Insights

Seagull Software had the opportunity to combine its world class Product Labeling and item level Track and Trace to deliver a unified solution with big upside: make BigRiver Product Authenticity easy. Print a unique per-carton code, scan it, and verify product authenticity end to end. The vision was clear, the market need was real, and investor expectations were high. The missing piece was proof. After months of hard work, the team had built solid components—APIs were in place, unit tests passed—but work was organized in long stretches that produced little that stakeholders could see. Nothing yet ran end to end, so while the project was advancing, others could not see the evidence. Confidence began to waver, and the board set a clear challenge: demonstrate something market-ready in ten weeks to prove the approach could deliver.

What changed fast

Seagull flipped the operating model. Long plans and siloed handoffs gave way to one week sprints with a live demo every Friday. A cross-functional strike team (front end, back end, labeling, tracking, and DevOps) owned the whole outcome, minimizing external dependencies.

The first “thin slice” goal was explicit and customer visible: create and print an Authenticity label, scan it, and confirm BigRiver's API recognized it. That single path forced real collaboration, exposed hidden DevOps blockers immediately, and kept scope honest.

Results in weeks, not quarters

By the second sprint, the team was shipping weekly demos showing the full create print scan verify flow. Instead of waiting months to show something end to end, stakeholders could now see incremental functionality every week. When presented to the board and to BigRiver, the progress and ease of setup earned praise. BigRiver responded with positive alignment on the product vision, recognizing that this solution removed real friction for sellers. As the commercial rollout moved into deeper market discussions and planning, the team had proven the approach:

1. Validated “Better Together”. The combined labeling and track and trace offering did what neither capability could do alone.

2. Built fast-delivery muscle. The organization showed it could break old patterns and produce usable software at a steady, credible pace.

Why it mattered culturally

Shipping predictable, working software every week rebuilt trust. Moving from long, heads down stretches to short, visible iterations meant stakeholders could finally join the journey. Constraining time rather than over-planning scope let the team learn sooner, adapt faster, and build confidence through evidence instead of slideware.