How To Become More Predictable As A Product Team

Written by Nick Otter.

Contents

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

Thanks. This was written by Nick Otter.