A Parable

Charlie walked into the stereo store. He was looking to upgrade his old home system to something that sounds better. He had a nice budget and expected to be enjoying rich, full sound by evening.

He found a system more expensive than he had ever spent but still in his budget. It had the usual controls with a large volume knob, loudness and so on. It also had equalizer sliders that would physically move seemingly by themselves when he fiddled with some preset mixes. Wow, that was cool! There were also some controls that had to do with echo, which Charlie knew nothing about.

Right then, Dave, a store employee, came over asking if he could help Charlie make a selection. “How do these different knobs control the attributes of the sound?” asked Charlie.

“Good question,” said Dave, with a smile. “I find that the sound output improves if I turn up the volume.”

Just turn up the volume?

“The volume improves the sound? What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t really worry about all these other knobs. If the music is loud enough it sounds good enough to me.”

Charlie scratched his head. “Wouldn’t the music eventually get too loud to enjoy?”

“I don’t really understand how these other controls work,” said Dave chuckling. “It gets to be too much work to figure out what I should or should not adjust. So, I just turn up the volume until it sounds good.”

Puzzled, Charlie asked “Then why are all these other adjustments provided on the system? I could just buy that cheap system over there without all these controls.”

“Yep, you could do that,” agreed Dave, adding with a big smile, “But this system is so much louder!”

Is More Better?

Most organizations seem to have a “volume knob” that is the default action to get more output from anyone. And the “knob” is labeled “overtime,” “extra hours” or “startup mode.” Yes, these high quality people will make more output by working longer hours. Seems a waste of talent and creativity. Wouldn’t it be a better use of people to do what it takes to get the best outcome for the least amount of output?

Adjust The Treble

The most powerful way to a great product lies in deciding what to not create. The highlights and beautiful clearness of thrilling features can be muddied by trying to do too much. By adjusting the “treble” of your product, your teams can focus on giving the customer what they really want.

Drop The Bass

Teams running at full speed and overtime don’t have the time to create a technologically solid foundation. Unit tests, automated regression tests and continuous integration provide the “rhythm keeping bass” to your product. Ignoring the foundation of technical excellence leaves your product on shaky standing, no matter how many hours people work.

Watch The Levels

Every system of production has a constraint, that point where the capacity to work is restricted. Like the level display on a stereo, visualizing the flow of work through your teams can reveal the constraint. Changing your system to remove the constraint, even just “moving the equalizer slider” a little bit, has higher long term benefits than working harder.

Surround Sound

The value of being a true team can be unlocked by “surrounding” features and stories together instead of defining ways for individuals to work by themselves. Establish team work in process limits and other work agreements to create collaborative work.

Beyond The Volume Knob

There are many other possibilities to improve the outcome of your work. How about the “tuning” knob of validation, finding out if that feature really is what your users want. Or maybe the “balance” knob of pair programming. There are so many things teams, managers and organizations can improve that allows you to keep a sustainable pace.

Rich and Full, Not Loud

Bad sound does not improve with more volume. More output does not improve the quality nor the richness of your product. It’s just more. Find the “knob” in your organization that will enable “rich and full music” to your customers’ ears!

Pretend you didn’t have a “volume knob,” that people can work extra hours. What other product building adjustments can you make to create an even better “sound?”

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