Speed to market and digital business motivates organizations to adopt product-centric application model
Eighty-five percent of organizations have adopted, or plan to adopt, a product-centric application delivery model, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
The survey found that survey respondents use the product-centric model for 40 per cent of their work in 2018. Gartner predicts that this figure will reach 80 per cent by 2022.
Over half (54 per cent) of respondents expect to fully adopt the product-centric application model over time, while roughly one-third (32 per cent) plan partial adoption, as per the survey report.
“The increase in how quickly and broadly organizations are adopting the product-centric application model doesn’t arise randomly. It goes hand-in-hand with the adoption of agile development methodologies and DevOps,” said Bill Swanton, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.
Figure 1: Plans for Adopting a Product-Centric Application Delivery Model
Source: Gartner
What motivates organizations to adopt product-centric application model?
Thirty-two per cent of the survey respondents identified a need to deliver more quickly as their main driver of adoption of a product-centric application approach. They said that speed to market mainly drives their digital transformation process.
Digital business came second with 31 per cent of the respondents acknowledging it.
Gartner explains – When organizations start a digital transformation journey, they often find that traditional project methods are not suitable for the uncertainties of a transformative business model. They discover a need to adopt agile methods and to treat the results as products, since they will be used by external customers.
However, the shift from a project-centric to a product-centric application approach do come without challenges. Concerns about project-based funding and the culture clash between “the business” and “IT” were the top challenges for 55 per cent of the respondents.
The Rise of Product Managers
Forty-six per cent of the respondents said their organization had already appointed a product manager, while 15 per cent plan to introduce this role by the end of 2018. 10 percent have no plans to introduce this role, according to the report.
Majority of respondents shared that product managers will report to the IT organization or project management office.
At the same time, respondents are expecting that the role of application leader will change. According to 43 per cent of respondents, the role will reside in the IT organization, while 32 per cent said it will migrate into business teams where the application leader will lead a product line.
“As organizations gain more experience with product-centric delivery models, we expect product and technical leadership to separate from administrative line management. This will have an impact on the prospects of holders of the application leader role, who will need to choose between product management, engineering team management and administrative people management,” Swanton said.
