Software: Those Who Deliver – And Those Who Do Not
Apr 30, 2017 by Armory
All users have one question in mind: Can you deliver?
In the unpackaged form it comprises these inherent questions:
- Is what you’re delivering the best I can get?
- Is what you’re delivering the fastest I can get it?
- Is what you’re delivering a better version of what I got last?
Your business’s answer to the question of “Can you deliver?” is paramount because software is the means to an end – whether you’re Facebook helping connect people or Google helping people find something. If a company is not able to deliver, it wouldn’t stay a company for long. Everybody knows Blockbuster’s story; they failed to deliver on being the best, the fastest, and most of all, improving.
You and your company probably have plans laid out on being the “best” – at least for now. But staying the best? That requires continuous hard work; repeated learning and internalizing all lessons but most of all integration of what you’ve learned into the next delivery.
On an organization-wide level this means the practice of continuous delivery (CD). Feedback and metrics you gather should be used immediately for your delivery the next day.
You should always push for internal changes and updates no matter how infinitesimal because complacency is the catalyst for stagnation, and those who fail to adapt are destined to become extinct.
Example given: Blockbuster.
Your company’s biggest competitor isn’t some external organization: It is the version you were yesterday.
Are you being a better version of yourself today than what I got from you yesterday?
Can you deliver?
If you can’t, your users will abandon you. You broke the user’s trust by not delivering the best; now they want compensation for broken SLAs and you have a sinking feeling that they’re won’t renew the contract. When you lose their trust you lost out on more than their contract: You lost your brand image and it’s cost you brand equity. This pain will be further compounded by your competitor swooping in and delivering what you were preparing for the user because they integrated yesterday what you learned today.
Yes, yesterday. Your organization should have been working yesterday to make the tweaks and changes that should have been live today. Not once a year, not once a month. Today. Because if you did not get that newest version in front of the user today, how do you know if they will be happy with it? Your once-a-quarter update failed to please them and now you ask them to wait another quarter for this next “update that will totally make everything better” again?
In a software-first world, a company an only be as agile as its ability to get code in front of its users. The most honest conversation between users and companies is when a company takes the user’s feedback and iterates upon it. High-performing companies treat deliveries as an opportunity to learn, and so they opt to deliver as fast as possible so their next iteration is better. This comes with the added bonus of being able to rollback changes easily due to the smaller sizes of each change, and quicker identification of the problems.
Armory understands that CD is a daunting task. Your response to your users should be quick and won’t be muddled in its delivery: such as pushing out an update that worsens the situation. We’ve developed an enterprise package of Spinnaker for companies that care about their deployments and the delivery of it. Spinnaker helps you deliver fast, safe, and boring.
Armory helps you deliver. Our answer to you: Yes, you can deliver.
