How we define Abstracta’s strategy and build our future

We continue to bring transparency to our processes. We want you to be part of them and to generate new exchanges. In this article, we tell you all about how we have designed Abstracta’s strategy, and how we have consolidated it to define our OKRs 2022 with a view to our 2030 agenda. 

As we do every month in our internal Abstracta Talk, we believe it is important to review our main objectives at the beginning of this article. 

We join the companies that, in addition to sharing their strategies, seek to make visible the processes to define them. Why do we do it? Generating exchanges of knowledge and experiences helps us to grow and also to generate networks. The co-formation of a community in testing is essential to enrich each other with new learning and promote development. 

We want to clearly show where we are heading and share our practices with other people and companies, in order to exchange and learn. So after you read all about how we came to define our strategy, we would like to have your feedback. We would appreciate knowing what you think about the way we do things. And how you do to define strategies in your work environment and social context.

2021 strategy and results analysis

Every month, the entire abastracta’s team meets to evaluate everything that has been done during the last period. It is made in order to ensure the objectives that move us and guide our path. We feel that this collective instance is crucial to work together and in the same direction.  

In the same vein, we conducted an exhaustive review of the 2021 strategy and everything achieved during the year, to establish the OKR 2022. 

Why so much analysis? Because in addition to having clear objectives, it is essential to align ourselves on how we want to reach them. Defining intermediate steps and initiatives that will allow us to approach the major objectives in a collaborative way.

First of all, our CEO Matias Reina created a form so that all Abstracta members had the opportunity to make contributions related to Abstracta’s 5 major objectives. Anonymously or with name and surname, according to each one’s preference.

After expanding information on these points, we consolidated a document with the most important topics and held a strategic meeting. We discussed the results of 2021, and put on the table concrete initiatives for 2022 and our long-term vision (2030).

The meeting was attended by the company’s c-suite, the board of Abstracta global, the board of Abstracta Chile, and representatives from different teams. We began to define and refine the strategy, focusing on future initiatives, Key Results and KPIs. In turn, at a more granular level, each area grounded OKRs, initiatives, and even defined indicators, teams,  and budgets to achieve them. 

Later, Matias Reina hosted an “Ask Me Anything” meet and greet, with the doors open to all the people who work at Abstracta. Among all roles and senioritis. So that they could be aware, give their opinions, ask questions, suggest and contribute new perspectives on the work. 

Based on all the previous instances, the key results for 2022 were assembled at a general level and for each area. OKRs were defined for the year, a kickoff meeting for the year was held and articles, summaries and videos were disseminated.

In this way, we reaffirmed our commitment to our collective purpose: to co-create world-class software and generate development in the communities where we are present, in order to improve people’s quality of life.

Achievements 2021

✔️We work with more than 17 clients distributed in more than 12 countries.

✔️We were recognized with the “Talent has no gender” award.

✔️We obtained results that highlight our culture: we were in the TOP 10 of the best places to work for millennials in Uruguay, and we were recognized as one of the best companies in the EFY SME Ranking – Employers for Youth 2021 in Chile.  

✔️We trained around 20 people from scratch in testing and offered them their first job opportunity in IT through UpCamp, a spinoff of Abstracta that seeks to democratize access to work by offering employment to qualified people with no work experience.

✔️We started collaborating with BID, through BID labs, through the UpCamp project.

✔️We began collaborating with UN through “Pacto Global”, and through the support of UNHCR in a testing training project for migrants in Canelones. 

✔️We co-founded Fibras together with Pyxis and other organizations, an ecosystem to enhance social and environmental impact initiatives through technology.

✔️We contributed to bring performance testing closer to developers and, thus, to speed up the development of quality software with the JMeter Java DSL tool.

✔️We share knowledge through different platforms: blogs, podcasts, talks, and events.

Analyze to improve

We prepared a document in which we analyze our performance and where we stand. To do so, we followed a methodology based on the 3HAG WAY book. From it, a significant amount of valuable insights emerged, and we were able to think of concrete actions to continue building the Abstracta we dream of.

In 2022, we plan to increase our reach in the United States. We will do this by hiring more people there or by traveling to execute projects or visit clients and partners. 

We envision a global Abstracta, and this implies that in each country where we are, independent development is possible. All collaborating and advancing in the 5 objectives we have. For example, we want to “leverage ReconverTite“, with editions in Chile and the United States. 

Beyond these concrete results, in 2022 we want to continue working to consolidate our position as a true quality partner for more clients.  

We invite you to read this article to learn about our OKRs 2022.

Abstracta 2030: long-term objectives

When we think about our future, we focus on our long-term objectives set out at the beginning of this article.

We know that dreaming doesn’t cost anything, and that dreams can come true, no matter how distant they may seem. This is what happened to us in 2008 when a group of young university students dreamed of creating a global testing company, and here we are! 

We turned Abstracta into a sustainable, global and scalable company, with a deeply humanistic culture that fills us with pride. So how can we not dare to keep dreaming after 14 years of doing it non-stop? 

Some of our dreams for 2030 are:

🙌Operate in several countries (maybe 5?) in different continents.

🙌To form a team with many more people (between 1000 and 1500).

🙌Assemble an investment fund to invest in b-type startups.

🙌To be a benchmark in quality so that in every country where we operate when they think of software quality they think of Abstracta. 

🙌To add local references. We imagine many abstracteras and many abstracteros as referents in their areas of expertise and giving many conferences, writing books (maybe a best seller?), and sharing our way of carrying out our objectives. 

🙌Continue co-creating. We envision ourselves creating technology that will be used worldwide and by many people to create quality software quickly.

We dream of realizing all these achievements in a way that every person working at Abstracta will be proud of what we do and how we do it. We dream of a future in which our teamwork has an exponential positive impact on our families and communities.

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