[MUSIC] Welcome to the second half of the Introduction to Software Product Management Course. Module two is the next step in your path to becoming a software product manager. My name is Morgan Patzelt, and I'll be one of your instructors for this course. I've a keen interest in software product management, and I'm really excited to teach you all about it. I've a background in software development. I've experienced development with and without these effective methods that we'll cover in this specialization. Let me tell you they make a huge difference. Seeing that difference is what made me want to pursue software product management. That's why I'm looking forward to taking you through those lessons so that you can see that difference as well. In this module, you will get a preview of the entire specialization. This will be your roadmap to follow on your quest to becoming an SPM professional. At the end of this module, you will understand why we chose the topics that we will present, and how they will benefit you in your career as a software product manager. [MUSIC] Let's first talk about a practice called Agile. Agile practices are guidelines that suggest how software development should occur to get the best results. Agile covers a large part of what you will do as a product manager. In fact, most of the concepts that we will cover in this specialization are a part of Agile. In this lesson I'm going to cover what it means for a project to be successful and why you should use Agile. I'll give you a spoiler. Success and Agile are directly related. We're going to talk about Agile in more detail in the next lesson, as well as in the course on “Software Processes and Agile Practices”. So for now, you and I will just talk about why it's important to use Agile. Before we start talking about Agile, let's talk about project success. Software product management professionals will often use schedule, budget, and user requirements as benchmarks for defining success. Choose the factor or factors that you think are most representative of a successful project. In the answer segment, you will have the opportunity to compare your answers to those of the industry. So there are no wrong answers with this question. A. on schedule, B. on budget, and/or C. meets requirements. A survey conducted in 2013 by Scott Ambler and Associates asked participants how they defined success. If you define success by delivering the project on schedule, then that aligns with what 58% of respondents said. That means over half of the respondents thought that being on schedule is an important factor for project success. 36% said it was an important factor that the project was delivered on budget. Only 14% believe that building to specification is even necessary to deliver a successful project. And only 8% of respondents believe that a successful project should be delivered on schedule, on budget, and to specification. It is also interesting to note that 30% of participants said that on schedule was the sole factor for determining project success. 9% said that on budget was the sole factor. And interestingly, only 1 person in 100 believed that having the project completed to specification was the sole important factor. You can find a link to this study in our class resources. I recommend that you check it out. Is there another way that you can find success? What about by developer satisfaction? Sometimes it's easy to forget that software is created by humans. It almost seems as if these apps and programs just appear. But behind the scenes, development teams are spending countless hours and many sleepless nights to produce these products. So shouldn't their satisfaction count for something? I mean, without them, there is no product. Although it seems much harder to find statistics on developer satisfaction, does that make it any less significant? Project success could also be measured by the number of post-release bugs, the support needed after a release, the product's customer rating, the revenue generated, or the client satisfaction. No matter how you decide to measure project success, Agile can help you achieve it. Now we've talked about how to measure success. What factor do you think is the most important for having a successful project? A. a good idea. B. a talented development team. C. a business model. D. funding. Or E. timing. A TED Talk by Bill Gross, the founder of many startups demonstrates that the timing of the release is the most important factor for business success. A good idea requires customers that want and need the product. Therefore, E is the correct answer. If you want to check out this TED Talk, you can find it in our class resources. I highly recommend it. Have you ever met a programmer that thrives in a chaotic interrupted work environment? Neither have I. Agile brings focus to ensure that your project develops at a steady, manageable, and efficient pace. This keeps programmers from getting overwhelmed with the project. The result? Happy and productive programmers. Agile practices also encourage frequent and consistent testing. This helps to reduce bugs. Agile practices encourage communication with the client. Keeping your client involved throughout the entire project gives your client transparency. This ensures that the client is getting exactly what they asked for, or better yet, something they didn't even imagine was possible. The goal of your development team is to satisfy your client. Even the most outstanding product will fall short if it does not meet the client's needs and expectations. And remember, success is not final, especially in software development. And failure need not be fatal. American industrialist Henry Ford said: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Software development is all about iterations and evolutions. Just because you succeed or fail one week does not guarantee that the next week will be the same. Software constantly changes, so we must be adaptable. Perhaps you can see that project success is more like walking a path rather than resting at your destination. Agile practices will impact the entire development process. This ultimately creates better software, happier developers, and satisfied clients. As you learn agile and gain confidence in its practices, you're developing skills that are in demand by many major tech companies. Companies such as Adobe, Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo all function on a popular Agile methodology called Scrum. I'll take you through the practices of Scrum in the course on “Software Processes and Agile Practices”. Now you have a solid understanding of how Agile practices can impact project success. In the next lesson, we will dive deeper into the principles of Agile.
