BarCamp Perth 10 May 2008
Real Options in Development
By Marc Lehmann | Director/Founder

About Saasu
The web finance engine.

Real Options
The right, but not the obligation, to
undertake some business
decision, typically the option to
make a capital investment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_options_analysis

Crazy Person
Be a crazy inventor, there's not
enough time to be any other
way.

Inventions
Inventions are cheap real
options. Prototyping & Trials.

Strange(ness)
Strange is good. Strange is a real
option that has no known upside
but quite often the cost is well
known.

Strange Attractors
The option management has to mix
odd skills in development, architecture
or business models can cause
unexpected results.

Features
The choice, decision, or system that
choses the feature set holds a real
option. Is is mart enough to know
what to exercise and what not to?

Abstain
Some real options are better not
exercised such as the choice of brand
early in a product lifecycle. You give up
the real options to act on customer
feedback and test brands in smaller
markets first.

What Floats
Exploit your real options. Throw stuff
in the river to see what floats. Try
stuff on. Try stuff out.

Organic
Engineering
Nature buys lots and lots of options
when it produces a multiplicity of
offspring. Nature has engineered itself
to ensure it has as many options up its
sleeve as possible - for survival.

Organic
Probability
Nature creates many random variations
and some variations survive an
prosper. Others fade and die. Nature is
the original Venture Capitalist.

Option = Choice
1. Create 1 large feature over a year
2. Create 10 small features over a year
and terminate what doesn't work
2 trumps 1 every time
2 has natural selection

Maths
Let the maths decide. Emotive,
personal, instinctive has its place but as
portfolio management shows, very few
are good at getting it right this way.

Brand Options
When building product or thematic
brands below you main brand domains
are an example of cheap options. Buy
words, names and things you like for
$7.99 just in case you need them.

Automation
One real option a developer holds is the
choice to automate or not. This crosses
testing, help systems, service, et al.
The option to automate has a premium.
Keep assessing these options to see
what needs to be exercised.

Marc Lehmann
marc@saasu.com
skype: marcleh
twitter: marclehmann
mobile: +61 434 033 945
web: saasu.com
blog: saasu.com/blog
personal blog: marclehmann.net
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marclehmann
Copyright 2008 Saasu Pty Ltd,
1st Floor, 111 Elizabeth St Sydney, Australia 2000