Laurent Parenteau

Minimal Tool Box for Remote Startups

Sep, 2019

For most things, whether a startup is remote or not doesn’t make much difference in what you need. The tools you need depends on what you are actually building, not how your business is organized. But there are 3 needs that are crucial for remote startups. They all revolve around communication.

As the business and the team grows and mature, like all things the tools you used will evolve. Some will be added, some will be abandoned, that’s expected. As such, it is better to …

Remote Work Problems Aren’t Related to Remote at All

Aug, 2019

No problems are specific to remote work. Every time someone claims “this is a problem with remote work”, it is wrong. All the problems you have in a remote work environment, you actually have them in an office environment too. ALL of them!

There are two main reasons why people think some problems are specific to remote work environment :

  1. They confuse symptoms for problems;
  2. They are blind to the fact that the problem is present in the office environment too.

Confusing …

Building Your Initial Engineering Team

Aug, 2019

The Problem

When I joined an early stage startup as the first engineer, one of my goals was to build out the initial engineering team we needed. Building that initial engineering team is really critical and it must be done right. Having an initial team that is great (or bad) will have a huge impact on the startup as a whole. So I had to be sure I was building the right team.

Actions Taken

First, I spoke with the CEO to really understand the mission and vision of the company. …

Intel gathering from the interview process

Jul, 2019

The purpose of a job interview is two fold :

  1. Employer figures out if he wants you
  2. You figure out if you want to work with them

Many people forget about that 2nd point, but it is equally important. Now, to figure out if you want to work with them, you can ask questions. But you can also learn a lot from the interview process itself and how its conducted. You just have to pay attention to what is (not) said.

How are they conducting the interview process?

Openness about the …

Leadership Lessons from Parenting

May, 2019

Learning comes from all activities, and interacting with children actually teach you many great lessons applicable to leadership. Or is it the other way around? That’s a debate for another day. Whether you have kids or not, those lessons are relevant for anyone in a leadership position or looking for it.

When you say you’ll do something, do it.

Best way to gain trust, respect and credibility is to do what you’ve told you’ll do. Even if it’s a small thing, or you think it …

Finding the Best Standup Setup for Your Team

Apr, 2019

The Problem

We were working on a critical project, with a huge emphasis put on delivering on time. I realized that the critical nature combined with the time bound constraint was causing some stress for the team. The team needed to be focus on the goals we had instead of worried about possible outcomes and other conjectures. I knew that if the stress wasn’t relieved, we wouldn’t be able to succeed.

Actions Takens

My first action was to discuss with the team about the …

Beyond Fixed Sprint Duration

Apr, 2019

Everything starts for good reasons. When you start a new project, getting a cadence, a sense of progress, a way to see the journey done so far and what lies ahead provide benefits. But has you progress, it is time to revisit this cadence.

Choosing a sprint length at the start of each sprint is a waste of energy. Experiment with a couple of lengths, make a decision, and stick with it until there is a significant reason to change. — Mike Cohn

Sprint duration gets fixed …