Here is nice short report from McKinsey with good advice for software vendors. In summary they write that software-development organizations that try to excel at everything may be diluting their efforts. They do best when they focus on the areas that matter most for the kind of organization they want to be. Sounds like good advice for all of us.

Janaki Akella and Nazgol Moussavi from McKinsey's Silicon Valley office developed some measuring tools for software vendors and found four main types. In their words, "Cost champions concentrate on standardized architectures, tools, and processes, all of which cut expenses by promoting predictable results and minimal rework. Innovators foster creativity by encouraging their people to develop new capabilities and by supporting an organizational mind-set that rewards novel ideas. Perfectionists secure their niche by focusing on quality. Integrators excel at standardization in order to get value from organizations they acquire."

They conclude that companies need to recognize where they are and focus on their strengths. Each of the four types has a different profile. This sounds ironically similar to models for consulting companies that I saw in my days with a large consulting firm. I may start asking the software vendors I interview for the AppGap blog where they fall just to test this model. My suspicion is that they will all want to be innovators. That was the response I got from the first one I asked. Although cost champions may be popular today.