This blog captures a conversation had with some delivery teams that were caught in a release framed delivery continuum and their quest to deliver meaningful value.
The conversation was triggered by a statement I threw at them and the questions that followed.
Statement
“Tasks build options that create capabilities that compose a business increment.”
This statement highlights a sequence of development or strategic thinking within a business context.
Tasks: These are the smallest units of work or actions that need to be completed. They are concrete, actionable steps that form the basis of building something larger.
Options: When tasks are completed, they provide options—opportunities or possibilities that can be leveraged in the next stage of development. Essentially, they represent potential pathways or choices for advancing capabilities.
Capabilities: When combined, these options build capabilities—skills, functionalities, or assets that the organization can utilize. Capabilities are typically more significant in scope and impact compared to individual tasks.
Business Increment: Once capabilities are established, they can be grouped together to form a business increment—a significant, valuable improvement or addition to the business. This increment should ideally provide measurable value or achieve a strategic objective.
First Question:
Can a business increment be built in a quarter (or next release period)?
Whether a business increment can be built in a quarter depends on several factors:
Scope and Complexity: Some increments are small and straightforward, while others require significant development and integration.
Resource Availability: The number of personnel, tools, and expertise available can accelerate or delay progress.
Prior Planning: If the groundwork (like gathering requirements, designing architecture, and initial prototyping) is already done, it becomes feasible.
Risk and Uncertainty: High-risk elements may introduce delays or require additional iterations.
Agility of the Organization: An agile organization with streamlined processes can potentially deliver a well-scoped increment within a quarter.
Practical Approach:
To determine if it’s feasible, break down the business increment into capabilities, estimate the effort for each, and map them against the available time and resources.
Second Question:
If not, how many capabilities that make business sense can be delivered?
If delivering the entire business increment in one quarter is not possible, the focus shifts to delivering smaller, valuable parts of it.
Prioritization: Identify the most impactful capabilities that align with business goals.
Modularity: If the increment is modular, prioritize the core components that can independently deliver value.
Incremental Delivery: Consider delivering partial solutions that offer immediate business benefits while continuing to develop other capabilities.
Third Question:
What options do we have to deliver these capabilities?
The options to deliver capabilities can include:
Phased Delivery: Break down the increment into smaller parts and deliver them iteratively.
Parallel Development: Utilize multiple teams to work on different capabilities simultaneously.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Approach: Deliver a basic version of the increment that covers the most critical functionality.
Partnering: Collaborate with external teams or vendors to speed up development.
Technical Debt Management: Balance new capability development with maintenance and technical debt reduction to maintain long-term efficiency.
Fourth Question:
What effort does it take to build options?
Building options involves:
Discovery and Planning: Analyzing requirements to understand what tasks can potentially create value.
Prototyping and Testing: Experimenting with different solutions to see which ones can form robust capabilities.
Risk Analysis: Assessing the potential success and failure of each option.
Resource Allocation: Dedicating the right people, time, and budget to explore and develop these options.
Effort Estimation:
Typically, the effort is a combination of time, resources, expertise, and iteration cycles. Each task or set of tasks must be evaluated in terms of complexity, dependencies, and readiness to produce meaningful options.
Summary:
The statement and questions revolve around the strategic breakdown of complex business goals into actionable, deliverable components. The focus is on creating a roadmap from tasks to business value, evaluating feasibility, and making practical decisions on what can be achieved within a given timeframe while maintaining flexibility to adapt and prioritize.
Agile Ways 