Accelerate digital product development - but how?

Almost all of my clients face the same challenge: their IT department is not delivering. Neither time nor budget plans are met, not to mention quality. Instead, the technology department hides behind sprints and roadmaps. These are regularly postponed, sometimes they don't even exist, and a review? Doesn't exist either. There is either an insurmountable rift or artificial harmony between the business department and the technology department. They all have one thing in common: No one addresses problems.

IT products are complex. Their development is comparable to building a house: A large team works in many places at the same time. This inevitably leads to complications, delays and dependencies. Depending on the product, these are sometimes greater, sometimes smaller - but they cannot be avoided.

Delays and complications are the norm with complex products.

The onus is on top management

Top management is crucial to the success of such a process. But top management is seldom involved to the extent necessary. Too many of them get off the hook with "this is a tech project". Others show up for the kick-off and then never show up again. Instead of genuine interest, only status inquiries and annoyance at delays follow. While employee motivation and commitment continue to decline.

If top management shows no genuine interest, employee motivation and commitment dwindle.

Define clear goals

Too few CEOs realize that IT products are just as tied to the corporate vision as any other area. When you plan a house, you also define how many floors it should have. Whether there will be parking spaces or an underground garage. Sunny or shady sides. To the same extent, the business purpose for IT products must be defined. Parameters must be queried and orders of magnitude determined.

If this does not happen, the technicians will start building. Quickly, instead of the required 4-story office building, a warehouse or a high-rise building can be built. Both cases are unfavorable and miss the business benefit. The consequences are: Re-development, delay and demotivation of the employees.

Where there is no planning, there can be no satisfactory results.

The solution in five steps

1. Clear planning and product vision

The direction and vision of the products must be clearly defined. It must be shown what positive benefit the company will derive from the product - that guides through product development. Especially scope and development should be planned carefully and into the near future (1-3 years). Important: Products planned too large as well as too small can have disastrous consequences and cause high costs.

2. Meeting duty for CEOs

Only close and clear communication during the process between top management and engineering will bring desired results. Therefore, the CEO must be present in the regular review meetings. Point. "No time", "Does the CTO alone" or any other excuse signals: The project is not important enough. The following applies to communication: honest, open, direct and fair. This is the only way to quickly address and eliminate problems.

3. First things first - prioritize correctly

What is most relevant to the business? What is most likely to make the most money? The answers to these questions define the milestones of the process. Communication between business and tech is important here. Both sides have reasons why they prioritize this or that. This needs to be reconciled so that tech can implement and business can monetize.

4. Reduce dependencies

"I'm waiting for ..." usually serves as an excuse. It creates blockages in processes and shows strong dependency. IT teams should strongly delineate their tasks among each other. Clearly defined handover points or interfaces are needed to ensure as little dependency on each other as possible. These can be defined with open communication and targeted agreements. In this way, work can begin before the other party is completely finished.

5. Create responsibility

In meetings, everyone agrees on what needs to be done. Everyone leaves and feels comfortable with this agreement. Until it becomes apparent that WHAT, WHO, UNTIL WHEN and WHY is being done has not been defined. And if it is, it is often not documented. This is not how accountability can be achieved. I solve well over 50% of my clients' issues with a simple Next Steps list:

• What is the issue? What is the benefit?

• What EXACTLY is the DELIVERABLE? Is it a document? A presentation? Excel spreadsheet? Exam? Define in as measurable a way as possible.

• Who is responsible? Important: One person! Not a group, not two, not a team of three - one person! They can consult each other, but this one person alone bears the responsibility.

• When is the deadline? Not "in two weeks" (or even worse in Q3), but define a concrete date. If the deadline is more than 2-4 weeks in the future, the to-do should be scaled down so that you can get to a (partial) result faster.

This list should be reviewed each time in recurring meetings. It is important not to schedule the meetings in too large intervals. It is better to have short meetings every one or two weeks instead of once a month. Delays are noted and only when the deliverable is actually available in satisfactory quality is it checked off.

Remember, this list is especially for the communication between tech and business, and does not replace the agile dev process.

Conclusion: Delays in product development are mostly caused by the management.

The most common weak points of delayed or failing products are: Lack of product vision, too little communication, non-prioritized tasks, too much dependency, and little accountability.

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