Comic Agilé’s Post

Budget value streams not projects. Care Full with CapEx & OpEx the customer don’t Care

Depending on the "product" the R&D budget is a poor success metric. The "Quality" of the R&D outcome is more important, unless a company is so short on cash that an R&D budget can't be overstepped. The R&D budget obsession happens in companies where the R&D budget is the easiest KPI to measure and beat up the Project Manager with it. The reality is that whatever the product is, the lifecycle costing and associated overall profitability metrics are important for a company. The product's profitability over lifetime depends on its best cost, price, function, reliability, durability and quality. The R&D budget part of the product cost is often very small when considered over lifetime. There can be other cases, but not so much for products using known technologies. 🔁

Delivering value starts with a whisper from the customer—a desire or need they express. The company explores this insight, integrates it into a product, and delivers it, often starting with a minimum viable product (MVP). The customer then evaluates this creation and decides whether to use it, ultimately determining its value. This process underscores that the value stream must both begin and end with the customer. It only makes sense to fund the value stream itself—not speculative ideas of what the customer might want. Doing so invites unnecessary trouble and exceptional risk. Instead, focus on funding teams, not products, and remain agile, ready to pivot as you learn and grow smarter.

There is never any time to do it right, but there’s always time to do it twice.

The matrix works and is often a lot of fun - as soon as the minimum level of ignorance and lack of transparency has been reached in the organization

While the comic strip is on point, and putting backed-in quality aside, I wanted to address the question in the post tho.. in startups the money does not "magically appear when really needed", it comes from somewhere else. Something else gets postponed, canceled, or downsized, in some cases in other functions.

Rather than just saying "need more time to build in the quality", make sure you also communicate the risks and impact of not having that "quality" that you are speaking of. The conversations are easier that ways!!

😂Bruno Plasch thanks for reposting this made my day🙌