1. What challanges does Adams-Woodford face as he develops his five-year product
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Question
1. What challanges does Adams-Woodford face as he develops his five-year product roadmap?
2. How do product and software development methodologies influence a firm's ability to respond to
market demands?
3. What benefits did Pearson realize in making the shift from a waterfall process to an Agile one? What
downsides might be associated with this shift? What firm or market circumstances are more likely to
benefit from a Waterfall or Agile methodology?
4. What are some of the things Greg should consider as he evaluateswhether to continue to focus on the
SuccessMaker product versus becoming involved in a company-wide Agile initiative? Which
approach should Greg pursue? How might he optimize this approach?
5. Within the SuccessMaker team, should Greg agree to follow the recommendations from his
developersto move from Serumto Kanban? Shouldhe also push to move all the remainingteams (the
content/curriculumteam) to Serumor Kanban? What metrics should he use to evaluate his decisions?
Explanation / Answer
1. Challanges does Adams-Woodford face as he develops his five-year product roadmap
Product and software development methodologies influence a firm's ability to respond to market demands
New products often fail because of unanticipated market shifts that result in missed opportunities and misused channels of distribution. Failures also occur because companies miscalculate their own technological strengths or the product's technological challenges. These potential problems often crop up in the latter stages and result in delays, redesigns, or poor quality products.
Companies are constantly seeking ways to avoid these pitfalls. One solution is new product development maps that chart the evolution of a company's product lines. This historical perspective helps the firm to identify and analyze functional capabilities in a systematic, repetitive fashion that allows for the development of linkages and the identification of resources for new endeavors. These maps can direct the firm to new market opportunities and point out technological challenges.
Aggregate plans for projects offer another solution. Rather than viewing each new product development project individually, they consider all of the new product development projects under consideration by the firm. This is particularly important in firms with hundreds of new product development projects going on at the same time. Projects are categorized according to resources required and contribution to the firm's bottom line. Aggregate project plans enable management to improve the management of new product development by providing greater control over resource allocation and utilization. These plans help to point out where capabilities need to be improved, how sequencing projects may help, and how projects fit with the firm's development strategies.
3. Benefits did Pearson realize in making the shift from a waterfall process to an Agile one
Agile came about as a solution to the disadvantages of the waterfall methodology. Instead of a sequential design process, the Agile methodology follows an incremental approach.
Developers start off with a simplistic project design, and then begin to work on small modules. The work on these modules is done in weekly or monthly sprints, and at the end of each sprint, project priorities are evaluated and tests are run. These sprints allow for bugs to be discovered, and customer feedback to be incorporated into the design before the next sprint is run.
The process, with its lack of initial design and steps, is often criticized for its collaborative nature that focuses on principles rather than process.
1. The Agile methodology allows for changes to be made after the initial planning. Re-writes to the the program, as the client decides to make changes, are expected.
2. Because the Agile methodology allows you to make changes, its easier to add features that will keep you up to date with the latest developments in your industry.
3. At the end of each sprint, project priorities are evaluated. This allows clients to add their feedback so that they ultimately get the product they desire.
4. The testing at the end of each sprint ensures that the bugs are caught and taken care of in the development cycle. They wont be found at the end.
5. Because the products are tested so thoroughly with Agile, the product could be launched at the end of any cycle. As a result, its more likely to reach its launch date.
Much like construction and manufacturing workflows, waterfall methodology is a sequential design process. This means that as each of the eight stages (conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, implementation, and maintenance) are completed, the developers move on to the next step.
As this process is sequential, once a step has been completed, developers cant go back to a previous step not without scratching the whole project and starting from the beginning. Theres no room for change or error, so a project outcome and an extensive plan must be set in the beginning and then followed carefully.
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