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When it comes to Agile product delivery, it is nothing but a customer-centric approach to building, defining, and releasing a consistent flow of valuable services as well as products to users and customers. In addition, it comes under the list of seven main competencies of the Lean Enterprise which is very vital to obtain the agility of the business. In fact, it is the specific assessment that supports each key competency that allows the company to assess its efficiency and proficiency. 

Why is Agile Product Delivery Important?

Companies should quickly increase their ability to deliver valuable products and services to achieve business agility. To ensure that the company is building solutions with Agile product delivery for the right customers at the right time, the enterprises should keep a balance between their execution focus and customer focus. As a matter of fact, these abilities create opportunities and are supportive for service leadership and sustained market. Have a look at the three dimensions to the delivery of the Agile product which are as follows:

Release on-demand and develop on cadence: Developing on cadence aids in handling the variability inherent in the development of the product. Moreover, from the development cadence, decoupling the release of value on-demand makes sure that the customers can obtain the things they need at the right time. As a matter of fact, Release on Demand seizes the processes as well as mechanisms with the help of which new functionality is released immediately and used into production to customers based on demand. It is the optimal option to make some products accessible to the market as soon as possible with a new functionality release. On the other hand, other products might enter the markets with different market rhythms that rule the most favorable release windows.  Few of the factors that can be affected when a company desire to release functionality are as follows:

• Responding to security updates and defects of the product
• Responding to pressures of competitive market
• Regulatory deadlines

Design thinking and customer-centricity: The application of design thinking makes sure that the solution is feasible, desirable, sustainable, and viable. Customer centricity keeps the customer at the center of all the decisions. In fact, customer-centricity is a method of undertaking business that aims to form positive engagements as the customers get the experience of the services and products offered by the company. In addition, it increases employee engagement, creates greater profits, and specifically satisfies the requirements of the customers and these goals can be accomplished by implementing the practice of Design Thinking. When it comes to Design Thinking, it is nothing but an iterative solution development process that makes sure the solutions are wished by users and customers throughout its lifecycle. 

Customer-centric companies motivate the team to do the following:

• Perceive the needs of the customers
• Focus on the customer
• Create entire product solutions
• Feel and think like the user
• Create lifetime value for customers

Design thinking is an integral part of customer centricity and includes:

• Designing the correct solution that makes you ensure the technical feasibility of the solution
• Perceiving the drawbacks that offer insights into the benefits and requirements of a favorable solution
• Make sure that the solution is sustainable as well as viable by managing and keeping solution economics in mind.

The Continuous Delivery Pipeline and DevOps: The Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) and DevOps build the foundation that allows companies to release whole or a part of value at any time to fulfill market as well as customer demand. Creating the competency to skillfully and reliably release value whenever needed includes acceptance of creating an automated Continuous Delivery Pipeline and the DevOps culture and mindset. Moreover, the Continuous Delivery Pipeline represents the automation, activities, and workflows required to conduct a new functionality right from ideation to an on-demand value release to the customer. The pipeline comprises four aspects including Continuous Integration, Continuous Exploration, Release on Demand, and Continuous Deployment. Furthermore, the pipeline’s first three elements (CE, CI, and CD) operate together to support the delivery of tiny batches of a new piece of functionality which are released based on market demand. DevOps is the implementation of a set of technical practices, a culture, and a mindset that renders solution elements to the user without operations support or excessive external production or handoffs.

Certain Things You Should Know About Agile Product Delivery

Check out some of the top things that you must know about SAFe Agile product delivery that is given right below:

Make Prioritization Essential

Features should be developed in priority order in the Agile framework. Of course, the top-ranked features need to be prioritized first. Then, as per the prioritization of their features, the stories are formed and divided into iterations. Then you can move on to the second vital feature and so on once you are done with the top features, then. These tasks are important as there is always a fixed timeframe in Agile that should be completed on time.

Undertake Story Estimation 

As a matter of fact, story estimation is actually done to break down the total work among the team consisting of Analyzers and Developers in a specific period of time.  In fact, there are various ways of story estimation including Rock-Paper-Scissors, T-shirt measuring, Voting. After all, the goal is to make the team know the importance of values and time and the owner of the product knows about the cost.

DoD (The Definition of Done)

As per the criteria of acceptance, the Scrum Team determines the “Definition of Done” for stories. In fact, it is an agreed set of items that should be accomplished before the completion of a User Story or project. Moreover, it acts as an official method that is applied continuously and separates them from the status “in progress” to “done”.  There is great importance for DoD when features, initiatives, and projects are completed in the right sense. In addition, it is a timesaver in the long run as it makes you get rid of unnecessary revisions that are required later on. Besides, there are several codes that meet the definition and it is the time when everyone decides that it is all ready for prime time. 

Timeboxing the Tasks

As a matter of fact, timeboxing has a great significance in Agile as it is an act of applying strict time boundaries for an activity or action. Being a team, you should accomplish the assigned task within the given time frame. It simply means that the event should be started and ended on time with no other exceptions. Agile teams usually make use of the timeboxing practice to focus on value, have a fixed schedule, and a fixed team size so that the team can work better with customers and deliver the most valuable product. 

Adopt Effective Communication 

The most exceptional thing about the Agile framework is active communication between Scrum Team and Product Owner, Product Owner, and Stakeholders. Moreover, communication and collaboration is always crucial section of any Agile project throughout the process. This practice is used to outline the basic principles and components of Agile in daily meetings and discussions over documentation. It also creates space for feedback as well as a reflection after every Sprint. 

Forming User Stories

Creating User Stories is one of the most important parts of Agile methodology that is used to define requirements and bring the human factor to the development project of the software.  With this practice, you obtain a launching point through a series of conversations about the desired functionality as well as a few sentences of requirement description. In fact, these stories make the client develop solutions and create a launching point for the team however the requirements might alter over time. The whole template of the basic user story includes:

                As a (your role)

                I want to (task)

               So that (purpose)

Regular Follow-up of Events

There should be proper support to the teams to work more effectively as the Agile framework has powerful tolerance towards the ceremonies. The following are the events right below:

• Iteration Demo: At the end of every iteration, this practice is followed to exhibit their work when the Product Owner, as well as a Scrum Master, is present. Sometimes, stakeholders would also be present.

• Daily Stand Up: It should be done once every morning. In fact, this is a short meeting of duration 15 minutes in which the Scrum Master, Scrum Team, and Product Owner participate. Moreover, it is mainly conducted to properly visualize the work of every member by getting rid of the obstacles.

• Iteration Retrospective: It is the perfect chance to reflect and review right after the iteration demo. This event is usually attended by the Product Owner, Scrum Teams, and even sometimes the stakeholder.

• Iteration Planning: Planning is the next step right after the completion of the Demo and Retro of the initial iteration. It is a session where the teams carry out the planning for the next iteration. After that, the product owner handles the backlog throughout the iteration and the team does the prioritization of the story. 

Conclusion

Putting the customer at the center of product development while making any decision makes sure that the design is feasible, viable, and desirable which is the whole aspect of Agile product delivery and thus by making sure that the right solutions are created for the right customers at the right time; Agile product delivery provides superior outcomes for both the customers and the organization that it serves.

References

1. https://www.scaledagileframework.com/agile-product-delivery/
2. https://pointsolutionsus.com/what-is-agile-product-delivery-and-why-does-it-work/
3. https://www.visiontemenos.com/blog/top-9-things-you-should-know-about-agile-product-delivery
4. https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-10-things-i-have-learnt-about-agile-product-delivery/