Understanding business value

In this section, we will learn about business value and understand that demonstrating the value of architecture is far from easy.

Delivering business value faster and more often is the most important aspect of agile software development. One of the Manifesto signatories for agile software development, Jim Highsmith, defines business value as when a working software is delivered with features that customers accept, at the highest level of quality, and within acceptable cost and time limits. Business value is created as a response to actual customer demands.

Agile organizations progressively shift their focus from shareholder value to ways to delight customers continuously and rapidly. Most agile organizations do not view profit as a direct result of their delivery; instead, they treat profit as a natural outcome of the continuous delivery of value. Such organizations strongly believe a substantial focus on profit leads to short-term thinking, sub-optimal...