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Our Method

Introducing LightWave®

LightWave® is Jonah Group’s software methodology. It is a set of processes, recipes, tools, and best practices that help us deliver software efficiently and with low risk, while giving our clients an excellent experience.

LightWave® is designed to generate momentum during the project’s most difficult initial phases. We’ll show you how to get your first features deployed to the live environment as quickly as possible.

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Method highlights

Because LightWave® uses an iterative style of development, it can easily accommodate changing requirements as new information becomes available. LightWave has 5 main aspects that differentiate it from other agile methods:

  • Factor “X”

    From the Discovery Workshop, we’ll have a sense of both the riskiest and the most complex features to be developed, which together we call Factor “X.”

    We place these at the highest priority in the product backlog (the list of yet-to-be-built features), and start to tackle them immediately.

    Associated course corrections can thus be made early on, and big surprises don’t arrive late in the game.

  • Clear Intent

    Your product owner and SMEs are integral team members who have continuous influence over the product’s evolution.

    They’re connected directly to delivery team members, who communicate with visual artifacts and jargon-free language, ensuring shared understanding.

    And since we capture both business requirement (the “what”) and intent (the “why”), our shared team can continuously evaluate what makes sense, as opposed to simply delivering what the specification might indicate.

  • Continuous Delivery

    Modern software methods no longer favour risky “big bang” deployments. LightWave® uses processes and technologies that allow new features and upgrades to move independently through progressively higher testing environments, and to enter the live environment on a regular basis.

    Our standard delivery cycles are 2 to 3 weeks long, but features can enter production whenever ready.

    A continuous delivery discipline ensures that individual team members’ work streams aren’t unduly linked, and that updates to the product are always easily deployable.

    TALK TO US ABOUT OUR CONTINUOUS DELIVERY PRACTICES:

    • Automated build and unit testing
    • The buddy system
    • Streamlined promotion through higher environments
    • Live, lightweight documentation
    • From the "Cathedral" to the "Bazaar"
  • Rigorous Management

    To some, the word “agile” implies that important project management and control practices are secondary to development activities.

    This isn’t healthy or necessary; LightWave®’s management and communication standards keep you connected to project health from both schedule and financial perspectives:

    • team standups (daily)
    • issue, action, and risk management (daily)
    • status reporting (weekly)
    • reprioritization and estimation (bi-weekly)
    • scope and budget management (bi-weekly)
    • financial health (continuous)

    Additionally, our Lychee Mobile app gives you full access to the most important project stats, updated in real time.

  • Long Term Support

    Over time, you will naturally assume more and more responsibility for the operation of your product. We help with this transition by providing technical and operations documentation, developer and user training, and simply lending a helping hand wherever needed.

    Our long-term relationship with you is important to us, and we’ll always strive to make sure it is valuable to you as well.

Our Customers Love Lightwave

I’ve engaged with the Jonah Group on several projects over the last two decades. So when I needed a technology partner to develop a blockchain crypto-token platform i.e. in a new, evolving and highly complex software space — I immediately turned to them. In my experience, I see Jonah as the difference between success and failure.

Bill Tapscott
CEO, CarbonX
CarbonX

I need to thank you for proving me right. I had campaigned for us to cut losses with the previous development group way back when, but was overruled. Given everyone’s favorable sentiment on the development aspect of this since you guys took over, I feel vindicated. I’m sure that at the next opportunity to co-develop, your name will be at top of the list.

Vito Scoppio
Vice President, Algorithmics
Algorithmics

The RouteOne platform has helped revolutionize how automobiles are financed and sold. We needed a technology vendor that has a deep understanding of our space, responds quickly to our needs, and integrates well with our development teams. Jonah Group is that vendor. They’ve been helping to grow our platform since 2003.

Chris Irving
CTO, RouteOne
RouteOne
  • 15%

    of project budgets allocated to Discovery to balance risk of budget overrun

  • 21 years

    that LightWave has been in development (started with Jacobsen's OOSE, integrated elements from Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban, and Jonah)

  • 14

    team members on the LightWave council to maintain and evolve standards

  • 9,476 hrs

    of stand-up meetings over 21 years — that's a lot of standing!

View our Portfolio

Our custom project management software gives you the keys to your project.

Lychee is the project management dashboard we created that shows you every detail of your project, so you can see how each dollar is spent. Keep your project under a microscope — if you want.

Learn about Lychee
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Further Reading

here