Bulldozer00's Blog

The process to assemble and construct the factory is much more challenging than the process to assemble and construct the widgets that the factory repetitively stamps out. In the software industry, everything’s a factory, but most managers think everything’s a widget in order to delude themselves into thinking that they’re in control. Amazingly, this is true even if the manager used to write software him/herself.

When a developer gets “promoted” to manager,  a switch flips and he/she forgets the factory versus widget dichotomy. This stunning and instantaneous about face occurs because pressure from the next higher layer in the dysfunctional CCH (Command and Control Hierarchy) causes the shift in mindset and all common sense goes out the window. Predictability and exploitation replace uncertainty and exploration in all situations that demand the latter; and software creation always demands the latter. Conversation topics flip from talking about technical and CCH org roadblocks to obsessing about schedule and budget conservation because, of course, managers equate writing software with secretarial typing. The problem is that neglecting the former leads to poor performance of the latter.