The evolution of quality at Vanta

Vanta’s story began like many other startups—moving fast to discover product-market fit and lay the groundwork for a sustainable business. Speed was key as we focused on delivering value to customers and rapidly iterating to meet market needs. This approach propelled us into a phase of healthy growth, marked by milestones we proudly celebrate (read more about our recent achievements here).

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As we grew, we recognized an opportunity to elevate our engineering practices to allow us to meet even greater customer demand, enter new markets, and scale our service quality with continued speed. With our team expanding from 50 to over 100 engineers, we wanted to continue scaling our quality standards even as the organization grew. 

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Our goal was to raise the bar for quality while maintaining the fast pace that had been instrumental to our success. By embedding quality into more aspects of our engineering processes, we aimed to reinforce a culture where excellence is a shared responsibility across teams.

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Quality Hackathon: a shot in the arm

To realize this vision, we introduced several initiatives designed to make quality a central focus across the organization. Our first major effort was the Quality Hackathon we held in May 2024. This event brought the engineering team together with a shared purpose of upleveling quality. Teams were self-organized and had one week to work on any project in the name of quality, centered around these themes:

• Improving observability of our systems
• Improving the developer experience
• Finishing unfinished business
• Implementing best practices
• Improving testing

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To make the event even more engaging, we introduced awards for each category and assembled a panel of judges to evaluate the submissions. We gave awards for: 

• Quantitative categories (evaluated with data):
  
  • Most lines of code removed (including refactors)
  • Most unused frontend pages removed
  • Most unused GraphQL resolvers removed
  • Most Mongo storage freed up
  • Most old feature flags removed
• Qualitative categories (voted on by our panel of judges):
  
  • Most impactful testing improvement
  • Most impactful DevEx improvement
  • Most impactful refactor
  • Best application of AI to improve engineering quality
  • Most exemplary application of best practices
  • Iccha’s choice award—the favorite project from our head of engineering 

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Finally, the hackathon culminated in a well-attended demo session where each team showcased their accomplishments, fostering a sense of pride and camaraderie across the organization. Engineers tackled longstanding problems, developed impactful tools, and collaborated in new ways, all with the aim of enhancing the quality of our codebase and processes.

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Hackathon engagement was excellent: about 80% of engineering contributed in some way. Feedback on the hackathon was also overwhelmingly positive, with over 90% of participants reporting the hackathon was a fun and valuable way to spend the week, and there is significant interest in running another quality-focused hackathon in the future. Looking ahead, we wanted to carry this enthusiasm for quality into subsequent initiatives.

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Picking up momentum with Quality Fridays

Following the hackathon, we introduced Quality Fridays in June, July, and September. These dedicated days allowed teams to focus on addressing tech debt, bugs, and other improvements often sidelined during regular sprint work. By carving out this time and committing it to the calendar, we created the structure needed for consistent prioritization of quality. Teams used these Fridays to refine workflows, tackle technical challenges, and close out small issues that had a significant impact on our product stability.

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We also implemented Flex Weeks at the end of each quarter. These weeks, positioned as the 13th week in our quarterly cycle, provided additional capacity instead of starting another two-week sprint. While not explicitly reserved for quality work, these periods offered the space for teams to tackle small bugs, address tech debt, and refine polish items that typically fell outside the scope of regular sprint cycles. This flexibility empowered teams to address often-overlooked issues and provided breathing room in an otherwise fast-paced development cycle.

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Quality as a first-class citizen in planning

These initiatives have driven a cultural shift at Vanta. Today, quality is central to our operations. We’ve refined our planning processes to prioritize focus and ensure that product, design, and engineering quality are integral to project milestones and commitments. By emphasizing “less, but better,” we’ve made thoughtful planning a core part of our workflows, ensuring that teams commit to achievable goals while maintaining high-quality standards. In practice this means teams committing to fewer objectives in order to prioritize the highest impact goals and accomplish them well; rather than trying to ship six small features in a quarter, a team might prioritize two larger features and build them for the long term.

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To celebrate and encourage quality-focused work, we also introduced quality roundups. These regular updates highlight examples of engineers prioritizing quality, showcasing their contributions, and inspiring others to follow suit. Whether it’s an innovative approach to solving a persistent problem or a meticulous review that prevents future issues, these stories reinforce the value of quality in our organization.

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Additionally, we have continued to invest in upleveling quality via expanded test automation. Automated testing is a critical part of our development pipeline, enabling teams to catch issues early and reduce the risk of regressions. These investments establish a foundation for long-term scalability and consistency, ensuring that quality remains a key pillar of our success as we continue to grow.

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What’s next?

Our journey toward building a culture of quality is ongoing. Flex weeks will remain a key part of our cadence, providing regular opportunities to address tech debt and polish work. Building on the success of our first Quality Hackathon, we’re exploring additional events and initiatives to keep quality top of mind. These might include themed hackathons, workshops, or other opportunities to share knowledge and foster collaboration across teams.

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We also plan to deepen our investment in automated testing and quality tooling, ensuring that our teams have the resources they need to deliver high-quality products efficiently. By continuing to refine our processes and tools, we aim to make quality an even more seamless part of our day-to-day work.

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Finally, we recognize that our people are our greatest asset in building a culture of quality. We continue to seek talented individuals who are passionate about improving and iterating on quality. By investing in our people, processes, and tools, we aim to ensure that quality remains a cornerstone of our success.

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At Vanta, creating a culture of quality is more than a one-time effort. It’s a commitment to continuous improvement and excellence. Interested in joining us on this journey? We’re hiring!