Also, Ryan says that it is crucial for them to have a combination of manual and automated testing, because they often make changes in the user interface and are unable to cover all the functionality with automated tests.
As for the integrations, they partner with various systems including Salesforce, Redtail and SmartOffice CRMs, as well as rebalancing tools, such as BlazePortfolios and others. Also, they intend to deepen their integrations with custodians such as Schwab, TD and others. Despite that, they do not rule out the possibility of building some tools internally, rather than integrating with other companies.
Ryan: “From our experience, […] there’s a balance between integration and simplicity of a platform. […] We want to allow for integrations, but we really want to focus on providing a fuller platform of tools to use.”
Communications and training of developers
According to Dave, communication is an important part of team culture. At Portfolio Pathway, they have daily standup meetings for 20 minutes, as well as weekly learning sessions that are often led by Dave himself. During these sessions, team members from different departments can get to know what the other teams are working on.
Dave: “It’s important to us [that] people have knowledge exchange. We don’t really use the knowledge base, though. We prefer to actually meet and talk about our company and our products.”
When it comes to training newcomers, Ryan says that they are putting the focus on getting people together. Sometimes team members can be involved in another part of a project in order to see how a particular domain works.
Ryan: “No matter how [much] formal training you do, within finance you really have to get your hands in it to learn as it’s so detailed and so involved.”
Also, they have business analysts working closely with the staff to give them an understanding of the processes they will reproduce.
Ryan: “The idea of a BA is to be the business expert. They’re the ones who are really learning what the business is and then helping [to] translate that into a developed solution and work very closely with our developers.”