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I think of bureaucracies similarly to software. I've seen many legacy code bases that started out simple but as they add features and identify more and more edg
by guelo 8y ago
I think of bureaucracies similarly to software. I've seen many legacy code bases that started out simple but as they add features and identify more and more edge cases programmers start adding abstractions and config files and processes and it becomes increasingly complex and difficult to modify and nobody fully comprehends the whole system or how to fix it. I imagine it's the same thing with organizational processes.
- userbinator 8y agoThe bureaucracy in codebases often mirrors the same of the company in which they were developed, or in some cases the general culture of the programming language itself (prominent examples being Java and C#.) The most horrifically indirect code I've seen comes from large enterprise software, where something that is actually quite simple takes inordinate amounts of code to accomplish; on the other hand, code written by and maintained by only one or two individuals rarely accumulates such accidental complexity.
- Sniffnoy 8y agoSee also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_law