The Nature of Software Development

Chapter 2Value Is What We Want

We all want value. Value is what we want. Value is—what we want. In software, we generally get value by delivering features. Features that have value. Features that we want.

Often it’s about money, because software can save time or money. Software can help us earn money. There are other kinds of value: software can make lives more convenient. Software can even save lives.

In the end, I think of value as simply what we want. We might like to put a number on value, but it’s not necessary. As we build the software, we’ll make choices. Each choice gives us something we value. We’ll choose information, happy users, or saved lives. We’ll choose what makes sense. We’ll choose what we want.

Working incrementally, ...