Mind the Release and Requirements
Traditionally, software-driven companies release around pretty standard cycles. Gather up a bunch of features, plan it, build it, QA it, alpha / beta / RC it, release it. Usually, this can take a huge amount of time - anywhere between 8-24 months. Or something.
This isn’t the way it has to be. Releasing faster can be done. Of course, doing so requires more attention to QA, since developers are under the gun to code their stuff more quickly. Ideally, with RAD, you’re doing minimal increment releases every two weeks.
How can this work? Fit the features to time, not the time to features. Also, mind the release plan and the roadmap. These two (or sometimes one) things have to be killer in order to ensure an agile organization stays agile. It’s the job of the product manager to disseminate this type info, and gather the requirements that will go in to building these artifacts up and out, ultimately ensuring the success of the product - and if the company is small enough, ensuring the product is helping drive the company toward success.
Both release cycle and requirements are critical components. And, making sure that you are talking to everyone that will listen about changes, bugs, successes and solutions. Get the right strategies in place and start managing in any direction you can — bottom -> top or top -> bottom. Both will work, and will help accomplish the objectives you have laid out.
