The only thing that matters is working code in production! This was a shocking statement by friend and colleague, David Sisk. We worked side by side focused on application architecture and software engineering at Deloitte. David, managed to anger an entire set of senior leaders plus a highly visible methods and tools organization by saying the most important outcome is not documents and decks. Ultimately all that matters is working software.
He was not quoting the agile manifesto. He was looking at the need and calling out the obvious. This was also nearly a decade ago! A bit of a futurist he is, I suppose.
He was definitely correct!
To expand: the ultimate goal is delivering value. The goal is not the pipeline nor the documents nor the methodology nor the value stream. Those are each important “job aids”. Changing minds requires exposure to new ideas, to the successes and failures of others, coupled with experiential opportunities!
Here are a few resources to arm you to be a change agent:
++Embrace that software is “never really done” - This is earth shattering to some! No more “code/load/hit-the-road” but long lived stream-aligned organizations. I highly suggest reading “Project to Product” by Mik Kersten
++Time to Market/mission is not Time to Value = Fast release of a new feature or product to customers does not necessarily translate to business/mission value. A quick post is here from the Value Stream Management Consortium #VSCM
++Value goes beyond the customer - End user/customer value seems the most obvious measure, business value is unique to your context. Mark Schwartz stated that each organization needs to identify value based on its strategies, competitors, capabilities, mission, and people. Check out “The Art of Business Value”
++Mentoring and training matters - David took us on a journey that started with rapid right-sized training followed by directly applying what we learned! We followed the 70:20:10 model with focus on 70% doing/10% formal training.
++Community matters! I still am learning and growing from my work with Deloitte and CMU’s SATURN technical crew. I’ve learned the value of applying theory and methods taking a bias for action. George Fairbanks, Ipek Ozkaya, John Klein, and Len Bass.
++Embrace the minimums! Rapid experiments and embracing bare minimums are core. This doesn’t mean cut important corners, it means be pragmatic. I recommend scanning Minimum CD.org
++Measurements matter but they are health indicators and not goals. There are many types and levels. Identify what you are measuring and HOW you can improve it! Here is a kick start about metrics.
++Don’t forget cyber, cyber, cyber
#softwareengineering #agile #software #value #VSM #devops #devsecops #ST4G #Cyber
Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash