Better ROI from Software Development

In last weeks episode I talked about software testing - predominantly around automation to aid in flow of delivering value to your customer.

One point I touched on in the episode is that you cannot, and indeed should not, aim or expect to test everything.

While I can understand an expectation or a desire to test everything 100% - it simply isn't feasible.

Pre-release testing is to gain enough confidence to put it live.

The second half of that is post-release Monitoring.

And it is Monitoring that I want to cover in this episode.

In this episode I want to talk about testing, why it is important for ROI and what types of testing can be done.

Back in episode 10, I briefly mentioned the State of DevOps reports as part of the introduction to DevOps.

In this episode I want to spend more time reviewing the 2019 report

In this short episode, I want to introduce a book that I feel that every executive should read.

I started writing about how to get better ROI from Software Development back in 2016.

This was as a direct aim to educate the executive level on how to interact, with better results, with IT - and predominately software development.

Like many, I've felt that the relationship between IT and the Business had become dysfunctional - with neither party happy with what the other brings to the table. Both parties becoming frustrated with the other.

I've spent many years researching, writing and speaking on how to address this dysfunction.

And I really wish I'd had this book.

... To be honest, I wish I'd written this book.

I'm finding it a great companion piece to my own work and recommend it highly to any listener to this podcast.

In the last five episodes I've introduced a number of terms to help us move away from the traditional software development practices.

In episode 6, I introduced the Minimum Viable Product as a way to rethink our traditional ideas of waterfall style software projects. I recommend using MVP as a way to approach the traditional problems of unknown benefits, unknown costs and unknown risks.

In episode 7, I introduced Lean as a backup to the mind set behind Minimum Viable Product. Lean's strong manufacturing pedigree stands out as a proven method of reducing waste, delivering faster throughput and ultimately value to the customer.

In episode 8, I introduce Agile as a complementary mind set to back up Minimum Viable Product. I introduced the Agile Manifest; the commitment behind much of the work in the Agile movement since 2001. I showed how the manifestos recommendations aligned with Lean and MVP.

In episode 9, I introduced the Cloud as a key enabled to support the adoption of Minimum Viable Product, Lean and Agile. I talked about the value that the flexibility of the Cloud can provide - along with the potentially market changing opportunities made available by initiative services the Cloud makes available.

And in the last episode, episode 10, I introduced DevOps as a set of practices and process that build on a Lean & Agile heritage. I also introduced the State of DevOps report as providing evidence that DevOps is helping organisations meet and exceed their goals.

In this episode, I want to take a step back and address some of cultural issues that these episodes generate.

Over the last couple of episodes;

I've introduced the concepts of Minimum Viable Product as a way to think about software development to improve your return on investment.

I've then introduced Lean and Agile to provide background and backup for why that Minimum Viable Product mind set works.

And in last weeks, I introduced the Cloud as an enabler to Minimum Viable Product in practice.

In this episode I want to introduce one last term in this set of episodes - DevOps

In the last couple of episodes I've introduced the concepts of Minimum Viable Product, Lean and Agile.

I believe these help us to adjust our mind-set to one more conducive to getting Better ROI from Software Development.

In this episode, I introduce the Cloud; which I believe enables some core practicalities that our new mind-set requires.

In the last couple of episodes I've introduced the concepts of Minimum Viable Product and Lean Software Development.

In this episode I want to introduce Agile.

Along with Minimum Viable Product & Lean Software Development - Agile - along with Cloud & DevOps which I'll pick up in the coming weeks - provides a great introduction on how to get the Better Return from your Software Development Investment.

In the last episode I introduced the Minimum Viable Product.

I personally see Minimum Viable Products being related to Lean Principals.

I'll give you an introduction to Lean in this podcast - and where appropriate, tie it back to the Minimum Viable Product.

In my last podcast I talked about how you should be considering investment in software development as volatile experiments – and that they should be managed as such.

In this podcast, I’ll introduce the concept of Minimal Viable Product (MVP) a tool that can help you manage that volatility in an experimental manner.