How To Become More Predictable As A Product Team

Written by Nick Otter.

Contents

• Introduction
  
• John Cutler
  

Introduction

This post from John Cutler was found interesting.

John Cutler

How to become “more predictable” as a product team:

• Work smaller
• Work together
• Work on less at once
• Start finishing, stop starting
• Regularly integrate your work
• Get feedback “early and often”
• Diverge at first
• Allow the design to emerge
• Focus on flow, adapt scope to time constraints
• Commitment to continuous improvement and learning
• Focus on support systems and tools
• Celebrate wins, build in some down-time
• Visualize the flow of work, bottlenecks, etc.
• Don’t worry about predictability. It is a byproduct

How NOT to become “more predictable” as a product team:

• Big-batches
• Work in silos and individual projects
• Pack quarters like a Tetris board
• Start new things when you’re blocked
• Parallelize work, and integrate later
• Treat your work as too precious to share
• Converge quickly on a plan
• Lock down designs upstream
• Invest more time in estimation
• Pressure teams to commit to deadlines
• Dedicate all energy to “the project”
• Ship and move on
• Visualize work against a calendar
• Worry about predictability. Make predictability the goal

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Thanks. This was written by Nick Otter.