One of the worst things a tech company exec can do is have programmers and developers work without clear structure, management system, budget and timelines – I’ve see this happen many times and the result is massive wasted money on building overly complex systems with no usability. 

Custom builds are the worst as almost anything we could need, with the exception of a few highly complex apps, has already been developed and there are great tools companies can easily buy which save tons of money. I’ve seen companies hire developers and pay millions for custom CRM systems which are not that good or secure when they could have simply customized Salesforce or bought an industry specific solution. I’ve seen companies who make customized websites that don’t work well at great expense. I’ve seen developers paid massive amounts in annual salary and their job seems to consist of piling more expensive tools, complexity and equipment on stuff that doesn’t even function. Flip side I’ve seen incredibly advanced tech projects build super cheaply using freelancers or good in-house people. There are app developers who have programmed their own in house app with a couple guys and a couple thousand dollars and there are Forbes 100 companies who can’t even get their email to work on mobile devices despite IT staffs of 1000.

I’ve always had an overriding belief that tech dev can be done faster and cheaper than what people usually think. I’ve also resisted equipment purchases. When Atlantic Financial reached a certain point I had people trying to convince me to spend a fortune on special server rooms and rack servers…insane. Most companies who have these things bought them because some techie with no business sense convinced an exec with even less technical sense to buy him new toys. There are tons of rented server systems with remote hosting you can use that are very cost effective.

One other tip is to avoid developing tech by committee. Not everything is some massive open source project. Sometimes you just simply need a strong single leader who can make decisions and make them work and sometimes 10 developers can take longer to do something than one. It’s like directing a movie….collaborative but with a strong leader and direction.