How Does Unrealized Value Relate to Product Increments?
Unrealized Value is the satisfaction gap between current customer outcomes and desired outcomes. Valuable Increments reduce this gap, confirming progress toward goals.
The intent is that an Increment narrows the satisfaction gap. Yet there’s always the risk our hypothesis is flawed, and the result ends up increasing the gap rather than closing it.
Metaphor
Unrealized Value is like the distance between your GPS dot and your destination. Every useful turn you make (a valuable Increment) closes that gap.
The smaller the gap gets, the clearer it is that the product is actually steering toward the customer’s desired outcomes.
Works Consulted
In addition to any sources cited above, the following works informed my thinking:(1)
1.
Developing Valuable Product Increments [Internet]. Scrum.org; [cited 2025 Aug 28]. Available from: https://www.scrum.org/learning-series/developing-valuable-product-increments/the-importance-of-producing-a-valuable-product-increment