“Inside the Finologee Software Factory” – A Techie Night Recap

On 20 September 2023, Finologee hosted its second Techie Night in collaboration with Silicon Luxembourg, attended by more than 30 tech enthusiasts. The event offered an exclusive insight into Finologee’s software factory from three different and complementary perspectives: the product, the developers and the quality assurance. The evening concluded with a networking session over pizzas, where discussions about the ever-evolving financial landscape and cutting-edge tech solutions continued.

To kick off the first Silicon Luxembourg Techie Night after the summer break, Georges Berscheid, CTO and Co-Founder at Finologee, provided a concise overview of Finologee and its underlying infrastructure. He also explained that Finologee operates as a regulated financial entity under a “Support PFS” licence granted by the Ministry of Finance. Following his introduction, the stage was passed to Victor Nedioglo, Finologee’s Head of Software Engineering, who then guided the audience through the intricacies of product discovery and management.

Georges Berscheid, CTO and Co-Founder at Finologee

During his presentation, Victor shed light on Finologee’s seamless product discovery and development processes using Jira. With enthusiasm, he elaborated on the multifaceted applications of Jira, facilitating tasks such as managing GRC, procurement and security vulnerability detection and analysis. He also delved into various tools and techniques, showcasing how they maintain transparency and visibility within the respective processes.

Ideas enrichment workflow

Some participants were especially interested in one particular question: “How does Finologee ensure it keeps up with the continuously evolving needs of its clients?”. Here, Victor stressed the importance of having a precise product lifecycle roadmap to assess and prioritise customer needs and expectations. He also explained the development and testing procedures using Agile principles and the Scrum method, which are designed to adapt quickly to changes and deliver value to customers iteratively, providing tremendous flexibility and effectiveness.

Following this overview, Arsen Melkumiants, the Software Engineering Tech Lead focused on the developer’s perspective, shedding light on product versioning, a crucial element in Finologee’s success story. Versioning enables the developer team to maintain control over the development process, which is especially crucial in the regulated financial industry, a sector where the stakes are high and quality and security are non-negotiable. He explained the concept of a “candidate release version” and how it is tested in a structured manner. Through meticulous definition and structuring of the development process, the team adeptly minimises potential issues and bugs, he said. Arsen also highlighted the role of Design System and delved into discussions about code quality, using the SonarCloud tool. SonarCloud is a valuable tool for maintaining and improving code quality, ensuring that code is secure and fostering collaboration among the developers’ team. By enabling the team to identify and rectify issues promptly, SonarCloud contributes significantly to crafting a robust, stable, and easily maintainable platform.

User stories: Development & Deployment

The session then switched to the quality assurance perspective, presented by Camila Almeida, Finologee’s Senior Software Tester. She introduced innovative tools such as Mindmaps, emphasising their role in stimulating creativity and enhancing visibility within the team. Furthermore, Camila shared insights on KANBAN, a Japanese technique rooted in Lean principles, enhancing work visualisation and promoting continuous process improvement. This method not only fosters collaboration but also strengthens communication channels within Finologee’s development team.

She then explained the effectiveness of checklist-based testing, a straightforward approach ensuring thorough test coverage. This method empowers testers to monitor features, functionalities, or requirements, ensuring they meet the desired quality standards, while also identifying what remains to be verified. Additionally, Camila elaborated on the synergy between test automation and manual testing, allowing a wide range of assessments, from ad-hoc and usability testing to robust load and performance tests.

KANBAN

The evening ended with a lively question and answer session where participants eagerly quizzed the experts. Over pizza, the tech enthusiasts shared their thoughts, creating a friendly and collaborative atmosphere.

Photo Gallery: [Meetup] Techie Night #13 – Silicon Luxembourg