Definition of Value
Humans always follow and find Happiness. Although it’s very difficult to find, everybody has different happiness. Some people think money is happiness or a happy family, others think happiness is the peace of the soul (like a monk)… So we can say “what makes people happy is value for them”.
The company is the same. Of course, every company has an ultimate purpose: revenue (except if you are running a non-profit company). So, their values are making the customer happy, a good culture, and good processes. Over those values, it is assumed to have more money or save more money.
As a Product Owner, what are your product values?
As a Product Owner, you must deliver value to your organization by generating revenue. Because that’s the reason we have the business. On the other hand, you also need to make your customer or end user happy. And the customer’s happiness is linked to your product values.
Both sides are connected by you, the Product Owner. So you need to understand your business and your customer. You can’t find money without a customer who is happy to use your product.
“Customers come first and money follows after”
How do you know that’s a value?
I get the same question like this from many people: “How do you know that’s a value?” I always answer: release and analyze it. Software development is complex (because of technology, people, and the market). So, to identify customer happiness, you need to release assumption values to market soon and frequently. Your assumption about values can fail; that’s good – make it fail fast so we can learn, and each failure will bring us closer to the real value we need to deliver (except you don’t learn anything from the last fail). Do you remember how many times Thomas Edison tried before he found the right material to invent the light bulb?
Conclusion
Treat your client as if they were the king; deliver the right value they need at the right time. The Value Proposition Canvas will help you easily imagine and manage it. Combining it with your Lean Canvas will give the tools more power.
