Two Ways to Increase Impact In Software Product Development

Here are two ideas that are essential to creating impactful software that many in the industry will claim they are too busy to consider.

Photo by Krystal Ng on Unsplash

In this publication, I look at the planning and execution of software products from many angles. I have also been critical of the predominant industry practices so far be it for me to criticise without putting forward alternatives that I have had success with.

In this post, I will share two ideas that can contribute to delivering more impactful software development. This is not an exhaustive list of all valuable practices; that would be impossible as the context changes what is required. These are ideas that are essential parts of planning and executing for impact. By essential, I mean, that if we want to maximise the competitiveness of the organisation over the long term, these must be part of what we are doing:

1. Plan with a clear and aligned view of the outcomes your organisation seeks to achieve at the centre of everything you do.

   This means the effort of alignment revolves around the effects your software will have on your business and your customers. The alignment to what work is to be done becomes secondary or, rather, flows from this understanding of the intended outcomes and the agreed-upon ways progress will be measured.
   

2. Deeply understand your customers’ problems, needs, and the options you have to address them.

   This area is progressing with the adoption of practices such as continuous discovery, CX, and other customer-centric practices.

Whether idea 2 is before idea 1 or vice versa is beside the point as they exist in a cyclical and iterative continuum. These no doubt seem self-evident, yet for how many organisations could we say the regular practice of both is true most of the time? Very few, to answer my rhetoric.

From my observation across many organisations, be they those I have been a part of, those I have provided consultation with, those my network of peers engages with, and those who have shared publicly how they work, commitment to these two areas continues to be weak at most organisations.

It may be true that more businesses than before are making progress in item 2, but I am not convinced it’s a strong minority, let alone a majority. I suspect that even fewer are making progress in item 1. My suspicion is supported by observation and knowledge of the headwinds that can make such practices difficult in present-day organisations.

The present orthodoxy is still activity-focused and dominates current practices. Even organisations using conceivably outcome-focused approaches slip back into activity-oriented behaviour just as often as not.

One example is that even when detailed product work is appropriately oriented towards outcomes if those efforts are housed within classically activity-based constructs such as initiatives or programmes, the understanding of progress becomes activity-bound. Understanding the effects completed activities are having becomes something prioritised ‘if there’s time’ rather than an essential part of completing work and informing what comes next.

The good news is that the body of knowledge is growing, and the number of advocates sharing practices that help organisations orient toward outcomes is increasing. Growth is the use of practices that accommodate the uncertainty that the things we do will have the effects we think they will and allow us to just as we learn is part of the shift.

Continuous discovery, goal-setting approaches such as OKRs, Lean Startup, approaching work as bets - there’s a whole range of ideas out there. Popularity will grow as it becomes evident applying these concepts in practice is part of what is necessary to compete in the marketplace and deliver on ever-increasing customer expectations. The growing adoption of these practices represents what I describe as ‘a new orthodoxy’.

I share some further details on these ideas in this post:

Two Concepts That Increase Impact In Software Product Development (part 2)

Are you applying practices from either of these two ideas in your organisation? Which specific practices are you using? How well has your organisation embraced this shift? Please share your experiences in the comments.