Beyond Cheap Numbers: Is Product Development Sustainable

As leaders of your organization, you are tasked with making strategic decisions that can have a significant impact on your company's growth and success. One of the most critical decisions you will make is choosing where to invest your resources, whether it's in product development, marketing, or sales. However, it's essential to be mindful of the consequences of these investments and how they can impact your bottom line in the long term.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend among organizations to prioritize transactions and quick wins over sustainable, long-term safe growth. This approach may yield short-term gains, but it often comes at the expense of product quality and customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to lost revenue and a tarnished reputation.

One area where this trend is particularly evident is in the realm of MBA-driven sales teams, who may make promises that are difficult or impossible for engineering teams to deliver. This can create a negative cycle where engineering is continually playing catch-up to the sales team's overcommitments, resulting in missed deadlines, subpar products, and unhappy customers.

While sales and marketing are essential components of any successful business, it is engineering that drives execution and ultimately delivers the product that your customers expect. Overcommitting on sales without taking into account the engineering side of things can lead to significant problems down the line, including delays, cost overruns, and compromised product quality.

Instead of focusing solely on transaction numbers and cheap deals, I urge you to prioritize product worthiness for excellence and execution to be in place. This means investing in the right people, processes, and technology to ensure that your engineering team has the resources they need to deliver high-quality products on time and within budget.

Furthermore, it is essential to understand the true cost of your products and the time needed to develop and deliver them. While it may seem cost-effective to cut corners or rush development to meet immediate sales goals, this approach can lead to significant long-term costs, including lost revenue, decreased customer satisfaction, and increased product support costs.

As a CEO, it's crucial to avoid falling into this trap and should focus on building products that can deliver revenue at scale while keeping total costs and timelines to a minimum. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Prioritize product development: It's essential to invest in developing quality products that meet customer needs and exceed their expectations. While it may take longer to bring these products to market, the long-term benefits of having a satisfied customer base will more than makeup for the initial investment.
2. Avoid overcommitting: Be mindful of making promises that your team cannot deliver on, whether it's to customers or investors. It's better to underpromise and overdeliver than the other way around, as this builds trust and credibility with your stakeholders.
3. Focus on customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is critical to building a sustainable business. Ensuring that your customers are happy with your product and their overall experience with your company will lead to repeat business, positive word-of-mouth referrals, and long-term revenue growth.
4. Keep an eye on costs: While it's important to invest in product development, it's equally essential to keep costs under control. Be mindful of the resources you allocate to each project and ensure that you're getting the most bang for your buck.

In conclusion, as a CEO, it's important to resist the temptation to focus on short-term gains and instead prioritize sustainable, long-term growth through quality product development and customer satisfaction. By doing so, you'll build a loyal customer base that will drive revenue growth and ultimately set your company up for long-term success.

It is common for CEOs to focus solely on revenue and ignore other important factors, such as product scalability and total cost. This can be a grave mistake that can cost your company dearly in the long run. While generating revenue is undoubtedly essential, it is equally important to ensure that your product can scale and continue to generate revenue in the future.

CEOs must recognize the critical role of products in their company's success. If challenged to cut costs without escalating budgets, #tejasoft is the best bet to unearth IT waste, rework, and noise through our Technical Due Diligence services. By partnering with #tejasoft, CEOs can gain valuable insights into the Code Complexity, Engineering efficiency reality, and identify cost-saving opportunities that can drive sustainability & super innovation.