In today’s world, software applications can be managed at a lightning-fast pace. DevOps and continuous delivery can virtually eliminate any delays between application completion and delivery, allowing new and improved features as well as functionality to be in the hands of users, while generating value faster than ever before. But many organizations continue to unnecessarily throttle their abilities to deliver at speed by using project-based work approaches.
While the vast majority of organizations are now delivering software using agile approaches, the use of project structures is no longer appropriate. By packaging work in terms of a feature list, or as a set number of Sprints, organizations are creating arbitrary delays to the delivery of capabilities to customers and users. That’s why the shift from projects to products is becoming so important.
The premise of this shift is that software applications are viewed as self-contained digital products. They may be complete product offerings in and of themselves, or they may be support applications – the shopping cart application that powers an online marketplace for example. Instead of developing these applications using a series of sequential projects, they are developed using permanent, or at least semi-permanent, product teams.
Product teams work with a prioritized backlog, just as they would in a project structure, but items continue to be added to the backlog, and reprioritized. Work continues for an indeterminate number of Sprints and as long as the work continues to create more value for the application, funding continues. This change delivers a number of significant advantages for organizations.
One such advantage is that features and capabilities are delivered in a continuous stream, delivering practical value while demonstrating a commitment to invest. Teams are more effective because they have stability – team members get used to working with each other and avoid the disruption of the project cycle. Finally, organizations have an easier time forecasting resource availability because the permanent teams reduce the variables that need to be managed.
With so many benefits to a product-based approach, why aren’t more organizations committing to a project to product evolution for their digital assets? The simple answer is that they don’t have the ability to manage those structures effectively. Their processes and tools are structured around projects as the unit of work, and anything that alters that creates problems for them. That’s where ServiceNow comes in.
Our strategic portfolio management (SPM) solution doesn’t force you to work in outdated ways. It can adapt and adjust to how you want to work, integrating seamlessly with all work management tools and connecting the entire strategy and execution process from planning and objective setting to outcome management. With SPM you can work how you want to work, confident that you always have complete visibility and insight into what is happening.
Additionally, because of ServiceNow’s unique Now Platform®, SPM seamlessly integrates with IT operations allowing for a transparent flow from application development to delivery, operations and support. No other solution gives you the power to manage the transition to projects to products so efficiently and effectively.
