

About Stride
Stride is an Agile consultancy in NYC. We embed and co-locate with tech teams (like Plated, Gust, Sailthru, Intent Media) to help you be your best. Think of us as Agile SWAT teams. We partner highly skilled Agile developers with your dev team. As a result, we leverage the skills of your entire team and help you improve code quality and your Agile process in perpetuity. Whether you seek process refinement (TDD, Refactoring, Tech Debt, Estimates, Continuous Delivery, etc.) or need to get high quality code out the door to launch your MVP, Stride is here to help.

Contact:
175 Varick Street
Suite #423
New York, NY 10014
212-634-7240
info@stride.nyc

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/nyc-tech-firm-stride-wins-3-stevie-awards-for-women-in-business-642994.htm

Debbie Madden has been working as a tech industry CEO for more than 10 years and is currently leading Agile software consultancy Stride. She shares the top technology trends businesses are likely to see in 2016 based on her team’s experience working with dozens of diverse tech teams big and small.

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/12/2015 -- Forward-thinking businesses are starting to plan their 2016 budgets and projects. Debbie Madden, a 10-year tech industry CEO and consultant, is working with dozens of firms -- big and small – to solve their biggest technology challenges going into the New Year. Though the companies she works with are diverse – from online magazines like The Daily Beast and retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, to headhunters like Hip Hire and financial advisors at Corporate Insight – she has noted several driving technology trends that are common to nearly all industries.

"Co-location is huge in 2016," says Debbie Madden. "In the past, we saw a lot of emphasis on working remotely with teams spread out around the globe to save money. However, companies were finding it was costing them in the long run as they struggled to keep track of all the moving parts and keep everyone on the same page. Face-to-face communication is the most effective mode of communicating, which is why our team embeds itself physically in the same room as our clients. Our schedules are still flexible, but the in-person meetings make a huge difference in productivity."

In a recent blog, Madden describes six other observations for 2016, including the following:

- Pair programming is splintering – "At Stride, we're seeing pairing used on projects about 60-70% of the time. Pairing is helpful when hiring new developers, training junior developers, learning a new language or solving a problem that hasn't been solved before, but pair programming is no longer viewed as a black-and-white decision."

- Test Driven Development (TDD) is still the gold standard – "Striving for the highest level of TDD continues to be the trend for both mobile and front-end code. We still work with a few teams using Lean Startup to test a new idea, but even they typically go back and re-write code once they've confirmed their hypotheses."

- Monoliths are being split into micro-services – "Everyone is using micro-services these days, but businesses must be careful not to assume this is a silver bullet. Response time is slow when new services hammer your app. The right tools are helpful, but no substitute for communication."

- Native mobile is less critical – "New front-end innovations like React.js and Angular.js are making it easier for teams to build one responsive website, rather than developing a mobile app prior to building out a website."

- Contracts are becoming more agile – "Lawyers are starting to learn more about Agile projects to effectively tweak legal documents in more intelligent ways."

- UX is becoming more iterative – "Several years ago, the standard was to do a large portion of UX/IX up front, and still kind of throw it over the wall to the developers. We are seeing more and more UX teams fully integrate within cross-functional Agile teams and work in an iterative way alongside developers to speed up progress."

More information on all of these points can be found on the Stride NYC blog. Also, businesses looking to align themselves with these technology trends and speed up their projects in 2016 are invited to contact Debbie Madden at Stride NYC to speak with a consultant.

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.stridenyc.com/blog/top-tech-trends-for-business-in-2016/

About Stride
Stride is an Agile consultancy in NYC. We embed and co-locate with tech teams (like Plated, Gust, Sailthru, Intent Media) to help you be your best. Think of us as Agile SWAT teams. We partner highly skilled Agile developers with your dev team. As a result, we leverage the skills of your entire team and help you improve code quality and your Agile process in perpetuity. Whether you seek process refinement (TDD, Refactoring, Tech Debt, Estimates, Continuous Delivery, etc.) or need to get high quality code out the door to launch your MVP, Stride is here to help.

About Debbie Madden
Debbie Madden has built five companies from the ground up and has been CEO of three of them. She is currently the CEO of Stride, an Agile software development consultancy in NYC. Prior to Stride, Debbie was the CEO of Cyrus Innovation, which she ran for 10 years, grew into a five-time Inc. 5000 winner, and Crain's NY Best Place to Work.

Contact:
175 Varick Street Suite #423 New York, NY 10014
212-634-7240
info@stride.nyc

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/tech-ceo-announces-top-technology-trends-for-business-in-2016-640597.htm

Agile consultancy Stride announces the launch of a new website that better illustrates why they’re the best NYC firm to handle code and web development issues. What sets them apart from the pack is their willingness to embed themselves within a company to be the on-site technology “go-to” partners, rather than handling issues remotely.

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/06/2015 -- There are countless issues that keep Chief Technology Officers up at night. Will the product be finished on time? Why is our tech team we've paid big bucks not producing a quality product? How do we introduce more refined coding processes? How can the company free up more time and resources? Is there a smarter, easier way to fix buggy legacy code? Where can good, experienced developers be found to upscale the company? What is the best way to on-board junior associates to take some work off leadership's plate?

Stride is a NYC consultancy that focuses on all these issues and more. They've recently hired Mod Girl Marketing to complete many essential tweaks to their website to illustrate what makes them different than other area teams. One of the most significant changes is an overhaul of the case studies and testimonials section featuring some of Stride's partners including rapidly growing startups Plated and Thoughtly.

"We like to say that we turn our clients' dreams into a reality by helping teams continuously improve through software," explains CEO Debbie Madden. "Once you know us, you see how true that is, but a prospective client might be wondering, 'What exactly does that look like?' That's why we decided to revamp our website and include a couple case studies that illustrate the way our tech solutions help companies and how our approach differs from the competition."

Other changes found on the new site include the crucial "Approach" page. Unlike other NYC consultants, Stride "co-locates" with existing development teams. In other words, they send their consultants to embed themselves in the company culture, which allows them to understand their business model better than anyone else. These consultants help optimize and improve the existing tech team by educating them on how to produce clean, quality code. Consultants help optimize and improve the existing team by educating them on Agile engineering best practices. As true partners, they also help build web applications and MVPs for startups that lack existing teams to ensure that high quality products are delivered on-time.

"We never propose a one-size-fits-all solution," explains Madden. "Our approach is more tech-based than simply the creative design end. We're willing to take on bigger projects and come right out to your company to help you in a dynamic, hands-on way. Some companies just want staff training or leadership coaching, which we can also do, as the situation warrants. We wanted our new website to reflect our company's versatility and effective way of doing business."

The new Stride website and more information can be found at http://www.stridenyc.com/

About Stride
Stride is an Agile consultancy in NYC that forms an on-site partnership with companies struggling to improve code quality, agile processes and solve tech problems. Technical mentor-ship has proven invaluable to companies like Plated, Gust, Sailthru, Intent Media and Simon & Schuster to name a few.

Contact:
175 Varick Street
Suite #423
New York, NY 10014
212-634-7240
info@stride.nyc

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/stride-a-new-york-software-development-firm-announces-new-website-launch-630572.htm