Below Water Level

TLDR
The value is not in the software anymore but the “thinking processes” that produce the solution. Defining a problem well is the first step in such a thinking process.

What “Value” Used to Mean

Capital is not abundant anymore. AI is collapsing the talent stack. The end result is the compression of time-to-market(TTM).

There is more to delivering value than being the first or being the fastest. I.e. one could deliver the wrong solution fast. If one delivers the wrong solution, being first or fast is of no value. One could deliver the right solution slowly. That is of some value. One could deliver the right solution fast, that would be the best value. In all three cases, some factor other than short TTM is defining that which is of value. That value, now, more than ever before, is in the thinking process.

What is “Value” Starting to Mean

In the last two decades, because short TTM was hard to achieve, speed or rather time-to-market used to be the sufficient condition to win. If one could raise tons of money or one knew the secrets to operating with speed, short TTM could be achieved. With AI assistance, it seems time-to-market is now a commodity.

In the hierarchy of value, a short TTM has gone down the ladder. It has gone from being sufficient to becoming a necessary condition. This in turn means that sources of value need to be found elsewhere. Only having a fast TTM does not suffice anymore.

A Short TTM is of No Value by Itself

When we charge a price to a customer, they expect some value in return. A notion that is popular among software development companies is that the more extensive the solution, the more it offers, the more “use cases” it supports, the more users it supports, the cooler the tech is, the more value the product will add and  in turn, the more price it can command. This is the wrongest notion among all that are held by software teams. Just because it can be built quickly, does not mean it should be. This is the old “short TTM” mentality at play.

Value is in More than the Solution

The value customers derive from a solution is not about the solution that we sell. The value is in the problem that is solved by the solution. All else being equal, the more intense the problem, the more value its solution provides.

This value also depends on how well the problem is solved by a solution. Therefore, the tighter the connection between the Problem and the Solution, the higher value the customer gets. The more coherent, that is, the more logical and consistent the solution is to the problem, the more the value derived by the customer.

That means, if it is about providing value to a customer or about gauging how well we are doing in terms of providing value, it pays to know what problem we are trying to solve.

Defining problems clearly and in a well-aligned manner is the goal of a thinking process. The quality of the thinking process is as much about rigor of the process as it is about culture.