From Experience: Reaping Benefit from Speed to Market

Many companies have gained great benefit from a speed-to-market program. Others have tried but failed to achieve measurable, sustained value. Still others have not even tried, being concerned about adverse consequences. This article helps newcomers decide how to approach time to market. It first addresses some common fears about development acceleration, such as increased project expense and lapses in quality. An effective program overcomes these concerns, but it must do much more. It must stem from a statement, clear to all developers, explaining how faster development is tied directly to improved competitiveness and thus to higher profits for the company. A general corporate goal of a 50% across-the-board cut in cycle time will not do, nor will an underlying hope that faster development will improve developer productivity. To help establish a clear link from speed-to-market to profitability, I suggest calculating how much a week of delay impacts profit, and I show how to align a development acceleration program with corporate programs to improve quality or productivity. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.