For work teams, the transition from project-based work to product-based work has a number of significant advantages, the most obvious of which is that it offers stability. Teams are assigned to a product and know that they are going to be able to continue developing that product for as long as the organization still feels that investment will generate meaningful value.
This helps team members become more familiar with the product itself, its users and its purpose for customers or internal departments. That in turn helps them develop more effective and efficient approaches to completing their work, resulting in a higher quality, better performing assets. Furthermore, team members will also be able to identify opportunities to add features and functionality to the backlog, further driving the value equation.
In addition, team members are able to develop stronger bonds with each other. While agile encourages stable teams to drive productivity, project structures can make it very difficult to maintain that stability with at least some team members being assigned to different initiatives over time. With permanent product teams, that problem is avoided, improving the understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as contributing to improved productivity.
Team members are also going to become more connected to their work, understanding how their efforts contribute to not just the success of the product, but also the success of their employer. This understanding helps them become, and remain, more engaged, a critical step given the current global challenges with employee engagement. The benefits of engagement are many, from a more positive working environment to improved performance.
Permanent teams and product-based development also allows work to be forecast more accurately. Anyone who has worked on projects knows that estimates can often be inaccurate leading to periods where additional hours are required to complete assignments, and other periods where individuals may be underallocated for weeks at a time. Product structures are more predictable with a regular cadence to releases, backlog reviews and customer feedback, which results in fewer peaks and troughs in workloads.
Of course, all of these benefits only happen if the product environment is well managed. Projects themselves are not inherently bad work structures, they just end up being difficult for organizations to manage effectively. With ServiceNow’s SPM (strategic portfolio management) solution, both projects and products are supported from initial approval through benefits realization, allowing organizations to work in whatever way works best for them and their teams.
Leveraging the NOW platform, digital products can be seamlessly managed through the development and delivery cycle into operations and support. Teams can see how their work is impacting the business, and leaders can validate that expected performance is occurring; a level of insight unmatched in the industry.
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