Regular feedback and assessment can help you keep on top of value. Understanding your Landscape and being aware of your climate is critical.

Landscape

The Landscape is the environment you're competing in. What's your company's purpose? What problem are you trying to solve? How are you going about it, and what are you performing?

• What are our user's needs?

• Do you already have something that meets the market, or are you building something new?

• How will you know if you're successful? 

Wardley Maps are an excellent way to visualise your Landscape and stimulate conversation. A good map tells you that there are options to can pursue.

• Do you need to build the feature yourself, or is there a product you can integrate?

• Is usage low? Do you have the analytics to determine why?

• Is conversation high, but do you need more leads entering your funnel? 

Climate

Climate is the forces that impact your environment. They're not something you can control, but you can discover them. Keep an eye on anything that could affect your business domain, such as your competitor's actions, government policy and increased societal awareness of issues.

• Awareness of gender identity and accessibility means companies must factor these things in. 

• The state of the economy may mean consumers are spending less overall. 

• Seasonal changes to spending or usage include Christmas in retail and increased fuel use during the winter.

• End of year finances, companies spend less.

Two recent examples include

• Changes to iOS to reduce tracking had a massive impact on marketing.

• Flash flooding led to offices meaning overseas teams couldn't work.

• In my local area, some businesses have not survived the decrease in traffic caused by the closure of the Menai Suspension bridge. 

Consumer expectations shift with trends.

Where to look for potential impact

Keep an eye on the news and ask yourself how each news story might affect your business.

Articles like Thought Work's Technology Radar give you an insight into a trend in technology, such as what people are adopting, what's being used less and what people are trialling.

The Landscape and climate changed with the iPhone. Will it change with Augmented Reality? How is it changing with AI?

Share news across the organisation. 

If you're a member of the C-suite, you should be adjusting your strategy accordingly and sharing the updates.

If you're not responsible for strategy and you need to hear regular updates be sure to ask questions. 

• "How does X impact our approach to Y?" 

• "Office closures could mean that feature X may not deliver results as soon as we'd like. What is the potential impact, and what do we want to do to mitigate it?"

Remember, we share the experience, and we're all responsible for it.