For every hour spent building value, spend 3 hours integrating it into the product
What would happen? How would our customers benefit?
What would happen if for every hour spent building something, we spent 3 hours integrating it into the product?
- Would it help ensure that the stuff we add fits into our customer’s workflows?
- Would it help us revisit the architecture and connections in our existing products?
- How much “extra” time would it take to achieve? Should it be built into estimates and scope up front?
Integration is complicated. It requires us to take what exists, figure out where the new thing fits, and make a new picture for our customers. It’s a re-architecting of the product value, and requires us to talk with other people and teams, compete with backlogs, timing, etc.
When you have people with mad skills to build, and a deployment system to push out product 400+ times per day, it can be powerful but slippery. Speed can take over, and things can start to get disjointed. When you have 30+ product teams working for the same customer, it can be a beast that’s extremely hard to tame.
But isn’t it important enough? While not everything that’s hard is important, it sure feels like it’s a decent rule of thumb. Think about prioritization. The big important things that have the most downstream impact, take the most effort. Would baking in the integration hours help us stay more vigilant in this area?
As HubSpot continues to be successful and grow, I’m spending a little more time thinking this way. Revisit the iA if you have to. Do whatever it takes to build the connections that make it feel like it’s one harmonious system. If it slows down delivery, that’s a good thing if it means our customers are taken care of.
When we start to think in this way, it promotes coordination and the re-architecting of value as the product evolves.
Hit me up with any comments, and may the force (of progress) be with you☺︎
