The document outlines the concept of business value, emphasizing its importance for developers to align their efforts with the true value they provide, both tangible and intangible. It explains that understanding business value can lead to better communication and more effective project outcomes, as well as strategies for increasing one's value. Key points include common misconceptions about what constitutes value in the development process and the benefits of delivering high-quality, reliable, and well-supported work.

1. A Developer's Guide to Business Value
Glenn Stovall

2. “Try not to become a man of success, but instead become
a man of value.”
Albert Einstein

3. The importance of Business Value:
● Many developers don't understand business value.
● This lack of understanding leads to focusing project plans, conversations,
time & effort the wrong things.
● If you own a software business, you could spend countless hours doing work
that doesn't actually move the needle for your business. Your business lives
and dies on the value you provide to others.
● The amount of money you make is correlated to amount of value you provide.
.

4. Who Am I?
● Glenn Stovall - Developer, Consultant
● Independent for over 3 years, in leadership
positions for 6.
● Written guides on pricing & estimating value
of software projects.
● My revenue literally lives or dies based on
the value I provide.

5. What you'll Learn today:
#1: What Is Business value?
#2: Things you think are valuable but aren't.
#3: Ways you can increase your value.

6. #1: What is business value?
● Value is a subjective opinion based on the worth of a product or service. In
an employment situation, your 40 hours a week is your "service".
● The greater the difference between the price of something and the value
provided, the greater the value of that transaction.
● More art than science.
● Different than personal value. B2B sales are fundamentally different than
B2C.

7. Ways to Define Value
● tangible value: i.e. Increases in revenue, reduction in costs
● intangible value: i.e. risk mitigation, increased opportunity, etc.

8. Tangible Outcomes * Expected Duration of Outcomes +
Intangible Outcomes * Emotional Impact of Intangibles +
Peripheral Benefits + Variables Positively Affected
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- = VALUE
Fixed Investment Required
Source: Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss’s Value Formula

9. “Price is What You Pay. Value is What You Get.” --
Warren Buffet

10. Examples of tangible business value:
● Increase in revenue.
○ Number of sales.
○ Value of sale.
○ Lifetime value of a customer.
● Reduction in costs.
○ Reduction of employee time.
○ Prevention of customer loss /
churn.

11. Examples of intangible business value:
● Risk mitigation. (by far the most important)
○ Guarantee.
○ Reputation / Trust.
● Emotional impact.
○ Customer Support.
○ Happy boss / removal of stress.
● Increased opportunity.
○ More optionality.
○ Freeing up time & resources.
● Any other metric important to the buyer.
○ No. of Users, Daily Activity, Investor Interest

12. Here are some things you may think provide value, but don't:
● The years of experience you have.
● Your Idea for the “Next Big Thing.”
● Which programming language you use.
● The number of hours spent on a project.
● The number of features your app has.
● The extendability of your code.(sometimes)
● Using the most 'cutting edge' technology.
● Building a custom solution instead of using something 'off-the-shelf'.

13. Here are some way you can increase value:
● Deliver bug-free, maintainable code.
● Only make commitments you can stick to.
● Provide clear communication.
● Provide documentation & training.
● Use experience to guide technology choices,
not personal wants or tastes.
● Work on increasing the speed of delivery w/o
sacrificing quality.
● Build force multipliers.

14. #3: Ways You can Increase Value (cont’d)
● Reliability of code: fewer bugs = QA time reduction, reduced risk.
● Good communication: prevents misunderstandings, reduced risk.
● Speed of Delivery: (increased opportunity, and money now > money
later.)
● Guarantees: (huge risk of reduction for project owner).
● Building tools that are a ‘force multiplier’: i.e. Allow skilled workers to
do more of the same job.

15. Example from my job. How would you
differently price a project?

16. What should the price be for a project, but...
● delivered faster?
● including guidance & support?
● including documentation & training of other
team members?
● with 30-day support guarantee?
● with 100% money back guarantee?

17. In conclusion:
● Understanding business value allows you
to better communicate w/ bosses, PMs, and
stakeholders.
● Understanding value helps you deliver
more value / be more valuable.
● If you want to make more, you need to ask
‘how can I worth more’?