Leapset's technical leadership share development insights

Leapset is a software development company with a difference. A company that has invented a unique cutting-edge IT product targeted at the Small to Medium business market in the US, which is revolutionizing and merchant-consumer interaction. Leapset replaces existing point-of-sale, credit card payments and online-offline technologies with one complete integrated platform.

Paul Kelaita, Leapset's Vice President of Engineering and Rohana Kumara

Hailing from Silicon Valley, California, the Mecca of technology that is the birthplace and home to a myriad of global giants such as Google, Facebook and Apple, Leapset practices a very distinct style of development, that they have applied to their Sri Lankan development centre. We had the opportunity to sit down with Paul Kelaita, Leapset's Vice President of Engineering while he was visiting California and Rohana Kumara, Head of Engineering, Sri Lanka, to discuss Leapset's approach to development and the way they bridge Sri Lanka with the Silicon Valley.

Rohana: How did you come up with the Leapset idea?

Paul: Originally we were a technology incubator working out of Silicon Valley with an associate company based in Colombo. People came to us with ideas for new products and we provided them with engineering resources, product management, sales, marketing and legal services in exchange for some equity in the new business.

Working in this environment, we were exposed to a lot of great ideas and different perspectives; a lot of ideas started flowing from within our own team and Leapset was one of those ideas. Once we started putting our resources behind Leapset and looking at the possibilities, we realized the enormous potential that was in the idea, so we gradually phased out our other projects and focused exclusively on Leapset.

Leapset is a different kind of business compared to a consulting company or BPO because the company owns the product it is working on. What are the development methods you practice?

Paul: What we practice at Leapset is very agile software development. Our sprints are about 3-4 weeks in duration and have multiple sprints running parallely. The product team gives us the requirements for the sprint, then the engineering team works on the tasks that form the objectives of the sprint.The work in progress is regularly demonstrated to the product team and stakeholders.

Rohana: What are the advantages you see in having these short 'development sprints'?

Paul: The benefit is that you don't waste six months on a release that the customer probably won't ever get, or when they do get it in their hands, it is already out-dated. We prefer to have smaller sprints and deliver to the customer piece by piece. If anything crops up between sprints, we retain the flexibility to adjust.

Rohana: We also don't spend a lot of up-front time analysing requirements or doing an elaborate design. We start the development as soon as possible and focus on getting to market as soon as possible. The customers usually have critical requirements for the product and cannot afford to wait for a long time. The technology is also changing quite fast; if you spend too much time developing something, by the time you finish, people have already moved onto the next big innovation.

Leapset application on a Tablet PC

The Agile software development style also lets us react to our competitors on the fly; if someone comes up with a good idea, continuous integration helps us match it and replicate it in the shortest possible time. We also carry out peer reviews which help maintain the quality of the work we do.

Rohana: What do you feel are the advantages of creating a bridge between Silicon Valley and Sri Lanka?

Paul: There is this real marriage of Silicon Valley ideas, culture and philosophy and Sri Lankan engineering talent that is the core strength of Leapset. Mani, our CEO and Shanil, our Vice President of Global Delivery have very close ties to Sri Lanka, so through their knowledge and network, we have been able to put together an excellent team.

I have worked with a lot of different offshore teams from around the world including India and it is clear that the talent pool and the willingness to deliver is far better in Sri Lanka.

They are not just motivated developers, they are also always looking at ways to improve the processes and our business practices. They have really fast turnaround times and they commit to the success of the product.

Rohana: I have also benefited personally from the close relationship with the product team over in the US.

They are a very experienced team with a lot of great ideas. Their knowledge of international standards for software product development has helped us raise our game.

The Sri Lankan development team benefits mainly because all senior resources are put through a training program that includes a tenure in the US. The developers travel to California and get an insight into the Silicon Valley philosophy and way of life.

It also gives the developers a chance to be close to the product. They visit merchants and talk to customers who use the product, giving them a close insight into the product.

This is necessary in order to come up with creative improvements and new ideas. Not many other development companies here in Sri Lanka offer that experience.

The Sri Lankan office too, shares the same open, casual and non-hierarchical structure that Silicon Valley companies embody.

The office is also in the process of renovating its physical elements and aesthetics to match that culture. We're putting in a games room and making the work environment colourful and lively. We also use Yammer; an online social network platform for organizations to implement internally. It's an open space where everyone in the company can air their ideas or share resources that could benefit the product or the process in some way.

Rohana: How do you coordinate your Colombo and Silicon Valley operation?

Paul: Well, every day at 10.00 am Sri Lanka time we conduct our daily stand-up meeting to update everyone in the team about current progress. It allows people to raise issues and possibly look for suggestions to overcome roadblocks.

The coordination between teams is vital to our success. (HDD)