Burndown: A Better Way To Build Products

At the top of each list, there is a HIGH LEVEL card that explains exactly what is going to happen with that release, written in the format of a Jobs To Be Done statement. The HIGH LEVEL card also contains a link to the Sketch file that has all of the designs for that release.

Burndown is the framework that Drift uses to employ the first principles of Responsive Development.

What are the first principles of Responsive Development? It’s flexible: It’s based on principles, not rules. Rules are binding. Principles favor progress and forward momentum. It’s customer-driven: Always gather first-hand feedback, not second-hand feedback. Get engineers and designers talking directly to customers.

When you look at how easy it has become for competitors in a crowded market to quickly copy one another, you realize how vital speed truly is.

On one end, we have “Quick ship” releases, which are small, highly incremental just-in-time releases. On the other end , we have “Big Bang” releases. These are giant, long undertakings that attempt to have every detail thought through and perfectly executed.

We measure customer adoption, usage, & retention on a daily basis. We believe that an iterative model that evolves quickly based on feedback wins.

It’s iterative: The first attempt is always wrong. You must iterate towards the best possible solution, not try to get it on the first try. It’s rapid: Speed gives you more iterations and more opportunities to learn. It’s visual: Plans, progress, and updates are done with screenshots and visuals so everyone can see what the end result will look lik

Product management’s role is to gather vast amounts of customer feedback and great examples of how others solve the challenges that customers face today.

Each HIGH LEVEL card has an engineer who owns the card. That engineer is responsible for playing quarterback on the release and working with the rest of their team ( and other teams ) to make sure all dependencies are accounted for and the end result is as expected. Engineers assign themselves to HIGH LEVEL card s when they’re actively working on f