3X Model by Kent Beck
Kent Beck introduced his 3X model that identifies three stages of product development circa 2017 from observations whilst working at Facebook.
The model has been useful to understand the cultural evolution during a product development journey from edgy innovation to stable and standardised product offering.
Explore
During this stage the key focus is on exploring the problem to be solved and the possible solutions with an emphasis on experimentation to find what resonates and is successful. The results of the experiments are unpredictable and so a cost effective approach with a number of small quick experiments are encouraged to search for that great idea.
Key skills in this stage include an ability to rapidly experiment with diverse ideas, highly collaborative and creative with a passion for jumping into the unknown. Not for the feint hearted or those that like steady state stability.
Transitioning To Expand
The transition to Expand can be subtle and might not be immediately obvious until after a transition has been made. A transition may also be a natural response to getting a first user or customer on board to use the product for the first time in a real life context. This may inject a sense of reality into the product as previously hypothetical features are evaluated and used in context for the first time.
Some of the indications that a product cycle is in transition can involve a refactoring of the product, process and work, taking the form of new efforts to stabilise and refine the process, improve the quality in the product, refine the feature backlog with much more clarity over what is reallyneeded and clearing out old redundant features, wild ideas and non-starters for example. Here there may be a dramatic step change and evolution in the product, the process and the teams with a clear demarkation between what was Explore and what is now Expand.
Expand
With a promising experiment, it is now time to expand the prototype into something useful with a rapid growth rate.
Key skills in this area include an ability to crank out high quality features that count with a passion for eradicating defects, bottlenecks and other impediments.
Extract
After a little stabilisation of the solution is done, now is the time to extract value with economies of scale and a rapid growth in user adoption, and subscriptions.
Skills in this area are an ability to productionise the product and get it into market, servicing new users and stabilising the core.
Transitions
The phases seem to go in order and it is important to take note of the transitions between phases, as the differing skillsets, tools and cultural approaches may catch you out. Kent Beck tends to refer to the stages like a triathlon which is a single race but with three distinct disciplines to master.
Alignment
People will have natural alignments appropriate for each of the phases, and it may be difficult to find people that are comfortable in multiple phases, as this implies that a person is both comfortable in a chaotic and ambiguous environment during Explore, but is also effective at stabilising and servicing customer needs during Extract.