Joining the dots up is a way to suggest that everything is connected. For example the simplest model we can draw is.
But the reality is more like this:
Warning, this is a simplified view!
The reality is that in both cases the most important measurements are the simple ones that apply to figure 1. How long does it take me to get from Idea to Value, How much did it cost and what value did it deliver.
So if you are proposing a great idea for the way any one of the items in figure 2 is done, you need to express it in terms of the figure 1. For example, if you want to use TDD you are changing the relationship between code and Unit Test. Probably more, but this is enough for now. To get this understood you can propose the use of TDD because:
- It is a great agile idea
- It comes from the XP arena.
- Kent Beck and James Grenning say it is a great technique
- All my friends are using it
- It is really cool
- It has books written about it
But none of that will influence the decision makers. But what will have more chance of influence are statements like.
- It will reduce the time of Idea to Value by derisking the releases
- It will reduce the cost of Idea to Value by reducing defect fixing
- It will increase the value of the software by better user experience
You will of course need to provide something resembling evidence regarding these statements, or get some evidence. This is why small trials are useful. They are experiments to demonstrate and support such statements.
But as the network of connected paths grow, our view of the value stream becomes foggier. This is where the concept of systems engineering is important. Taking a true systems approach to this network of activities helps us avoid the situation called local optimisation, when what we want is global optimisation. This is well described in the theory of constraints as presented the “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldbratt.
In order to understand your network I encourage you to create a picture of it. Visualisation is a powerful tool and if you can’t draw the picture you probably don’t understand the situation.
With today’s approach to development getting more and more complicated, the effort to understand it is getting more difficult. This means the ability to predict the impact of change is also getting more difficult. But just hoping that what seem like good ideas actually are is not a good strategy.
You need to be able to join up the dots and understand how they interact. It still comes down to a few simple metrics that describe idea to value.
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