Shipping velocity is one of the leading indicators of a healthy product. It doesn’t guarantee product success, there are way too many factors that play into that equation, but success is harder to find if you're missing it.
You're either here because you really love shipping velocity or you know that your velocity needs to be better. So let's get to it. Here is a framework for how you can increase not only your shipping velocity, but product quality as well.
There is one skill that is critical when it comes to shipping velocity, and it has nothing to do with writing code.
Surprise!
It’s your ability to take a product/feature and break it down. To disassemble a large group of ideas, decisions, and expectations and identify the smallest “complete” solution you can use to validate the success of the whole project.
I call this the Core, but I love this article by Jason Cohen that talks about creating products that are “Small Lovable Complete” (SLC). He talks about it as a philosophy for building products, but that mindset is what makes you an effective engineer on any task that lands in front of you.
The Core is tightly scoped while being complete enough to start validating the entire project as early as possible.
You can build it quickly, you can ship it out just as quickly, and if you feel like it you can ship it quietly…🤫