Organizations that are shifting to long-running, product-based environments can utilize several strategies to align and coordinate product management. Three strategies include, but are not limited to, the following (see also Figure X4-3):
Figure X4-3. Supporting Strategies for Continuous Value Delivery
- Establish stable teams. Instead of disbanding the team when initial development is complete, use that team to sustain and evolve the product with the designated product owner or person within the team reflecting the customer perspective. This removes the need for knowledge transfer and reduces the risk of future enhancements being delayed due to a loss of tacit knowledge.Long-standing teams also develop better market awareness, customer insights, and customer empathy than short-term teams. This helps with maintaining customer focus and customer loyalty and builds competitive advantage. When people know they will be responsible for maintaining and enhancing a product, they are less likely to take shortcuts to get something ready for release. As a result, quality, maintainability, and extensibility are often improved with long-serving teams rather than with teams that develop then handover products. These factors, in turn, contribute to creating value and sustaining value delivery.Partners or contractors who develop initial products for deployment on a customer site incorporate effective change management to ensure customers have the capabilities to maintain the product once it is transitioned. Part of transition planning can include discussions on building a team within the receiving organization that can support and evolve the product over its life cycle.
- Use incremental guidance and funding. Instead of predefined project durations or annual budgets, consider more frequent reviews (such as quarterly) and funding for the next quarter. With more frequent evaluations and funding, the business is in closer control of overall progress, direction, and decision making.Similar to venture capital funding, regular reviews of delivered value allow direct funding toward products that are providing expected value and reduce or curtail investment in underperforming initiatives. Such funding models enable organizations to pursue new market opportunities and capitalize on successful endeavors while limiting exposure to the inevitable percentage of new initiatives that fail.
- Utilize program management structures. Practitioners operating with stable teams that support customer-centric products can apply program management constructs for managing long-running initiatives. Programs align well with adjusting to market changes and focusing on customer benefits. They are also typically much longer running than a single project.The Standard for Program Management addresses ongoing priority changes as follows: “The primary difference between projects and programs is based on the recognition within programs that the strategies for delivering benefits may need to be optimized adaptively as the outcomes of components are individually realized. The best mechanisms for delivering a program’s benefits may initially be ambiguous or uncertain.”This acceptance of up-front uncertainty, need for adaptation, focus on benefits, and longer time frames may make programs a better fit than projects for many organizations managing product delivery.Many traditional product industries, such as infrastructure, aerospace, and automotive, use program management guides and frameworks. These industries utilize programs for directional alignment and integration of component activities, such as programs, subprograms, and project activities. For example, an organization with a technology platform can use program and product management to prioritize and oversee capabilities that will maximize the platform’s return on investment over its lifetime. A stable, continuous development team can work on customer-focused, value-adding features and functions. Project teams then deliver equipment upgrades and interfaces with new or enhanced systems. Operational teams can troubleshoot user interface issues and help customers adapt to new features. When program structures already exist in organizations, shifting to those structures for product management does not require reorienting everyone to a new way of thinking or working.
Table X4-2. Unique Characteristics of Projects, Programs, and Products
Organizations taking an integrated view of project and product management can benefit from examining program management frameworks as a stepping stone. Programs are much better aligned with product thinking through their acceptance of up-front uncertainty, need for adaptation, focus on benefits, and longer time frames.
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