Moneysupermarket Reviews

Pros

On the whole, development teams at moneysupermarket (MSM) are self-organising and have adopted Agile approaches to software development. Some teams deliver software using Scrum, others more of a hybrid Agile approach. Teams are empowered to analyse and adapt accordingly. There's some really good engineering practices such as TDD, Automated Testing, Continuous Integration, and the team are currently exploring Continuous Delivery. Kanban has been introduced within one particular team with great results. I think this is a great reflection on how the organisation has made a cultural shift. A complete contrast to 2 years ago. If you want to really accelerate your learning then MSM is a great place to be. There are weekly "brown bag" sessions where individuals do a lunchtime presentation on a subject of interest. There's also many coding dojo's where cross functional teams learn about thinks like Ruby.

Cons

As with most commercial organisations its a high pressure environment. The pipeline of work seems never ending.

Technical environments don't seem to be managed very well, so getting hold of the right infrastructure when you need it can often be frustrating.

Parking is a problem so you need to get in early to get a parking space, otherwise your only option is to park in the overflow carpark which is half a mile away (although a free MSM minibus transports you back and to).

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of reserved parking spaces for executives and enter the parking lottery like the rest of us. Also, you really don't need offices that big. Why not give up some of that floor space and create a breakout room with a pool table?

Pros

Good people to work with
Flexi time
Pension

Cons

People promoted that shouldn't be (people who can "talk the talk") and people who should be promoted aren't. It's happened at least 8 times in the 3 years since I joined.
Don't do enough to keep staff members because it might cost them a few extra grand.
Muddied waters relating to salary bands.
Some lower ranked employees earn more than higher ranked employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay people better

Pros

The scale of the project and of the team makes it an interresting experience.

Cons

The head bashing and back covering culture are seriously counter productive.

Managers (product & delivery managers) seemed more concerned about how their actions and decision might be interpreted rather than what business result they will produce. Those managers seem obsessed by attributing blame rather than enabling people to meet objectives.

Advice to Senior Management

Initiate 360 feedback to improve middle management