I think she was close to figuring out what can happen, but missed the mark. Great developers leaving are your canaries, and the Dead Sea Effect is a real thing.

I think she was close to figuring out what can happen, but missed the mark. Great developers leaving are your canaries, and the Dead Sea Effect is a real thing. So what do rules and processes have to do with this? I'm currently happiest at my job that is the most "enterprisey" and has more rules. I can't wear shorts or sandals to work, which perpetually irritates me. I can't run the OS I want at work, and I have a hard time getting simple things like a decently sized monitor because of esoteric rules. A lot of these rules are dumb, and sound like the ones in the article, but I'm planning on staying for as long as I'm challenged and having fun. Our team runs kanban instead of scrum/sprints, and we're constantly asking to use non-approved technologies (where appropriate) in a traditionally Java-based company. We have individual and team agency, and there is an implied trust that we will prioritize accordingly, get things done, and make good technology decisions. I would gladly deal with a dozen other dumb rules as long as I'm able to hold onto the above, as interesting work and agency to solve it in creative ways is the number one thing I'm looking for. Contrast that with some of the other places I've worked. I used to be able to drink beer at work, we could have dogs in the office, I had more vacation time, free beverages and snacks, etc. All those things are nice perks, but they came tethered with what I consider the detestable processes that the article glosses over. Any process related to productivity is designed to set a bar which will bring up your lower performing individuals. This bar will drag down your good developers - that is what makes good developers leave. Knowing how to fix problems and being unable to do anything about it while stuck in an endless barrage of sprint planning, sprint retros, forced demos, velocity tracking, etc. is not fun. Forced consensus on any decisions is like pulling teeth and people end up afraid to contribute or have a dissenting opinion. The people that are OK with the productivity bar are the ones that stick around for 15 years and become "indispensable" because they know where the bodies are hidden. Anyone good that joins the company probably won't last more than 18 months. I apologize for the long rant, but it's been a topic I've spent a great deal thinking about in the last 2 years after trying (and eventually succeeding) to find a good place to work.