Three techniques to help you deliver value faster
In today’s digital-first world, the speed and efficiency of value delivery can genuinely determine an organization’s success. I’ve seen it firsthand: companies that fail to deliver fast enough frustrate their customers, stall innovation, and miss opportunities to create real customer value.
But this is completely avoidable. The business landscape is shifting – product-led organizations are redefining success by prioritizing customer value over rigid internal processes. The key to staying ahead? Embracing digital transformation and continuously refining how you deliver value.
Why value delivery matters in a product-led world
Organizations often fall into the trap of clogging up their work queues with superfluous jobs that might be considered valuable within the company but don’t actually service the customer. This means they’re essentially doing the business equivalent of treading water.
The trick is to adopt a customer mindset and always ask yourself where the value lies. What problems are you looking to solve? The fact is that companies that prioritize customer needs immediately gain a significant advantage over those bogged down by bureaucratic processes and misaligned priorities.
Put another way, companies still managing projects are stuck in an outdated approach – optimizing for certainty in an uncertain world. This rigidity makes adapting to shifting customer needs and evolving technology hard. Delays and inefficiencies derail progress, leaving businesses in a cycle of reactive decision-making.
Product-led organizations take a different approach, focusing on iterative progress, leveraging real-time insights, and adapting as needed. By shifting from project-based to product-based thinking, companies build a more responsive, resilient model that continuously delivers value and drives sustainable success.
So, how do you make this shift? Here are three essential techniques to accelerate value delivery while keeping customer value top of mind.
The 5 Whys: Diagnosing the real problem
One of the biggest blockers to value delivery is solving symptoms instead of root causes. That’s where the 5 Whys technique comes in. It helps teams dig deeper by repeatedly asking “why?” to find the real issue.
When to use the 5 Whys:
- When teams are stuck in a cycle of firefighting rather than preventing issues
- When persistent bottlenecks keep slowing down delivery
- When it’s unclear whether you’re solving the right problem
Build-Measure-Learn: Experimenting for impact
Traditional projects often start with assumptions disguised as facts. The problem? In today’s product-led environment, certainty is a luxury.
That’s why I rely on Build-Measure-Learn. Instead of making big bets upfront, this approach allows teams to test ideas quickly, collect real-time insights, and adjust based on customer feedback. Continuous experimentation helps you learn, improve, or pivot based on real results.
When to use Build-Measure-Learn:
- When tackling uncertain initiatives or new market opportunities
- When teams need to validate assumptions before scaling
- When you want to make sure you’re delivering real customer value, not just shipping features
CD3: Prioritizing work for maximum value
One of the biggest challenges I see is poor prioritization. Too often, teams focus on what’s loudest internally, rather than what delivers the most customer value.
The CD3 (Cost of Delay Divided by Duration) method fixes that. It’s a simple way to prioritize work based on impact vs. effort, and ultimately helps you create an accurate road map for success.
When to use CD3:
- When teams struggle to prioritize between competing initiatives
- When prioritization is based on internal politics rather than customer value
- When teams want an objective, value-driven framework for decision-making
Driving value forward
Accelerating value delivery isn’t just about moving faster, it’s about moving smarter. By integrating these techniques into your daily operations, you’ll minimize waste by eliminating inefficiencies and improve alignment between product, engineering, and business teams. And, crucially, you’ll increase the impact of every initiative.
Dive deeper into value delivery with our on-demand webinar “Accelerating value delivery: the power of stream-aligned teams”. You’ll gain insights into breaking down silos, enhancing collaboration, and scaling digital capabilities. Watch now and start driving smarter, faster value in your organization.
Additional insights
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