Economic Value

System’s financial success

Some software exists as art and some exists as entertainment. Most of the software we write for companies exists to create economic value. It may seem odd to be talking about the economics of software systems in a section about transparency, but this is where we can most directly perceive the linkage between our systems and our financial success.

The value created by our systems can be harmed if the user experience is bad. It can also be harmed if the system cost is too high. These are the top line and bottom line effects. We should build our transparency in terms of revealing the way that the recent past, current state, and future state connect to revenue and costs.

The top line

The top line is generating good revenue. Our system should be able to tell us if we’re making as much as we should be right now.