How to keep control while letting your software teams move fast

You know how to run your business. You set SMART goals, make detailed plans, and track progress. But with software projects, this traditional approach often backfires. Today, I'll show you a better way that keeps you in control while giving your teams room to adapt.

Why does this matter? Because software projects fail when they're too rigid. A recent study found that as many as 66% of traditional software projects miss their targets. But companies that use Agile planning methods hit their goals more often and spend less money doing it.

Let's look at what works.

Start with clear business rules

Think of business rules like the banks of a river. They keep everything flowing in the right direction without controlling every drop of water.

A Fortune 100 financial services company put this into practice when they needed to modernize their systems. Instead of writing reams of planning documentation, they set clear goals and boundaries for their teams. The result? In one department, work that used to take 18 months was reduced to just 6 weeks¹. They kept control of the important stuff—security, regulations, budgets—while letting their teams figure out the best ways to deliver.

Plan in short chunks

Break big projects into manageable phases. Plan the next phase in detail. Merely sketch the one after that. Keep the rest flexible.

Ericsson's Mobile Core division did this. They stopped making year-long plans and switched to shorter iterative cycles. They reduced development cycles from 12+ months to as little as 3 weeks. This change cut their costs by 71% and helped them launch new features 83% faster¹. Why? Because their teams could adjust their plans as they learned what worked.

Pick numbers that matter

Don't track everything—just track what counts. Pick 3-5 key numbers that tell you if you're winning.

Ericsson picked a handful: quality, employee satisfaction, customer responsiveness, and delivery predictability.¹ This simple approach helped their executives stay informed without getting lost in the details.

Check in often but briefly

Replace long, infrequent meetings with quick weekly or daily check-ins. These short meetings catch problems while they're small and cheap to fix.

A major player in software's core product team was struggling with bugs, delayed releases, and deflating customer satisfaction. They adopted daily stand-ups and end-of-cycle retrospectives. They also began meeting more frequently and collaboratively with their clients. Because they could catch problems earlier, quality and customer satisfaction began to improve, and team morale with them.²

Trust your teams to handle the details

Your job is to point to the destination. Let your teams figure out how to get there.

When the Fortune 100 financial services company mentioned earlier made the switch to Agile, they had to train 1,600 people in new ways of working. But it paid off—their teams now deliver work twice as fast with better quality.¹ The secret? Clear goals from leaders, freedom for teams to solve problems their way.

Here's what I want for you

Try these ideas on your next project. Start small. Keep what works. Change what doesn't. You'll find that the right kind of control actually makes things move faster.

Good luck on your journey to better software delivery.

I send out short articles like this every week on Tuesday. I write about how businesses can effectively innovate through software.

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