Welcome to the October edition of the Squads Newsletter!
This month’s issue is all about delivering value with focus. From securing critical supply chain systems to building outcome-driven squads, from simplifying Agile estimation to strengthening testing in the age of AI – we’re sharing tools and stories that help teams build better, ship smarter, and stay aligned.
Plus, if you’ll be at Web Summit or Slush, we’d love to meet you in person.
Let’s get into it:
Building Secure & Scalable Supply Chains with Tradecloud
Tradecloud, a B2B platform connecting manufacturers and suppliers, partnered with Squads to strengthen its architecture for enterprise-level security, reliability, and scalability.
Working side by side with Tradecloud’s in-house team, Squads delivered key improvements across authentication, integrations, and automation. The collaboration introduced SSO and 2FA, enhanced ERP and order-management workflows, and established structured testing and release automation for long-term stability.
The result: smooth go-lives, a steady weekly delivery cadence, transparent costs, and a more resilient platform that continues to scale confidently today.
“Each week we could see visible progress, costs were predictable, and risks were reduced – especially during stressful go-lives.”
– Marcel Matthijs, Co-founder & CTO, Tradecloud
Decide & focus — persevere, pivot or pause based on evidence.
The difference? You ship less, but each release is intentional, measurable, and informs what comes next. Tight guardrails and rolling forecasts limit waste and accelerate learning, and over time the loop compounds.
Agile Estimation Distilled — New Book by Shrikant Vashishtha
We’re proud to share that Shrikant Vashishtha, one of our senior experts at Squads, has published his new book Agile Estimation Distilled. 🎉
In this concise and insightful guide, Shrikant tackles one of Agile’s most persistent challenges – estimation. Drawing on years of hands-on experience, he demystifies story points, planning poker, and long-term forecasting, showing how teams can estimate with clarity and confidence.
The book connects the dots between techniques and decision-making, helping Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and developers move from guesswork to predictable delivery – all while staying true to Agile principles.
If you’ve ever felt that estimation in Agile projects is more art than science, this book is for you.
In the Age of AI-Generated Code, Testing Matters More Than Ever
As AI tools become better at writing code, one thing becomes even more critical: making sure that code actually works.
That’s why we want to highlight (or re-highlight!) this excellent article by our colleague Tiziano Perrucci, where he shares practical, battle-tested strategies for improving software quality through effective unit testing.
In the article, you’ll find:
How to choose what to test – and what not to.
Techniques like property-based testing and mutation testing.
Ways to write tests that are clear, maintainable, and genuinely useful.
The importance of testing in collaborative and fast-moving environments.
Whether you’re a developer, tech lead, or just someone who’s had to fix a flaky test before a release – this guide is worth the read.
If you’re planning to be there and want to exchange ideas about startups, product development, or collaboration opportunities with Squads, we’d love to connect.
Drop us a note at hello@squads.com and we’ll set up a time to meet.
