When you invest time and money into a software system, you simply cannot neglect to put a measurement strategy in place. While this sounds like common sense, you’d be surprised how often it’s forgotten or never tracked once live.
Long before we launch your new software system, we’re going to sit down with you to make sure we have plans in place to measure the outcome we’re predicting.
Symptoms that your team is failing to set and evaluate measurable outcomes:
They’re enamored by features, constantly discussing the next “excitingly cool thing” they want to build.
They’re conducting large re-factoring projects, trying to ensure their code is written properly.
They can’t recall the last time they gathered feedback, looked at that feedback, and actually did something with it.
Why do measurable outcomes matter?
We’ve all been victims of envisioning cool new features while neglecting to build what we’ve truly gained insight into. While your project may initiate from great ideas and inspiration, you need to ensure that you focus your long-term attention on achieving the desired business outcome(s), such as increased revenue or more users.
Augusto enacts this strategy by sitting down with our clients long before launch and discussing what metrics we need to report on in order to demonstrate success. We’ll think through the information we need to collect to justify further expansion into new features, then truly evaluate whether our investment is worthwhile—or whether we need to adjust along the way.
Throughout our process, we continually ask ourselves—and our clients—what decisions we need to make now based on the insight of our previous data. This continual feedback loop allows us to test and iterate based on the critical learning we uncover each step of the way. In some cases, the data will tell us to cut off the project and do something completely different like more user research while stopping development or emphasizing digital marketing and sales instead of the next great productivity feature.
Without these measurement strategies in place, it’s like you’re steering a car while blindfolded. You’ll waste time, effort, and money. While you may get lucky once in a while and manage not to crash your car, the odds are not in your favor.
Set the goals and measure your results. When done properly, you’ll minimize the risk of overall failure by learning quickly and adjusting. This is the way to truly be successful in your goals.
What metric matters most?
Teams often deem a project successful if it delivers all the designated features on time and within budget. However, is a project truly successful if it delivers minimal business value?
In answer to this obviously rhetorical question, we recommend changing your definition of “done.” You shouldn’t merely be concerned with deadlines and time sheets, but rather focus on customer satisfaction and growth in usage.
Just because a software solution technically works, doesn’t mean it delivers business value. For software projects to be deemed successful, we need to measure the business impact that the software has achieved, rather than relying solely on traditional measures of schedule, scope, and budget.
A project should never be marked complete until the product is measured and validated. Are you making more money? Are you signing up new users and getting great reviews? Are you driving down support needs? All of these make for great objectives that are straightforward to validate.
Neil Patel lists “The 5 “Must Have” Metrics for Your SaaS Business” as:
1. Monthly recurring revenue
4. Average Revenue Per Customer
2. Churn Rate
5. Lifetime Value
3. Cost Per Acquisition
Overall, we find there are three main classes of people surrounding this topic:
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Those who work this way already.
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Those who have been reading about measurable outcomes and are starting to see the benefits.
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Those who are blind to this way of working, or who have never heard of it.
Honestly assess your team based on these three categories and the symptoms listed above.
Augusto works seamlessly with product managers who are in the first class above, helping them accelerate. We also coach leaders and teams in the latter two categories how to operate in this way, so they can see true business success. Reach out anytime if this resonates with you and we can add value to your business.