SUNDAY REWIND: Dual-Track Agile: Why messy leads to innovation

Dual-Track Agile is an IT development methodology where figuring out what to build is as important as the building process. You start with a discovery track to find out if a product idea is good and if it makes sense to build. Successful findings from the discovery track are added to the backlog of the delivery track.

In this Sunday Rewind post, we look back to delving into this methodology, looking at whether Product Managers can find the approach valuable.

The Dual-Track Agile process is demonstrated in the gif below.

While Dual-Track Agile is Jacob de Lichtenberg, Chief Product Officer’s, recommended way to develop products, it’s not very clean. “Think about classic product management, and how it’s anything but easy. Now step it up a notch with an extra work track for performing research. Dual-Track Agile raises complexity in many areas, especially when it comes to planning and resource allocation.” he says.

The strength of Dual-Track, namely research and avoiding expensive failures, can also be the weakness of the method. You see, pure delivery is like a factory because you simply have to estimate how long it takes to produce code. But, when you add a discovery track, you make staffing and planning more difficult and complex. That might make some people in your organisation raise their eyebrows.

So how do you know if your product team has a good idea? Luckily, there are a variety of methods that you can use to figure it out. Despite the increased complexity and chaos, Jacob opts in to choose Dual-Track Agile any day over other traditional methods. Want to find out why? Read Dual-Track Agile: Why messy leads to innovation in full.