Getting the Processes Right
What processes do you use to deliver products and services? There’s been lots of them over the years, many with a catchy acronym (OOP, Scrum, RUP, DAD, SAFe, LeSS, etc) and there’ll be many more in the future. All arrive with an evangelist or two who promise that this one will solve those big problems (you’ll deliver faster, cheaper, more!). This is the equivalent of buying the same running shoes that Usain Bolt used to break a world record and thinking that they’ll make you run fast.
Getting the process right isn’t about simply shoe horning the latest craze into your team, it’s about fitting the process to the business.
- Start with customers.
What are their needs and expectations? (For example, If your major customers are IT directors in the banking sector then they are unlikely to want 7 day sprint releases because of the compliance implications).
- Think through product types
The rigour of your process should be a function of risk, complexity and speed. Building equipment that surgeons will is very different from building an app that you hope will be the next candy crush saga. Your process should reflect this.
- Think team skills
Processes need people. Those people need the right skills. For example, if you adopt SAFe agile your team doesn’t magically gain the skill to write and refine user stories, prioritise a backlog, etc. Processes are a team discipline that need capability across the team
The product management lesson? Like the best teams, take a blended approach; think about the needs of your business and build the process that works for you