Talking to friends in software orgs recently, I've been struck by commonalities across countries and sectors:
Executives are driving "efficiency," by which they mean maximizing time spent on direct value-creation activities.
BUT there's a tacit, industry-wide assumption that writing code is the only value-creating activity and that all coding generates value.
It's like everyone has prioritized instantaneous boat speed and abandoned navigation and maintenance.
Such a reckoning coming...
@elizayer
So the execs try to maximize the time spent on creating value.
Ok, fine.
But I haven't seen a single exec being busy creating any value.
@shadowdancer I think the exec's mindset is often that they act as the organism brain, the people at end of the value chain are the organism limbs, and everything in between is waste.
So telling people what to do is literally what they are for and value-creating. After all, what would the limbs even do without the brain controlling? Simply flail.
Yes, it's a caricature, but I also think it's worth trying to understand the mindset, if only to avoid its apparent seductions!
Elizabeth Ayer
panu