Balancing software product investments

The long-term sustainability of a software product depends on more than developing features. Priorities are placed on aspects that support the development of software, like software product quality (eg. ISO 9126), project constraints - time and cost, and even the development of intellectual capital (IC). A greater focus on any one aspect takes priority from another, but as each aspects delivers a different type of value managers have trouble comparing and balancing these aspects. This paper presents a method to help determine the balance between key priorities in the software development process. The method is applied to a new case study, that also combines with results from previous studies. The results show it is possible to compare features, quality, time, cost and IC in a comprehensive way, with the case study showing that participants perceive a change from a shorter-term product perspective to a longer-term organisation beneficial to the business.