Managing Software for Growth: Without Fear, Control, and the Manufacturing Mindset

Starting with Just Enough

On my most recent project, I spent two weeks with the client trying to figure out what they needed to do. I drew some screen mock-ups and spoke with multiple people to get a feel for what their new software product should be. Along the way, I wrote down high-level features that I heard described, and categorized them. At the end of the exercise, there was about four months of work there. That was too much.

The client needed a reduced set of features in a fully functional application within six weeks, and then would decide about whether to grow beyond that, based on customer feedback. All of the features on the list were important, but everybody knew some had to go. I estimated there was room for at most 19 of the 45 ...