Developing solid SaaS software is all about understanding and delivering on the business drivers. Time-to-market is key in our fast-paced business environment. Bridging the gap between business requirements and technical understanding is often the pivot point of “business relevant” and “never released” software.  Well articulated questions can accelerate your engineering teams’ understanding of business requirements.  The results can be amazing in both speed and accuracy of delivery.

For leadership, questions:

1. Gain insight into the software development process and where there are impediments.
2. Increase visibility and transparency in the process.
3. Pinpoint where additional business context is needed for developers to complete tasks on time and to the exact requirements.

For product, questions:

1. Clarify the business value of a feature.
2. Prioritize the opportunities and timelines
3. Laser in on the “why” and the “what” (not the “how”)

For engineers, questions can:

1. Gain the business context of the feature, function or use.
2. Identify relationships between objects.
3. Clarify hierarchies.

Use cases and user stories are great for starting the conversation and communicating requirements. The magic is in the team conversation itself. Don’t make the mistake of relying on good documentation. Bring the players in the virtual room. Zoom recordings are marvelous for capturing and communicating the results of these sessions. Require your team to review the documentation and come to the meeting with three clarifying questions. The results will amaze you. If you need help with your SaaS software product, contact me directly at alb@criticalgoals.com.