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I largely agree. Another way to say this is that an estimate becomes a commitment to not learn. Re-planning is seen as failure by [management]. Re-planning i
by csours 10mo ago
I largely agree.
Another way to say this is that an estimate becomes a commitment to not learn.
Re-planning is seen as failure by [management].
Re-planning is what happens when you learn that a previous assumption was not correct.
You should be encouraging learning, as this is THE cornerstone of software development.
- ravenstine 10mo agoRe-planning in isolation is not a failure. I think re-planning is a failure when nothing is learned from previous assumptions not being correct, which usually leads to serial re-planning. I've seen this pattern form at practically every company I've worked for, in particular whenever there's a merger or a private equity buy-out. More often than not, this is ironically caused by leadership failing to learn from previous assumptions because they're too busy chasing the shiny new bobble of the week, but the blame still gets diffused across the organization.
- csours 10mo ago> I think re-planning is a failure when nothing is learned from previous assumptions not being correct This is the exact problem, and why it is so extremely difficult to communicate about the subject. Another way to say "learn from previous [failures]" is "bureaucracy". We did something wrong last time, so we need a rule about that failure. It SHOULD NOT be seen as failure, we SHOULD NOT add bureaucracy, simple rules CAN NOT fix the issue. What should happen: Line managers and developers should be able to communicate about what they are learning as they do the work of software engineering. Developers should be able to re-plan their approach to problem solutions. This simply will not work if there is not strong trust between upper management/[the money] and the engineering/execution side of the organization. ---- The meta-problem is that you have to see things go wrong many times in many ways before you really understand what is going on, and by that point ... well everything gets very tiresome.
- Bjartr 10mo agoWhen you make a plan, you have the least information you will ever have about the goal/problem.
- thfuran 10mo agoRe-planning when you gain enough information to know you need to isn’t a failure — not re-planning then would be — but repeatedly finding yourself re-planning when you had or should have had that information before the initial plan is.