Jonathan is the CTO of CodeGuard (recently acquired by COMODO) and has been responsible for overseeing the product architecture, engineering efforts, project management and customer service for over 7 years. He has been able to help CodeGuard grow from the prototype stage to the stable, scalable and mature platform it is today. During his time with CodeGuard and before that, leading IBM's SEAL team, he has gained considerable experience across a broad spectrum of technology and business topics. On September 27, 2018 at the Simply SaaS Forum, powered by Atlanta Ventures, Jonathan shared his five lessons learned while taking a Prototype to Product. The main takeaways were: 1) Well-defined Project Management, 2) Pick a Metric, 3) Thoughtful Operations, 4) Customer “Support”, and 5) The Team.

1. Simply SaaS Forum - Product & Engineering
September 2018
Jonathan Manuzak
Prototype to Product:
Foundations For Your High Performance
Engineering Team

2. SEAL Team Lead CTO VP of Technology

3. 5 Lessons Learned

4. Things I wish I knew 10 years ago

5. 1. Well-defined Project Management

6. ● Transparency is a feature
● Be open to new information
● Spreadsheets are awesome
● Estimating is really hard
● Talk to each other, a lot
Project Management

7. 2. Pick a Metric

8. ● Important above all else
● Automate creation
● Visible to everyone
● The Metric can change
● Talk about it, a lot
The Metric

9. 3. Thoughtful Operations

10. ● Prefer automation
● Virtualize and containerize
● Optimize for first-run success
● Plan for maintenance
● Talk about it, when needed
Operations

11. 4. Customer “Support”

12. Customer Support Success
● It’s an engineering discipline
● Technology adoption life cycle
● Mistakes require empathy
● Beware of automation
● Talk about it, a lot

13. 5. The Team

14. ● Recruiting is hard
● Internal referrals
● Never compromise on values
● Timing is important
● Talk to (a lot of) people
Team

15. How can I help?
Jonathan Manuzak
jonathan@manuzak.com

16. Appendix

17. Generalist
Communication
Creativity
Passion
Precision
Resourcefulness
Responsibility
Communication
Creativity
Passion
Precision
Resourcefulness
Responsibility
Communication
Creativity
Passion
Precision
Resourcefulness
Responsibility
Communication
Creativity
Passion
Precision
Resourcefulness
Responsibility
Thought LeaderMercenaryWhiz

18. Find the
best communicator
you can afford.

19. Working with Contractors