Without Code There Is No Business

In the previous episode I told the tale of two walls and two ladders.

The walls represented business objectives.

The ladders represented code or software.

The moral of the story was this:

It's more important to pick the right WALL than to have a great LADDER.

In other words…

it’s more important to achieve a real BUSINESS GOAL than to produce beautifully crafted, elegant CODE.

Having saying that…

… You may have spotted there is a small problem

with the “wall and ladder” model.

The problem is this:

If you're standing at the bottom of the wall,

you can’t see over it.

It’s impossible to know with 100% certainty

What’s on the other side of the wall.

The same is true of software development.

We might think that that a particular new feature

will be a big success…

but we can’t know for sure without building it and putting it live.

Here’s a new wall for us to consider.

Will it be a good for us?

Will it lead to great riches?

It’s impossible to know.

We have no choice but to start building.

After a lot of time a time and expense, our beautiful staircase is finally ready.

And now, at last, we can climb the stairway and discover what lies beyond.

Alas, we’ve built a stairway - not to heaven - but to certain death.

Not only have we wasted time and money, but we have a team of disgruntled developers

annoyed that the beautiful software that they have crafted won’t even be used.

Let’s rewind time....

And start again.

We’re back at the bottom of the wall.

Our job is get to the top of that wall ...

and this time…

we want to do it as quickly and as cheaply as we possibly can.

A ladder would be a good choice…

… even if it’s a bit rickety.

A pile of boxes would also work.

We scramble to the top… and we take a quick look over the edge.

The news is not good.

But that’s okay:

• it didn't take as long to get here
• we didn't spend a lot of money
• … and we didn’t build any “emotional attachment” to our beautiful creation

Which means that...

• We have the TIME
• we have the MONEY
• and we have the WILL

… to try another wall.

Let’s try another wall.

This time the news is…

well, rather excellent.

We have found a wall that leads to great riches.

And this is where things get really interesting:

We now in a position to upgrade.

We can now AFFORD to swap our piles of boxes...

... for an aluminium ladder

… or a beautiful staircase

… or even a fabulous escalator

I hope the message is clear.

When you’re building something new,

Avoid the temptation to build it with “everything on”.

Instead, keep it bare bones.

Get it built.

Get it live.

That’s when you’ll know if it’s a winner.

If it turns out to be a dud… give yourself a pat on the back:

you wasted the MINIMUM of time and money.

If it turns out to be a success… give yourself a pat on the back... And feel free to upgrade.

Talk to you next time.