The Software Build Trap & 5 Reasons to Not Build Excessively

the software build trap and how it impacts product management

The software build trap is a huge problem for many organizations. This book is the all in 1 text to help fight the causes of the build trap and become product-led.

What is the software build trap

The software build trap is the idea that you just keep building. The idea that you must keep adding to a product, to continue making it successful. Or that you need to keep adding in order to reach success. It is the idea that you must build as much as you can. It forgets or ignores a focus on building the right things and building things of top value first. Instead emphasizing that building in quality will get the value needed.

Quantity over quality is really how you summarize the software build trap. Because the alternative is to focus on the top priority items. Focus on the items of high value. Building those items will lead to more success for your organization. Focus on those items and avoiding all the items that are lower value or lower priority will build high efficiency for your team too.

I really like Escaping the Build Trap, because it is a book about the mindsets that lead to these issues. As well as how to break free and build software products in better ways.

Organizing teams around value

All too often teams fall into a trap where they think they need to build and build and build. Build more to get more value, right? Well, not if you are building the wrong things. Because teams and organizations are often not focused on this value-driven view to prioritize work, they end up working on a lot of things that don’t bring good value.

Balance team coverage of the work across the goals trying to be achieved. IE, top priority goals should receive more of the team coverage. This enables organizations to spread teams across multiple software and product development work efforts. While of course allowing them to put more emphasis and more teams to work on higher priority goals.

Product led organizations can escape the software build trap

Product led organizations are focused on the product. By that, they are focused on products and product updates that will meet their goals. To get there, they must select products and updates that provide good value.

Selecting the right updates for the right value allows organizations to meet their customer’s needs, which only helps to meet their own goals. By doing work like this, you escape the idea that you must build and build. Helping organizations avoid the software build trap.

The software build trap is an enemy

It is an enemy of effective and efficient product management. The build trap is a mentality that a lot of organizations find themselves in. But it is a mentality that leads to waste. It stops product groups and organizations from focusing on the top priority work they need.

Escaping the Build Trap is a great text to help show the way for product teams and organizations. It takes the process step by step and helps understand the top mistakes being made, as well as ideal ways to work and enable true product value.