Is it a product?
How to decide if you’re building a product or building a technology system:
- Are you creating something that will validate hypotheses about how to enable the organisation to move in an agreed direction?
- Are you deciding what to build based on dedicated discovery work to understand what problems users are facing?
- Are you delivering small, frequent, reliable releases to users and getting feedback on whether you’re solving their problems?
If the answers are No, then you aren’t building a product, you’re implementing technology. There’s nothing wrong with that. Implementing technology is necessary, but it’s better to be clear about what you’re doing and why, and treat it accordingly.