2nd in the Series: Objectives over Output
In a series of publications, Consequential is exploring ideas for new values for going beyond working code in agile product development. You can read our overview and introduction to this series here.
The original agile manifesto and its values pointed out many of the problems with software development that were present at the time. In creating our ideas for new values, we looked to do the same. Tech has eaten the world, and for this to be a positive thing we want to reframe and refocus what we value in its creation and how that can impact what gets put into the world.
In the spirit of our goal, disruption for the common good, we present our ideas for 5 values for the future of agile product development:
- Stakeholder conscious over customer-centric
- Focusing on objectives over measuring output
- Foresight over failing fast
- Collective responsibility over disjointed disempowerment
- Critical questioning over rigid rituals
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
Let’s look in more depth at:
From Measuring Outputs to Focusing on Objectives
There is a discussion taking place within the agile community about measuring outputs versus outcomes.
From our perspective, when thinking about positive social impact within product development, it’s not only about how much you’ve shipped or how many tickets or stories you’ve completed, but about what your original intent was — what objectives did you set that would determine if your outputs were a success? What were you trying to achieve?
Often, objectives get broken down into smaller, measurable indicators of how much stuff you’re producing, and those outputs come to dictate teams’ decisions instead of the real goal. This can put emphasis and incentives in place for the wrong things; as the saying goes — what gets measured gets managed.
For example, a start-up may have an objective to prove product fit in a certain market, and their chosen indicator is to reach 1000 customers. Their team then focuses solely on getting 1000 customers through any means necessary — like predatory data practices — obscuring if they’re getting traction because of the quality of their product. Or an internal IT service may want to prove it’s a useful resource, and the indicator they choose is the number of tickets they close. This incentivises teams to do the minimum needed to help and to close the ticket as quickly as possible — measuring only quantity rather than quality of service and undermining their usefulness, which was actually their goal in the first place.
Putting emphasis on output and away from intent is problematic for making responsible decisions that take businesses in meaningful directions. It can harm the original purpose of a business or a product, and incentivizes behaviour that’s damaging to stakeholders.
Objectives should be the compass and the main focus of teams, not the outputs that are only meant to be indicators towards the goal.
Emphasizing objectives rather than outputs should help teams not only focus on the big picture, but have more ownership and room to be creative. The process of setting objectives is also an important step in aligning people towards the same goal and ensuring they understand how their outputs are creating value that is meaningful to the business and its stakeholders.
The future of tech product development
It’s been almost 20 years since The Agile Manifesto was published, and it has changed so many aspects of how we work and create tech products. It’s in the pursuit of Continuous Improvement that we explore here the role of responsibility in agile and ideas for new agile values. We hope our ideas can help to positively shape the next 20 years of agile product development.
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Consequential does both big ‘I’ and little ‘i’ innovation to change the existing business landscape. This means we focus on large-scale systems change within business and tech, and strategy and innovation within individual organisations to build their businesses and products in more responsible ways.
