Clarity of vision. It’s what you need in the app development process to ensure your software meets not only development goals but also business goals, which are equally, if not more, important.
Large sums of money are too often thrown at the development team to build software without direction. Business executives often don’t tie software to a company initiative, or clearly communicate its importance to developers. In a complex project, failing to do so may end up costing you time and money, when an easier, faster, and initially cheaper solution might be available if your developers had a better understanding of what you wanted in the first place.
Your developers know what can and can’t be done quickly, and they’ll be able to tell you whether a request is feasible. There also might be ways to deliver larger software initiatives incrementally -- i.e. MVP development -- where return on investment is quicker than trying to attack the whole project all at once.
Accelerance’s Steve Mezak and Tom Cooper recently sat down to discuss having a clear vision and path forward even before the first line of code is written.
“If you don't have a business value linked to the feature request, all features are the same value. Then you don't get to where you're delivering the right features at the right time,” Tom argues.
Developers want to deliver value too, but are frustrated by poor planning. Development team managers may end up having a completely different vision from the business execs, and without a conversation about the best ways to move forward, the end result might be different from what the business side both wants and/or needs.
Too many times, the app process doesn’t include taking time to map out connections between writing the code, and delivering functionality that aligns with business initiatives. The two groups - business and tech - work almost completely separately, only checking in with each other when absolutely necessary.
That’s not the right way to do it: business executives and developers need to be on the same page, ensuring goals are met, and making changes even mid-course to make the process as efficient as possible.
“That's the kind of conversation you definitely want to be having with your technology folks,” Tom says.