How Sitecore’s Investment strategy impacts the developer’s job

At Sitecore we have three 3 pillars in our continuous R&D investment strategy: Innovation, Time to Market and Enhancements.

While preparing the keynotes for the SUGCON conferences in Europe and India I wanted to use these strategic pillars since they define how we work as a company. Since I already talked about this during Sitecore Symposium in 2018 I wanted to take a different approach. This time, knowing that SUGCON is a developer event, I started brainstorming on how our pillars impact you as a developer. In this article I would like to share my thoughts and outcomes on how the strategic pillars have affect on your day-to-day job.

Innovation – Solutions to solve the problems of tomorrow

Starting with the first pillar – Innovation. Innovation is what makes Sitecore unique. There are a lot of content management systems, DX platforms, customer data platforms and commerce systems out there. We need to stand out with innovation, it is the innovation we bring that differentiate us.

What does this mean for you as a developer?

Innovation makes my technical heart go faster, it excites me, it opens new opportunities to create cutting edge solutions with new products that introduce exciting technologies to my day-to-day job.  Some recent examples are Sitecore Cortex that brings the world of Machine Learning to your front door and Sitecore JSS that opens a whole new world of JavaScript development options.

I am aware that innovation sometimes forces you out of your comfort zone. But for me as a developer at heart this is what motivates me and keeps me sharp and motivated. I need the challenge of learning new things and I’m always eager to learn and keeping up with new trends.

Time to Market – Speed throughout the project lifecycle

When we talk about time-to-market, we’re talking about the entire lifecycle of the solutions. Installing Sitecore, upgrading Sitecore, configuring Sitecore, developing new sites, deploying changes, scaling up, scaling down – it all needs to be fast, easy and reliable.

What does this mean for you as a developer?

Time to market is all about efficiency; how Sitecore helps you to do your job more effectively. Providing you with an opportunity to focus on the cool & fun things in your job. Instead of building the same feature or component time-after-time, you can focus on building new features that add business value and create the opportunity to work with innovative technology.

Enhancements – Rock solid stability and performance

Our work on enhancing our platform is guided by the feedback we get from our customers, partners, analysts and our community. Our ecosystem and community are not shy in telling us what is missing and what we can improve. We’re listening, and we’re taking on board what we hear.

What does this mean for you as a developer?

The last one is enhancements. Enhancements are all about comfort, making sure you have a working and comfortable working environment. Meaning that Sitecore should be the platform that you prefer to work on, a platform that supports you in doing your job and is not blocking or frustrating you.

Wrap-up

For me, the most important pillar is Enhancements. Strengthening the foundation since that is at the core of where we build our future on. Having a strong foundation is key for quicker time-to-market and it’s crucial for innovation. You can see a change in Sitecore as a company, we never have been so focused on enhancing the product. Fixing bugs and enhancing existing features, the main focus is on making the platform work better.

Sitecore 9.2 is now available. In the upcoming 9.2 blog series I’ll share some highlights that will make you more efficient, get you excited, and comfort you.