Great question.
Two things I would say about that:

1. You don’t have to release until you are ready, but it is still beneficial to develop in vertical slices.
2. Get feedback as you are developing from the customer and they are likely to keep giving it. In some ways you are also the customer, so, supporting it is a feature and it is required.

Basically what I am saying is, vertical slicing is a way to develop an application solution better and get feedback faster. You still control the cadence of releases and determine what is done. Don’t be afraid to wait until the solution is not half-baked or to make sure you add future maintenance as a feature.

I work in a company as a business solutions developer where our applications tend to live for decades, so getting it right the first time is very important. If we move to using vertical slicing how can we make sure we don’t deliver half-baked solutions that the business deems “good enough” and we are left supporting it for years to come.

It’s easy to see the benefit for shrink wrap solutions where speed to market is the difference between being the innovator or the imitator. I’m just looking for a good way to make this apply to our software life cycle. Thanks.

He’ll create one or two, completed as ‘show houses’ (a vertical slice) where the potential customers can see an example of a finished product. They may ask for their house to be different (more bedrooms). Vertical slices allow the whole housing development to be developed ‘Agilely’.

Cheers, Paul

Your welcome, thanks for checking it out.

That problem cannot be solved. Using your example, there is no coaching that can help a band composed of players who cannot play their instruments. Band members have to practice on their own to be able to contribute to the band.