The one framework that has appealed to me and been found useful is called 3 P’s. These are 3 equal pies that help make the circle of what is required to be successful. 

1. People – relates to “who” does the work
2. Process – relates to the “how” the work is to be done
3. Product – relates to the “why” and “what” work needs to be done

People

Many engineers/ technical/ functional experts sometimes tend to think of this aspect as being HR/managerial related. However this is a really critical part as this is the group with whom we spend most of our waking hours. Without people (whether it is 1 or 100 or 1,000), the wheel cannot exist. It is not just about having people occupying seats, but about having the right people. Having people collaborate with each other helps move in the right direction else there is no tangible progress.

Process

Having appropriate processes in place helps us be predictable in what we do as well as enabling quality aspects to be met in a timely manner. We do not have infinite time, resources or money to try to do things the right way and need to deliver or execute in more defined ways with proper definitions of expectations at each stage of the process. These can evolve or time and get overly complicated but with right attention they can also be simplified Execution cannot be as stated below:

Product

This is the end result that shows what we wish our customers/partners to use. It may be a tangible physical product, Software UI/Mobile App or maybe even just background API’s, but it needs to have a defined state when it can be considered complete. We may think of just being related to specifications of functionality, but it goes beyond that to understand why the product should even exist or is needed.

In short among other things, to be successful we need people who are skilled and motivated, who follow the processes and believe in the product they are working on.

More on each of these aspects in subsequent posts.