3 Keys to Making Your Product Development Effort Successful

Through Six Hour Startup--where a new web-based product is developed and launched by a team of 20+ strangers in six hours--I learned what it takes to lead in chaotic situations. At BluWater Consulting I was Scrum Master to three concurrent software development projects and learned that there are a few key principles required to succeed: strength, (team) commitment, systems thinking, and creativity. Based on this I define agility as “a willingness to seek, accept and integrate feedback as frequently and rapidly as possible”.

In my opinion, there are “3 Keys to Making Your Product Development Effort Successful”:

1. Develop relationships with key suppliers. Rely on your suppliers to coach you on the best tools and methods for your organization and situation. Invest the time and resources necessary to procure what’s required to lead the change you seek! At a minimum, put up a whiteboard to track each project and use “stickies” to track the work as it flows through the process. Ensure that there’s shared accountability within the team and the roles of shepherd, pairing partner, and QA are clear. Synchronize your stickie-note process with a powerful information system so you can get real-time statistics, detect, and analyze process variances.


2. Identify and establish the leadership required. The program will only succeed if you have the support and understanding of the right people. This requires persistence and a strong will! Seek to continuously understand who is in charge (the team) and govern as required. Make the roles of Scrum Master, Product Owner, etc. clear but don’t be surprised when they change.


3. Make sure that your team gets it. There are some critical things that your team has to understand before they’ll do well in an agile process. One example is understanding the difference between burning time “up” (tracking actual hours in the case of work that involves uncertainty or risk) and burning time “down” (tracking how much time is left against work that can be reasonably estimated). Make sure that your team has the training it needs to succeed, move forward, and communicate with each other effectively.

If you would like help getting your project or practice off the ground, I'm happy to quickly assess where you're at and help you get get to where you’d like to be!