Three “Right” Ways to Develop Your Product
When you balance all three, great products emerge.
Is it more important to build the “right” thing, build the thing “right,” or treat the team “right?”
I have heard many explain how building the “right” thing is paramount. As the argument goes, without the “right” thing, nothing else matters. This argument has merit. Consider if there is no market for the product we choose to build. Does it matter how well we build it or the level of engagement felt by our teams?
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology — not the other way around.”
— Steve Jobs
But assume the market has a need for our product. We can still get into trouble if we build to the need while ignoring quality and team health. It may not happen all at once, but in time, it will haunt us and threaten the success of our product.
When you focus on only one or two of these dimensions, you create a void. And it is easy to anticipate where things go awry when you don’t give each equal attention.
- Build a product with high quality and no customer need, and it becomes expensive shelf-ware.
