Design and Delivery: Engineering Effectively

The term "engineering" is here intended to describe the realisation of a product or service line from concept to cash to retirement. Ideally, one individual - whether called "product owner" "value stream manager" or "chief engineer" it doesn't really matter - should own this responsibility.

Value Stream Manager (Chief Engineer)

The Chief Engineer (or Value Stream Manager) combines leading with engineering to deliver effective value stream management for a software-intensive product or service line. A Chief Engineer should have a vision for the product or product line and be responsible for realising it. He/she acts as an internal "customer" of the functional areas, including development teams. This role ideally combines sales, marketing and communication skills with an in-depth technical knowledge of the development process. There are, in fact, few people who can encompass this range. The expert engineering workforce therefore need to recognise the Value Stream Manager as a key stakeholder in the development process. This means ensuring the Value Stream Manager has sufficient knowledge and support to enable them to maximise their effectiveness.

If it matters, measure it

Agile development delivers incrementally, continually testing and adjusting assumptions about what the user requires from the software under development. However, without disciplined management of value and knowledge, Agile development itself can manifest wasteful behaviour. This is why there is increasing interest in the synergy between Agile methods and CMMI process discipline to deliver both efficiency and effectiveness.

Poorly understood measurement practices consistently ignore the lessons of the last thirty years. Failure to use sound, repeatable measurement practices means the stakeholders reliant on the software component of a business project have no assurance of value for money, and developers are not capturing knowledge effectively. Measurement is only waste if it is done for its own sake. If it matters, measure it. If you measure it, use the metrics.

Set-based, concurrent development

The delivery of value from software intensive projects often fails right at the outset with an assumption that detailed requirements can be captured up-front. An approach which explores a number of solution options and keeps the maximum number of options open for the optimum length of time enables a collaborative dialogue on defining value to develop between user and developer. This approach requires rigorous value stream management, including the planning and scheduling of key integrating events which draw in stakeholders as necessary. Such key integrating events represent the last responsible moment for decisions to be made and choices to be selected. All the evidence necessary for an informed decision to be taken at this point must therefore be available. Once an integrating event has passed, it is not possible to backtrack. The whole team will be committed to the decisions which have been taken (see "responsibility-based planning").

A team delivering effective set-based concurrent development is a truly empowered team.