Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Process

I've been around long enough that I've worked under a lot of development processes: Waterfall, Agile, Kanban, etc. Over the decades I have made the following observations.
  1. No one process is going to ensure success.
  2. Some processes will work better than others for some kinds of work.
  3. What process you use isn't nearly as important as the fact that you have a process at all, everyone knows what it is, and everyone follows it.
  4. All development is fractally iterative, whether you want it to be or not.
  5. No matter what process you use, you have to have the right people; no process will make the wrong people successful.
  6. Engineers need structure, and successful ones know it; if you have the right people, but no process, those people will spontaneously adopt a process - an existing one if they're experienced - that works for them.

1 comment:

Paul Moorman said...

Take all those excellent points and substitute "leader" for "process".

1. No one leader is going to ensure success.
2. Some leaders will work better than others for some kind of work.
3. What leader you use isn't nearly as important as the fact that you have a leader at all, everyone knows who it is, and everyone follows them.
4. All leadership is fractally iterative, whether you want it to be or not.
5. No matter which leader you have, you have to have the right people; no leader will make the wrong people successful.
6. Engineers need structure, and successful ones know it; if you have the right people, but no leader, those people will spontaneously adopt a leader - an existing one if they're experienced - that works for them.

Seems to work (at least for me)....