How to Improve Software Time to Market Without Sacrificing Quality

Bringing a software product to market is never as simple as writing code and hitting launch. You face constant decisions like what features to prioritize, how to streamline workflows, and where bottlenecks slow you down.

A slow release can cost you market opportunities, while rushing can lead to technical debt and customer frustration. You need a strategic approach that helps you balance speed and quality.

In this article, you'll learn how to measure software time to market, identify key challenges, and apply best practices to speed up delivery times while maintaining product quality.

Let’s see how you can improve your process.

What Is the Time to Market Cycle?

The time to market (TTM) cycle is the time it takes for a product to move from an initial concept to being available for users. In software development, this depends on complexity. However, moving fast directly impacts your competitive advantages.

Studies show that the first product to reach the market can secure up to 70% of the market share, while later entrants may only capture around 20%. If you want to stay ahead, you need a streamlined product development process that removes delays without affecting quality.

Time to Market Examples

Every industry has different TTM expectations. In software, it varies widely. For example, Airbnb launched its first version within a year, while complex enterprise software can take years.

In the smartphone industry, TTM usually falls between one and three years. Developing new hardware, integrating software, and refining processes all take time, but delays can mean missing key market opportunities.

The automotive industry has an even longer cycle. In the past, a new vehicle typically took 48 months to develop due to safety regulations, rigorous testing, and supply chain dependencies. However, that time is now shortened to 25 months.

No matter the industry, your goal is the same, which is to turn an idea into a product that real people can use once it’s launched, and to do it as fast as possible without compromising adoption.

How to Measure Time to Market

TTM itself is a key metric.

In fact, we have Time to Delivery in Axify, which is the same as Time to Market for software teams.

However, breaking it down into detailed performance indicators helps you understand where delays occur and how to improve your product development cycle. Analyzing these insights allows you to spot bottlenecks, refine workflows, and bring digital products to users in a shorter time without compromising quality.

More Time to Market KPIs

Tracking the right KPIs gives you a clearer picture of your software project timeline. Axify helps you track TTM-related metrics more effectively so you can analyze each stage of development.

Instead of just measuring the total time from idea to launch, you can also examine each stage of the process to get more context. We advise you to drill down into specific work items, pull requests, and feature development phases to help you find slowdowns before they impact delivery.

To fully understand TTM, you need a mix of metrics that track efficiency, workflow issues, and delivery speed. Here’s what you should monitor:

• Cycle time: This measures how long it takes for work to move from start to completion. A shorter cycle time means faster progress through your software development process.

• DORA metrics: These include deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and failed deployment recovery time. They help you see quality issues in your development and release process. For example, a low deployment frequency and long lead time for changes can point to process inefficiencies, such as slow approvals or inefficient workflows. A high change failure rate and long recovery time suggest operational weaknesses, like poor testing or unstable infrastructure. Analyzing these metrics together is how you determine whether delays stem from workflow inefficiencies, DevOps issues, or deeper systemic problems.

• Flow efficiency: This metric tracks the ratio of active work time vs. total time (which includes waiting time). If a task spends too much time waiting for approvals or code reviews, your team loses momentum.
• Throughput: Measures how many work items, such as features or bug fixes, are completed within a given timeframe. Tracking throughput helps you assess trends; ideally, your software development teams should be stable or improving over time.

• Work in progress (WIP): Too many unfinished tasks create bottlenecks. Keeping your WIP under control helps you focus and complete tasks faster. We recommend a WIP limit of -/+1 of your total team members.
• Issue type time investment (flow distribution): This metric breaks down how much time is spent on different categories like features, bug fixes, and technical debt. Tracking and improving it helps you balance priorities and avoid spending too much time on non-value-adding work.

What to Take Into Account When Measuring Time to Market

Tracking TTM isn’t just about numbers but about context as well. Several factors can impact how quickly you bring a product to market. Here are key elements you need to consider:

• The development methodology you’re using: Agile methodologies can help you move faster with iterative development, while traditional methods like Waterfall may slow things down for you and your team.
• Project complexity: Larger, complex projects typically require more resources, planning, and testing, which extends your TTM. For example, if you’re delivering an on-premise solution for a manufacturing shop, the process may take longer.
• Product type: If you’re building a cloud-based app, you may release it faster than a product requiring on-premise installation or regulatory approval.
• Team size: A small, dedicated team may work more efficiently than a large team with too many dependencies.
• Communication inside the team: Clear, open communication and effective team structure can help you avoid unnecessary delays.

