In custom software development, the primary goal of the digital product team is to deliver value—by meeting user needs and aligning with business objectives.

People often think value comes from adding more features or enhancements, but this is a misconception. More features don’t necessarily mean more value.

Just because you can build something, doesn’t mean you should. Adding more features can increase complexity and hinder usability. That’s why it’s crucial to research and prioritize features that truly benefit users.

In this article, I’ll explain the important differences between delivering value versus merely delivering features, showing why focusing on value is essential for successful digital product development.

The fallacy of “more features”

It’s common to assume that a feature-rich product will automatically lead to higher user satisfaction. But this misconception often leads to “feature factories,” where teams churn out features that don’t truly solve user problems or deliver the intended business value.

For example, imagine a business leader outlines 50 features. They ask the product team to build all 50 before launching the piece of software.

Sure, that business could get lucky. But more likely than not, a portion of those features will not resonate with their users—resulting in lost time and money. They also will miss the chance to learn and innovate along the way.

A great example of this concept in practice is the launch of Slack. In 2013, Slack set out to solve the chaos of virtual team communication. Traditional methods like endless email chains were inefficient and caused miscommunication. Slack's founders envisioned a platform to centralize all team interactions—making them searchable, organized, and efficient.

From the start, Slack focused on delivering real value. They crafted their experience around three core features: search, synchronization, and simple file sharing. Though they weren’t all of the features customers were used to with other communication tools, these three features allowed Slack to stand out as they went to market.

Slack's emphasis on user experience and tangible benefits set it apart. Teams became more connected and organized, transforming how they worked together. Most of us who are Slack users understand the impact that their tools have on our day to day communications. Once you move to Slack, it’s a tough pill to swallow to move to any other communication tool.

Focus on value delivery for better product planning

Value-based delivery is a user-centric approach to software development focused on meeting and exceeding users’ expectations while also delivering the intended business value.

The goal for both the product manager and the development team is to deliver the minimum number of features needed to achieve the desired business outcome.

What does the collaboration look like in this model? Here’s how it works:

• Define objectives: You share the objective(s) you hope to achieve through custom software, answering the question: “What outcomes do I want to see?”

• Conduct user research: Together, we conduct user research to confidently understand what users need and how they use (or will use) the product.

• Determine effective features: Then, relying on the expertise of our designers and developers, we identify the feature(s) that will most effectively achieve your goals.

• Prioritize features: Finally, we prioritize features using a product roadmap—allowing us to continuously release software versions and receive immediate feedback.

Do you see how this way of product planning combines your business goals with your users’ needs? Together, we prioritize which features to start with, then build and deliver incrementally to prove value, rather than guess at it.

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It can be daunting to attempt true value delivery. It’s easier to commit to a defined list of tasks than to provide value by focusing on outcomes.

But shifting the focus from feature delivery to value delivery is essential to building products that have long-term success and satisfaction.

If you see the value (pun intended) of this approach to software development, we’d love to help you achieve your vision! Start a conversation by completing our simple contact form or by reaching out to me on LinkedIn.