01

Value visualization

Understanding the business and economic value is challenging. However, finding a way for all stakeholders to visualize the value will help make the process easier. Therefore, the following five-step value visualization framework (VVF) concept will make it easier to understand the economic drivers of a project. 

Your business unit and IT team will have a clear directive to discuss, define, measure, and prioritize your software development initiative based on its ability to deliver expected value: 

• Define the units of value delivery  
• Define the value of the project in specific units 
• Define the "size"  
• Define the cost of delay of the implementation challenges, including the level of complexity, duration, etc.  
• Quantify the economic value once deployed  

Using the VVF model at the beginning of the software development project can determine its value. Then, it will serve as a metric for IT and the business unit to measure against through to completion.  

If technology can address your current challenges, then it's a good investment. And as a result, it can boost your business and increase its value. 

Tracking actual versus target values can make timely modifications to get the project back on track to achieve the desired objectives. 

02

Visualizing the value and quality

It is not uncommon for those individuals or departments with the most significant involvement in a project to be most concerned about the value. Unfortunately, in the case of a software development project, the development team is often caught up in meeting deadlines, staying within budget, and maximizing utilization, making it difficult to also focus on the software's business value.  

But also, what measures the value of any business, is productivity is efficiency—both measures of a person completing a task successfully. So, whether the mission is related to software development or internal or external user experience in production software – the focus is on getting important things done. 

• Quality is essential because it primarily affects customers or users and is a significant part of the company's business. 
• The IT team and business units shouldn't be the only ones who care about maximizing a software asset's value.  
• Most organizations rely on software today to run their operations; if it is not at its maximum value, it could negatively impact the botom lin.  

03

Maximizing value flow

Software development projects will be most successful if business value uses as the most important consideration in prioritizing workflow.  

The primary goal of this process is to develop software that addresses a customer's unique business or personal objective. 

Once established business value goals are achieved, the IT team and business unit need to monitor their progress jointly, tracking against the defined goals and making modifications accordingly. The VVF concept will help organizations to visualize the value throughout the entire software development lifecycle: maximizing the value flow.