The Power of an Increment

By Chantal Jenoure

The power of an increment lies within the opportunity to FAIL FAST.

At NCB, our Group CEO has always said that negative feedback is a gift from our customers. How so? Because they have given you an opportunity to fix whatever they don't like – to be better.

Unsplash Photo by Jud Mackrill

In Agile, if whatever we build is intended to meet a need or fix a problem, then at the heart of our delivery should always be the end user - our customers.

Their feedback is essential throughout the entire product development journey.

• It is crucial when we are defining the problem;
• when we have a concept of the solution in mind;
• when we have a design or mock-up of the implementation;
• when we have started to actually build the software; and
• before we are ready to deliver and "go-live".

Incremental delivery gives us opportunities

When we break up a solution and choose to deliver it in increments, it provides us with the opportunity of building, testing and delivering the solution, essentially, in pieces.

An increment is delivering a solution, piece by piece, with each piece tested for quality and functionality; instead of waiting until everything is 100% complete, before you put it in front of your customers.

2 key strategies to consider when delivering in increments:

• Employ a test and learn strategy

This helps to get your solution in front of your customers more quickly and frequently, so that the invaluable feedback they provide can direct your next moves. 

Ask questions like - what do you like, what don’t you like, what can we improve on – in order to gain a better understanding of your customers' perspectives.

Unsplash Photo by Redd

• Use the insights to decide where next to go

Customer feedback, oftentimes, provides us with quick wins or low hanging fruits that will take little effort to execute, yet, allows you to start maximizing on the returns sooner. 

💭 If your customers' feedback is not favourable, it provides you with the opportunity to tweak, pivot or change the solution you had in mind. If you are forced to do this, you are highly encouraged to explore implementing a test and learn strategy to ensure that you do not end up in the same predicament, after building a solution. 

💨 If your customers' feedback confirms that what you have built is perfect, then you proceed full steam ahead and you can consider adding more features to the implementation, later on.

Failing Fast is important

But even in executing these strategies, to fully unlock the power of an increment, it is important that the teams feel safe enough to Fail Fast. The earlier you find out that you are not on the right track or the solution you had in mind actually cannot work, the better. You will end up saving effort and money, which can be redirected into experimenting with a new approach.

But at the same time, I think we can agree that you can’t truly fail if you always learn a lesson from your failed attempt.

After all, with Agile, the journey of a fully implemented digital solution, begins with the release of a single increment.

What are your strategies for unlocking the power of an increment?