Every business aspires to develop high-quality software, but many businesses won’t find success in this arena. The cost to businesses from poor-quality software is estimated at more than $2.4 trillion in the US alone, according to industry research by the Consortium for Information & Software Quality.
To ensure high-quality outcomes with software development, it’s essential for businesses to be product-focused. A product-focused approach to software development means staying relentlessly focused on business outcomes first, then technology. The goal of product-focused software development is to always be making strategic investments that efficiently and cost-effectively result in software products that customers want.
Product-focused software development is fundamentally different from how most businesses tend to invest in software development. Most businesses tend to take a technically focused approach, where the business’s priority is to deliver a product that meets agreed-upon technical specs and an agreed-upon timeline; the business uses traditional project management techniques to achieve these endpoints. Consequently, project-focused software development is not focused on aligning development investments to overarching business goals and priorities. Moreover, there’s often not enough flexibility to enable the software product to morph, evolve, and expand as it’s being developed. Experimentation and creativity get short shrift as the business instead leans into predictable timelines and velocity.
Businesses that invest in product-focused software development can expect multiple advantages from taking this approach. Let’s explore the most important benefits of staying product-focused instead of technically focused during software development:
You Won’t Be Spending Money Needlessly
When businesses adopt a technically focused approach to software development, they’re essentially committing to a set budget at the upfront. The funds are pre-allocated to build a product that meets agreed-upon specs and an agreed-upon timeline. At the same time, it means that no one is focused on assessing if all of this money needs to be spent, or if it is being optimally spent.
A product-focused approach to software development requires businesses to be vigilant about building products that optimally resonate with customers. In other words, the original plans and timeline only get followed to the extent that the original scope of work remains the scope of work that maximizes ROI. Along the way, product-focused software development is unique in that it prioritizes flexibility, agility, and creativity. The software development process is able to morph and be tailored in real time, so businesses are able to pivot rapidly to deliver the most relevant, resonant products.
You’ll Stay Focused on Product Innovation
Innovation ideally should be a goal of every software development project. But with traditional technically focused software development, it’s more of a buzzword than something that is actually realistic to achieve. That’s because innovation during traditional software development tends to be limited to only what’s possible within the confines of the pre-established project’s boundaries.
By contrast, product-focused software development isn’t constrained by these same limitations. Innovation comes first and remains front and center. When the business identifies opportunities to pivot or expand or alter its goals, a product-focused approach enables businesses to easily implement these changes—without being constrained by the rigid controls and defined processes that are hallmarks of traditional project management.
You Can Alter Project Scope in Real Time Based on Feedback
During technically focused software development, businesses’ main focus is on delivering a completed, properly functioning product. Businesses typically build in some time to test the product and solicit feedback, but these steps don’t allow for unlimited opportunities to alter the scope and timeline of a project.
Product-focused software development isn’t impeded by these same limitations. Product-oriented teams are empowered to change course in real time, based on feedback they are continuously and proactively soliciting from end users and colleagues alike. In fact, a central tenet of product-focused software development is to be able to identify as early as possible what aspects of the product are not resonating with customers. Using these insights, the software development team can then immediately alter the project scope as necessary to get the best possible end result.
You’ll be Guaranteed a Strong Market Fit Out of the Gate
When businesses develop software via a technically focused approach, they aren’t focused on gauging how well the product will resonate with its target market until after the product is already built. That’s because this approach to software development tends to only provide limited opportunities toward the end of the project to evaluate market fit.
By contrast, product-focused software development calls on businesses to evaluate market fit continuously throughout the development lifecycle. Different teams, from marketing to sales to customer service to quality assurance to UX, are encouraged to weigh in with constructive suggestions and changes based on their understanding of customers’ priorities and preferences—even if these suggestions may radically alter project scope. As a result, product-focused software development consistently delivers products that are a strong market fit.
Final Thoughts
Product-focused software development is an incredibly important, strategic way to deliver high-quality products that resonate with customers. When businesses take a product-focused approach, they can expect to eliminate needless upfront spending, to stay focused on product innovation, to have the flexibility to alter project scope in real time based on feedback, and to be guaranteed a strong market fit out of the gate.
To learn more about how to apply a product-focused approach to software development within your organization, please reach out to the experts at Outcode. We specialize in helping our clients steer clear of a narrow, technically focused approach to software development. We look forward to guiding your organization in deciding if, when, and how to pivot from what you originally envisioned, so you consistently deliver the best-possible outcomes.
