SD Times article by Jason English
Most software developers work within project-oriented teams, since most companies are not startup vendors that can constantly reinvent themselves and deliver hot new products to market. Upgrades, integration and modernization projects carry forward a sizable estate of already coded software assets and third-party service dependencies.
I once pondered an alternative product-driven strategy for software organizations to behave more like high-growth software vendors, recasting their project managers as product managers. They would spend less time measuring time, and more time measuring the features they deliver.
Ostensibly, this product-oriented approach would cut down on endless initiatives and sprawling scope creep, by getting executives to reconsider the contributions of developers toward finite high-value products.
A finished product implies reusability, and higher potential value for more use cases than the work output of a project.
But lately we are seeing a second shift – from product-led to design-led strategy. Some of the founders of today’s fastest growing unicorn vendors emerged from design schools and creative industry backgrounds.
