[terrycotant]

I've read through many of the posts here that have so many great points on what it is that BlackBerry needs to succeed. Essentially, I hear about they need this app (or type of app), marketing $ for print and web, corporate app development, BES 10 adoption, etc. All valid points.

However, to do any of that and succeed, they need to have a change in mindset for how they get there. Now, this is mostly aiming at all software aspects (SDK development, OS, core apps, etc.) and not hardware.

They need to consider some of the core principles around Agile software development. Consider these basic concepts from the Agile Manifesto:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

While there is value in the items on the right, we value items on the left more.

Let's take a look into what's behind them... I won't tackle all of the principles behind the manifesto, but I'll discuss enough to get your brain wrapped around how this concept truly must apply to BlackBerry.

"Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software." This is a big change. Smaller "chunks" of functionality, delivered more often, but most importantly, prioritized with the customer in mind. This implies you need to get out there elbow to elbow and discuss their needs. (As if your job depended on it.) Not just the latest buzz from the vocal minority. Be the customer and understand their pain.

"Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage." Again, customer needs, even when late-breaking are pushed to the top. Even if you're 75% done with something else. If you're agile and creating fully functional, tested, high quality software every 2 weeks, if something hot bubbles to the top, just push it to the next sprint or release to make room for what must happen now. Nothing's wasted - just reordered.

"Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale." While you may be delivering chunks of functionality every 2 weeks, maybe you have a 2 month release cycle at first. Yes, it's aggressive. Worried about testing time in shorter releases? If you're developing and testing inside each 2 week sprint, quality improves.

"Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done." I believe these 2 deserve to be discussed together. Without the business buying into the concept, it will never succeed. They also need to be great at motivating from inside. This time around, it's not going to be with shiny objects or bags of cash. It's going to be with the great turnaround story that can be, with creating user-focused functionality faster than their competition, and by truly trusting them and their ability to innovate.

"Working software is the primary measure of progress. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility." Another 2 principles that go hand-in-hand. It's not enough to say you've "coded this thing for 45 hours". You measure how many things get done inside of each 2 week sprint. Done, by the way means designed, coded and tested. Drive your requirements and acceptance criteria by the tests needed to prove it works. Hire inspirational coders and allow them to keep reflecting on how the teams can get things done better. Continuous integration and deployment, having a pragmatic approach... At the end of each sprint, reflect on how the team can become more efficient and effective, adjust behavior accordingly, and assign owners to each item.

I'm not saying it's going to turn things around in a month or two. I'm also not saying that it'll be easy. But imagine what this would look like. You'd be able to count on OS updates very frequently (say, every 2 or 3 months). The SDK would be updated often, so issues developers found could be resolved quickly. They would be doing something that the competition is not doing - being customer focused, and responding to change often, and with high quality. They would shift the mindset from huge monolithic releases 1 or 2 times a year, to smaller, more "important" deliveries that make a difference.

What this does is build up trust. Trust between development and the business, and between the business and the customers. As if this were not enough, this also really enhances the "grass roots" user base that is a huge, effective "marketing engine" in itself. Users talk about how quickly you responded, how you are "getting it". This is also about the only way I can see BlackBerry changing the minds of users and press from the swirl of negativity they have now.

They can also take more advantage of sites like this, both to connect closer with actual users, and to showcase upcoming features. But they will have to actually have a real presence here. Interact. Be someone that actual users can talk to. It shouldn't feel like they are in some high tower, where there's no way we'll ever get a message through.

This is the turnaround strategy that everyone is hoping for. I really hope they will listen this time. If they are willing to take on this type of change, it's really not too late. Please, share your thoughts - imagine how our worlds would be dramatically different with such an effective Agile methodology...

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

"Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya"

[Troy Tiscareno]

This is exactly how Google works - they deliver software updates CONSTANTLY, and they have enough products that every single day, one or two get an update. They still have their "big" launches throughout the year, but if a feature is ready to go, it gets launched ASAP.

Apple has a big even twice a year to announce their changes and launch devices, so it may seem like they're making a lot of changes, but that's just because they're all saved up. I believe that that's a big reason why Android has overtaken them and why they are perceived as lacking in innovation (and rightly so).

I think most of us will agree that, from a user perspective, Google's method of giving us those updates as soon as they are ready is what we want. BlackBerry's culture is much more like Apple's, though, where they make a plan and set a date and work towards that, and where they don't like to change the plan once work has begun. That's not to say that they haven't been FORCED to change those plans a few times over the recent years, but it's against BB culture, and, yes, that has definitely hurt them. The companies and cultures they are competing against, even Microsoft, are much better at this than BB is, because it's all about the SOFTWARE, and that's never been BB's forte.

[terrycotant]

Agreed, but even Google isn't as rapid on mobile releases as the rest of their business. From what I've seen on my wife's phones, they also aren't focusing as much on "customer" as I'm suggesting. It's not just rapid releases, it's releasing important stuff (to the customer) often. You do that by getting close to them, and opening a meaningful dialog.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Agile methodologies can also be inefficient in large organizations and certain types of projects. Agile methods seem best for developmental and non-sequential projects. Many organizations believe that agile methodologies are too extreme and adopt a hybrid approach that mixes elements of agile and plan-driven approaches.
Agile has also been criticized by numerous observers as being a management fad. It exhibits many of the properties observed in past management fads including new jargon for existing processes, external consultants who specialize in its implementation and claims of a measurable business improvement via measurement of metrics defined by itself (e.g. velocity).

You can want a better world and you can work towards a better world - you can't force a better world on others.

It's hard to tell someone as successful as Google they aren't doing a good enough job meeting the needs of their users, until you "walk" in their shoes.

[heymaggie]

Umm, that's not the way Blackberry works. The way that Blackberry works is that the CEO announces a product or service that someone else has already successfully done. Then, someone at Blackberry starts working on it and releases something half-baked 6-12 months later. Then a few hours or a few months later, they pull the plug.

That's just for the occasional new stuff. Mostly what they do is sell the smartphones with keyboards to people who just want to buy basically the device year after year.