The Value of Consistent Development Process and Frameworks for Product Teams
Process yields freedom and simplicity
My teams and I went through Professional Scrum training last week and I was struck by the simplicity and intuitiveness of the framework for agile development. Further, after the training I internalized the strong value of frameworks and process for teams in general.
At Alchemy, we’ve always been “loosely agile” as an organization, generally releasing increments of software following a 2-week sprint timebox but doing so largely without any formal training other than the drive to deliver for consumers by releasing working software in the market versus merely talking about it inside the walls of an office.
In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink describes his SEAL Task Unit’s initial approach to clearing buildings in Ramadi, Iraq. They would burst into a room, haphazardly and chaotically search and gather evidence, most of the time successfully collecting contraband. The problem, however, was that their process was sloppy and disorganized (thereby putting soldiers at risk) and they usually failed to collect reliable evidence for court cases against insurgents. However, when his unit introduced a simple framework and process of ownership and routine room clearance, the unit increased in stability and safety.
I often hear young teams or small teams tell me that process is “too restrictive” or feels “too corporate”, especially in an agile world.
One mistake young teams make early in their life cycle is to not introduce process soon enough.
Not having a reliable and repeatable process or operating framework can introduce great risk to your team and your organization, especially if you are introducing a counter-culture movement within your corporation.
Product process is not the death of a startup, and it’s certainly not the death of agile. In fact, it’s process itself that serves as the foundation of the framework for building in a complex environment. Process delivers:
- Predictable outcomes or early alerts (One can’t improve what one can’t measure … and predictable outcomes build a baseline foundation to compare performance over time which can yield early alerts to problems if any).
- Simplicity (Routine process will help reduce cognitive load of the team, thereby allowing team members to focus energy on more value-creation activities).
- Trust with stakeholders, sponsors, investors, employees & customers (Process introduces a level of maturity to an organization, signaling that its leaders understand the value and aim to improve by introducing consistency).
- Shared language & framework, Common expectations (For teams to be successful, there must be an agreement on the “how” a work will get done. A baseline framework can serve as an information (or formal) agreement that the teams commit to working in one specific manner).
- Autonomy (With guardrails in place, a team member can solve for anything within the guardrails without having to ask permission each time).
- Flexibility (It’s much simpler to step-change a process when the team is starting from a common understanding of what they’re currently doing and how its approached.)
- Scale! (Process can be communicated and trained which can help a new team member step into a job and hit the ground running).
For newly forming teams: commit to process. There are many to choose from! Commit to regularly reviewing and improving the process. I promise you will be stronger and more sustainable if you do.
