Thoughts On Software

I recently listened to an interview with Dan North in which he discussed his efforts to encourage organizations embrace uncertainty.  What I took away was the idea is that there are some things that are just unknowable and that building processes that give the appearance of certainty is wasteful and dangerous. For example, elaborate planning processes whether they be in the Agile or Waterfall camp often yield the appearance of predictability, but in reality, major risk factors are often left undiscovered.  Putting more and more effort into refining these processes gives the appearance of improved accuracy, but what we really want is effectiveness. For example, we may spend hours haggling over story card points, when the biggest risk to a project - a key contributor is looking for another job - is left undiscovered and unaccounted for. As human beings we generally dislike uncertainty.  We rely on our understanding of cause and effect to survive. When primitive cultures d...