Reflections from Nelson Nogueira, our Chief Technical Officer

Triggerise is growing and changing, which means that our tech needs to evolve too. Along with that, the structure and composition of our Tech team also needs to transform. We caught up with Nelson Nogueira, our CTO, for his perspective on our trajectory.

Over to you, Nelson.

Since 2020, our tech department has doubled, so there’s been a lot for all of us to learn about examining, establishing, and maintaining effective systems of working together. In the midst of that, we introduced Java in addition to Scala (programming languages) and faced the ongoing challenge of moving away from our existing software (Movercado) and towards our new Tiko platform.

Making way for subdomains

At the moment, Triggerise tech and operations teams are working together to build independent hubs called subdomains. Separating information into subdomains with dedicated teams to serve them makes their development and related problem solving much easier to handle. This project is the work that underpins everything we’re doing to make Triggerise a leading tech non-profit organisation. This project is well underway, and we are making good progress in decomposing our existing Movercado software as we develop the 11 subdomains we need. Right at the top of the priority list is the Nudges subdomain, which went live at the end of 2021. Our Fraud subdomain followed closely afterwards in March 2022.

Cohesion with the Insights team has been imperative in this process, as they and the stakeholders are closer to the ground and fed us consistently with guidance on what our users respond to in the Nudges arena. Work on the Onboarding subdomain has begun and is next on the horizon to take into production. We’re excited to continue rolling out the rest of the planned subdomains to the growing platform into 2023 and beyond.

Supporting a growing organisation

A Triggerise pilot began in South Africa for the first time in 2021. Nudges like daily reminders, questions, appointment notifications, and incentives were all released as part of this version to help foster repeat behaviour for this particular project. This was also the first time that our Nudge subdomain was to be used in production and running in conjunction with the existing Movercado system. Picture it like this: a Boeing 747 and fighter jet flying side by side, both trying to refuel in mid-air. There is a substantial amount of learning which we will gather and apply to future subdomains as they go live.

What’s next?

Our ranks have swelled and the effect of these new cross-functional teams of product owners and engineers is obvious; we’re working hard and are galvanised by the exciting task of writing a new and improved future for Triggerise’s tech. Now that the gang’s all here, so to speak, we’re going to wait before we grow again. We’re looking forward to stabilising this new team and putting these fresh structures into practice.

This is a time of critical importance to the Triggerise Tech team. There’s much in flux and much to look forward to. I’d like to thank my team for their dedication, ingenuity, and openness in coming alongside me as we dream and build software that befits Triggerise’s future and the futures of all the young people we impact with our work.