This is a very common question and there are ton of articles / books written on this topic. However, products / projects still fail, millions of dollars are wasted, heads get rolled, deadlines are changed and frustration continues. You think you have learnt from this failure, and you won't repeat these mistakes but when you get onto your next venture, you find that you are not only repeating these mistakes but also making a few new ones.
I don't think there can be a 'One size fits all' solution to this problem. But working in Consulting has allowed me to be part of different projects for different clients and look at this rather objectively. So this article is more of a documentation of all these findings. I want to focus on 'product development' here. Sales, pre-sales, marketing etc are separate functions and let's discuss that sometime in the future. Here are some of the common pitfalls I have come across:
1. Not sharing your problem statement / goal: As simple as it sounds but it's not surprising that most of the times, the team that starts working on a initiative is not aware of the end goal.
Many a times, team members have a very limited visibility of the project. This is sometimes needed given some products are confidential for their organizations. However, for the non-confidential gigs, it's pretty essential that everyone knows what they want to achieve and where are they fitting in the jigsaw. This clarity also helps everyone get a feeling of ownership. Otherwise, it's just another job for them. If you think of it, this is the essence of design thinking.
2. Bad Communication: Another cliche, but man, you should not be surprised about this being mentioned here. I call it as 'Communication Leakage'. What starts on top floor and what reaches at the bottom floor are two entirely different versions. How do you handle it? Again - making sure that everyone is aware of the end goal, everyone is able to listen to / understand the 'top floor version' in as simple terms as possible. This also means that 'top floor' needs to communicate in such a way that its 'bottom floor' is able to understand and relate with.
3. No right team in place: I totally agree with Jack Welch here. Finding a right team is 'the' most important aspect of a successful team. It's Synergy, stupid! You have to create a synergy in your team. I like to look for attitude and aptitude in my team members rather than qualifications. The soccer fans can easily relate this with 'Real Madrid' - the dream team. Your team can never be successful just by adding bunch of highly qualified superstars. You have to take efforts in building it. Look for modesty in the people, people who are passionate, ready to listen and share their opinions without worrying about political correctness. With the right recruitment process, and synergy in your team, you have laid a strong foundation for a successful initiative.
4. Final requirements: Now this is a holy grail. Software industry likes to believe that the good old Waterfall model is real. But it never is possible. No one knows all the requirements on day 1. Requirements always evolve! You can not go with the assumption that you will have all the requirements signed off within certain time-frame and people can not change those later. This is rigid, anti-creative and impractical. You got to be agile, you have to be ready to evolve as your product / project progresses and show some flexibility. For a successful relationship, product or anything in life, you have to adapt! The most powerful cultures diminished because of not being able to adapt. Here we are just talking about a simple product. So think about it.
5. No Leadership: Now we come to everyone's favorite whipping boy (or girl)! But it makes sense, you don't get to enjoy the icing for nothing. Leader is like a parent who makes sure that all his quarrelsome kids come to a table for dinner and finish their food without creating any mess. You have to understand that you are going to handle different departments with different interests. They are going to fight with each other, create hindrances, may not have bandwidth for this work etc. You have to wade through all these obstacles keeping your head and tongue completely in check and once you are really good at it, you don't have to read articles like this. :)
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