Time to Market Use Cases

How you approach time-to-market improvements depends on your business objectives and what you need to deliver faster. There are three main TTM use cases to make a real impact:

• Speed: If being first to market gives you an advantage, your focus should be on reducing inefficiencies and automating repetitive tasks to accelerate development. This is especially critical in the software development industry, where competitors are always racing to launch new solutions.
• Agility: Sometimes, it’s not just about launching fast but quickly adapting to customer feedback. If your goal is to improve features over time, an Agile approach helps you release updates efficiently without delaying the initial launch.
• Predictability: When you need to deliver on a fixed timeline, such as seasonal products or enterprise software, your priority is to refine workflows and minimize risks. Here, clear planning and efficient project management ensure your product reaches users exactly when it needs to.

Why Do You Need Faster Time to Market for Software Applications?

Bringing your software to market faster gives you a clear advantage. It reduces risks, improves quality, and helps you stay ahead of competitors. When you improve your release strategy, you not only increase efficiency but also create better experiences for both your team and your customers.

Products reach users faster, therefore:

Low-Risk Releases

Releasing software in smaller, controlled increments helps you catch issues early and avoid major failures. Instead of waiting months for a big launch, you can deploy updates gradually and reduce the chances of costly mistakes. This approach allows you to fine-tune your product based on direct user feedback, which makes each release more reliable.

Higher Quality

The longer development takes, the more technical debt and inefficient processes build up. In 2022, the cost of poor software quality in the U.S. was estimated at $2.41 trillion. Improving TTM allows you to reduce errors, iterate faster, and maintain a high-quality product that meets user needs without delays.

Lower Costs

Delays drive up expenses. The longer your software is in development, the more you spend on engineering, testing, and resources. Cutting down your TTM means fewer wasted hours and more efficient use of your budget. Faster releases also help you generate revenue sooner, which eases financial pressure on your project.

Better Product

Speed matters, but not at the expense of core functionality. Releasing earlier and improving through feedback cycles allows you to refine your product based on real user insights instead of assumptions.

Happier Teams

Long, drawn-out projects lead to burnout. When your software teams spend too much time on a single release, motivation drops. A faster, more iterative approach keeps your team engaged and motivated by giving you quick wins and continuous progress.

Happier Clients

Customers expect good software products and new features quickly. Digital transformation initiatives that focus on customer experience can generate a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction. The faster you address issues and deliver improvements, the more loyal your users become.

Competitive Edge

If you’re slow to market, someone else will fill the gap. A faster product release helps you capture early adopters, build traction, and prevent competitors from dominating your space. In this fast-paced world, speed is a game-changer.

More ROI

The sooner your software is available, the faster you start generating revenue. Whether it’s a subscription model, licensing, or one-time sales, a faster TTM means quicker returns and a stronger financial foundation.

Besides, a study by McKinsey found that products launched six months late can experience a 33% reduction in profit over five years, whereas products released on time but 50% over budget see only a 3.5% decrease in profits.

More Market Share

Being first (or at least early) positions you as a leader. When you enter the market ahead of others, you gain visibility, attract users, and establish authority before competitors have a chance to catch up.

Best Practices to Improve Time to Market

Improving your time to market means balancing speed with quality. Rushing a release without a solid process can lead to costly mistakes. Using the right strategies allows you to develop software efficiently while maintaining reliability.

Better time to market means faster product launches. As we explained above, that means you deliver value quickly and stay ahead of competitors. Here are the best practices to help you reduce delays and bring your product to users faster.

1. Prioritize Product Quality with an MVP for Faster Releases

Launching with a minimal viable product (MVP) rather than waiting for perfection helps you test ideas faster and adapt based on real user needs. The MVP approach allows you to validate core functionality while gathering insights for future improvements.

A survey found that 91.3% of businesses have launched a product using an MVP, which proves it’s a worthwhile strategy.

You don’t need every feature built out before launch. Instead, try to focus on what delivers the most value to your users. With regular feedback, you can refine your product and introduce new features gradually while reducing risks.

2. Reduce WIP

Work in progress (WIP) directly affects your ability to release software quickly. The more unfinished tasks your team juggles, the longer everything takes. Too much WIP leads to context switching, delays, and inefficiencies.

Limiting WIP helps your team focus on completing tasks before starting new ones. This approach increases flow efficiency, reduces bottlenecks, and leads to timely delivery.

Using Agile methodologies helps you visualize workflow and prioritize tasks based on urgency. The key is to stop starting and start finishing.

3. Shift-Left on QA

Testing early and frequently prevents defects from becoming expensive problems. The "shift-left" approach means integrating quality assurance from the start rather than treating it as a final step.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that fixing defects in production can cost up to 30 times more than addressing them earlier. Security defects can be up to 60 times more costly.

Shifting left allows your Agile teams to detect and resolve issues before they escalate. Automated testing, code reviews, and continuous integration can help you maintain high software quality while keeping development on track.

4. Test Early

Early testing is part of, but different than shifting left on QA.

Early testing focuses on running tests as soon as possible—unit tests, integration tests, and TDD (Test-Driven Development). It does not include other quality activities like security checks or continuous integration, which shift-left covers.

