Value

Everything begins with value. We must have an understanding of the value in everything we do, every software solution we deliver, every tool we build to help us deliver, every decision we make in how we approach that work.

Understanding value is important in that we must be able to sell the work. Product Owners with their agile team must be able to sell the rest of the company on the solutions, to sell the value of the Stories and Features, and the rest of the team can help them frame it. The team will identify opportunities to improve delivery, amd must be able to sell the Product Owner on the value of that improvement.

But not everything has value. We need to be honest about that. Some things have so little value that it is not worth doing. Some things seem to have little value, but a value that accumulates over time to become a great value.

Defining value

Value can be defined in many ways. Value could be in monetary terms, such as the ability to sell or ship more products. These can be the easiest to quantify. Products have a monetary value, and it is possible to create estimates for how much we can earn over time.

Value can be in cost avoidance. Examples of cost avoidance include compliance requirements, where fines and fees can be levied when out of compliance. Also

• compliance
• security
• efficiency

These measures of value can apply not only to the business, but can also apply to the software delivery team. This gets into discussions on DevOps and Supportability.

Challenge

While this may seem quite simple and apparent, it is often the hardest thing to actually grasp. We are human, and thus are flawed. There is a natural tendency to overstate the value of our ideas, to commit deeply based on our own personal convictions. This can even lead us to seeing value where there isn’t any.

This can also lead us to devalue ideas from others that run contrary to our own preconceptions. This can lead us to be skeptical of ideas that are new to us, and even avoid considering ideas we don’t fully understand.

There is no simple solution to this challenge, because people are not simple. Focusing on concrete numbers, whether in hours or in dollars, can help drive out the personal.

Various frameworks have ways of defining value[1], ways of calculating it [2], and focusing on outcomes [3].