Quote from the ITSM Value Streams book: keep options open as long as possible
Concept
It is expensive in terms of time, effort, resources and cost to change a decision when it is in a later stage of development and implementation than when it is on the design board.
Aspects to consider
Solution development is an inherently uncertain process. There are various factors that could contribute to change in scope due to changing business needs or technology changes. Also, innovative new systems have, by definition, never been developed before, so there is no guaranteed path to success. There is wastage to roll back an implemented decision and to remove the footprints of a wrongly deployed solution. The new solution may require change in working practices, retraining staff and support teams and educating end users on how to use the service.
Traditional, sequential, stage-gated development practices drive developers to quickly converge on a single option – an agreed point in the requirements and design solution space – and then modify the design until it eventually meets the full system intent. Everyone feels good that they have the right requirements and the right design. At least for a while. Indeed, this can be an effective approach – unless, of course, one picks the wrong starting point. Then subsequent iterations that are done to refine that solution can waste time and lead to significant delivery problems.
Possible practices
To avoid this issue, a set-based design (SBD) approach could be used in which developers cast a wider design net initially, considering multiple design choices at the start. After that, they continuously evaluate economic and technical trade-offs, they eliminate the weaker options over time and ultimately converge on a final design, based on the knowledge gained to that point. This process leaves the design options open for as long as possible, converges when necessary and produces more optimal technical and economic outcomes.
You can get the book with a discount by ordering it at: https://lnkd.in/e-N6Qkws
The co-authors of the ITSM Value Streams book that I had the pleasure to work with are Akshay Anand, Mark Smalley and Rajiv Dua
#itsmvaluestreams #bcspublishing