Early testing helps you catch problems before they impact your timeline. Running tests throughout the development cycle ensures stability and reliability. Instead of waiting until the final stages, you should encourage developers to test each feature as soon as it’s built.

Early testing improves software stability, reduces last-minute fixes, and keeps your releases on schedule.

5. Focus on Trunk-Based Development

Trunk-based development accelerates your releases by keeping code changes small and manageable. Instead of long-lived branches that delay integration, developers work directly in the main codebase with short-lived feature branches.

This approach reduces merge conflicts, supports faster changes, and allows for product iterations without major disruptions. Teams practicing trunk-based development typically pair it with continuous integration to ensure that every change is tested and ready for deployment.

6. Break Down Projects and Epics into Smaller Tasks

Managing large projects can slow you down, especially when multiple teams are involved. Breaking down epics into smaller, manageable tasks helps you create a workflow that keeps development moving without unnecessary bottlenecks. That’s because smaller tasks allow for quicker iterations, faster testing, and more frequent user feedback.

You also reduce the risk of delays caused by dependencies. If one task is held up, others can still progress. With a structured sprint backlog, your team can prioritize high-impact work while maintaining flexibility to adapt as needed. This approach helps you improve efficiency and keeps your software moving toward release.

7. Deliver More Frequently

Releasing smaller updates more frequently helps you adapt to market changes, fix issues quickly, and respond to feedback in real time. Instead of waiting months for a major release, frequent deployments allow you to validate assumptions, improve customer satisfaction, and minimize risk.

Shorter release cycles also give your team more confidence because they see their work making an impact sooner. Implementing Agile practices and continuous delivery pipelines ensures that your product evolves in a way that meets customer expectations while keeping development efficient.

8. Use Automation to Speed Up Development

Automation can be an effective way to accelerate your time to market, if used wisely. A survey by OutSystems and KPMG found that 75% of software executives reported up to a 50% decrease in development time when using AI and automation in the software development lifecycle.

However, automation’s impact on delivery speed and stability isn’t always straightforward. The 2024 DORA report found that while increasing AI automation by 25% boosts productivity by 2.1%, it can also reduce delivery throughput by 1.5% and decrease stability by 7.2%. Developers still spend significant time reviewing AI-generated code, which offsets some of the expected efficiency gains.

Instead of relying on automation for full autonomy, you should use it to reduce cognitive load—automating repetitive tasks like infrastructure management, code formatting, and basic testing and code reviews. Human oversight remains critical to optimize efficiency without compromising software quality.

And the point is to focus on higher-value tasks instead of repetitive manual work. As the DORA report shows, these contradicting statistics prove that teams need to learn how to implement AI better according to their goals.

9. Empower Teams to Make Decisions Faster

Developers typically spend a significant portion of their time on non-development tasks, such as approvals and infrastructure management. In fact, research shows that developers can spend between 20% and 60% of their time managing infrastructure, which takes valuable time away from core development activities.

Reducing bureaucratic barriers and giving teams more autonomy is a great solution because they can make faster decisions and keep momentum. Cross-functional teams with clear cooperation strategies can quickly adapt to challenges and improve both speed and efficiency. The fewer roadblocks in your process, the faster your product reaches the market.

10. Use Proactive Risk Management to Avoid Delays

Ignoring risks early in the development cycle can lead to costly setbacks. Proactively identifying potential roadblocks (such as technical debt, security vulnerabilities, or compliance issues) helps you address them before they become major obstacles.

Conducting risk assessments at every stage of the product development journey ensures smoother progress and fewer last-minute surprises. Regularly reviewing your sprint planning and identifying weak points allows you to adjust strategies in real time, keep your software project on track, and accelerate delivery.

Achieve Faster Time to Market with Axify

Speeding up software product delivery without sacrificing quality requires the right tools and insights. You can use Axify to improve your Agile workflow, reduce delays, and keep your business goals on track.

Axify gives you real-time visibility into your workflow, supports continuous feedback, and helps you identify areas for improvement. Whether you need to streamline releases or improve team collaboration, Axify gives you the data to move faster with confidence.

We already showed you some key metrics, but it’s worth mentioning two other tools that further optimize software delivery:

• First, the Value Stream Mapping tool helps you visualize bottlenecks in your development process. By mapping the flow of work from planning to release, you can pinpoint inefficiencies and focus on removing delays.
• Secondly, our Software Delivery Forecasting tool helps you accurately predict when you'll deliver. It aggregates real-time team performance data, giving you a clearer picture of delivery timelines and helping you set realistic expectations. If you’re unhappy with these timelines, consider what improvements you can make to accelerate this time to delivery.

We also offer hands-on support for your team to implement these best practices – and more.

Ready to improve your time to market? Book a demo today and see how Axify can help you take control.