The “Thin” Contrast Between Project-Centric and Product-Centric Business Approach
Nowadays, one of the key challenges companies are facing is to upgrade thinking and culture from a project level to a product level.
But where is the difference between those two? Why the second one mentioned is so essential? Let us explain…
Project-centric mindset
Project-focused planning and delivery is a universal approach that has been around for ages. The majority of large businesses from various industries, especially IT and software development, do spend a lot of time in projects and project management. They often have a PMO unit (or at least a bunch of dedicated and intransigent PMs).
Based on the project thinking approach, these folks’ chief focus is delivery (either of specific software, report, basically of anything). Consequently, the judgment is on the timeline and exact plan.
Further, when it comes to project management, we should say that the spotlight falls on the output, meaning it’s essential to measure the timeline precisely beforehand. The PMs are taking the specifications of something in advance, building up a schedule with milestones all along the way, and then smashing these end dates. 📣
But what if the assumptions were wrong? What if the timeline measurement is not accurate or the solution fails to achieve the outcome?
Product-centric thinking
Here comes the product-centric mindset, a radically different approach. Rather than centring on timelines and dates, it’s directed to the end results…
…which sounds much more challenging to put time limits around the delivery, at least beforehand, right?
And, even though many are suffering from the uncertainty of not having strict timelines, the biggest benefit of the product-centric mindset is the guarantee to get to the outcome more efficiently.
Furthermore, this approach produces a consecutive workflow to the product teams and continuous value to the end-users. It also coordinates the business strategy to software development and performance while allowing the teams to decide what is most advantageous for their product at the moment.
So…what’s the right approach then? 🤯 🙄
Well, both approaches include some level of project management.
The key is to make pledges and scheduling only at a point when we can do it with a high degree of confidence. So rather than committing to a specific track beforehand, we commit once we have proved what we are doing and have had a chance to understand what it will take. 💎
New Wave Digital is a 360-degree digital transformation & innovation agency that solves real business problems through the latest digital technologies. Reach out! 🚀
