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Value by any other name would smell as sweet…

I’m a nerd

And I say it with pride!

When it comes to work, I’m a very specific type of nerd. I like to think about, talk about, and learn about ways product teams can be more effective and efficient at capturing and delivering value. I know, really nerdy…but I love it!

As a nerd does, I tend to stay up to date with the latest and greatest trends in the product development world. Sometimes just to see what crazy echo chamber talk is coming out of Silicon Valley.

Which, by the way, is typically…

overly

complex

adaptations

of

foundational

product

development

practices

You should try it. It’s soooo cool

One of the latest examples of a what’s old is new again trend that is going around in the product world is being “Value Driven”.

The basic concept behind the new buzz phrase, is ensuring the team is focusing work around the things that actually deliver something that is valuable to the customer and the valuable business.

For me, this is the core reason a product team should even exist…deliver value to the customer…capture value for the business. I’ll take the Value Exchange System for 1,000 Alex!

Solve a few problems they said…make a little money they said

And if you’re old school like me, the new trend made me think of the old business quote:

“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency that which should not be done at all” — Peter Drucker

Which is cool and all…but both of the new and old concepts in this straightforward way aren’t super actionable.

So, here’s a way to think about the new “Value Driven” movement, and that Peter Drucker quote, that I believe is a little more helpful:

Turn it into a few questions…

“What is the most valuable thing we could do for our customers right now?”

• Solve a problem? Relieve a pain? Serve a need? Create a gain? (aka: new product, feature, etc.)

“How might that value, turn into value for our business?”

• Increased usage? More customers? Larger market share? (aka: more money)

“How do we measure and understand value is increasing?”

• For the customer? For the business? (aka: success metrics)

These three questions are really…valuable. They allow you to quickly get to the root of what you really should be working on, but even better, they might get you to the point of asking “why are we doing this, instead of that first?”.

Asking these simple questions and then socializing the answers with the team is a great way to understand and align on what’s truly valuable for the customer and the business.

Try it. See what happens