Conference Season Key Takeaways: The Lighthouse

Paul Seymour • October 16, 2023

 "Lighthouse principles" are those guiding principles or strategies that help businesses navigate uncertainty. At Patient Zero our Way of Working — the product of our hard-won experience — reflects such principles.

 

A recurring theme this year has been the need for businesses to have 'lighthouse principles' to enable better decision-making in uncertain times, and as they confront new technologies.

 

These principles equally apply to an engineering approach, and here are some of the things businesses can think about to ensure their own development principles are strong:

 

  • Adaptability: These principles should be adaptable to changing circumstances. In an ever-evolving business environment, flexibility is crucial for making timely and informed decisions. In a rapidly developing technology landscape, the ability to adapt across technologies and platforms is crucial, and being guided by clear principles makes these decisions easier.


  • Strategic Alignment: These principles have to align with the overall business strategy — they’re one and the same — as they serve as a North Star, ensuring that short-term deployment and engineering decisions made during uncertain and challenging times remain consistent with long-term goals.


  • User Experiences: People need to be at the heart of everything and should be core to your principles. By putting end-users at the centre of decision-making, businesses applications can enhance loyalty and satisfaction, which reduces risk in challenging times.

 

  • Reduce Risk: Lighthouse principles help businesses assess and manage risks effectively. They give confidence and clarity to decision-makers by providing a framework for evaluating potential outcomes and making choices that mitigate negative consequences.


  • Data Driven: Data and analytics can help inform decisions. We’re not saying get ChatGPT to guide your principles, decision-making backed by data can enhance objectivity and reduce the reliance on loosely measured metrics — gut feelings.

 

Applying a clear set of principles to your engineering and development approach will ensure that you’re able to make the right long-term engineering decisions for your business over the long-term.


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