This book is about you.
Yes it is. Chapter 1, "Pragmatic Philosophy", was a non-technical discussion on balance, flexibility, and accountability at an individual level, the effects of which are far-reaching.
Don't Live with Broken Windows
This section on entropy was incredibly helpful. Identifying and addressing each 'broken window' is defense against complacency and fuel for morale. Avoiding known issues will only increase mental load and create an unsustainable standard of quality.
Overall, it was a great reminder on how to keep forward momentum and work effectively as an individual in an organization.
Top comments (3)
I feel like there's an important corollary to "Don't Live with Broken Windows" that I live by, which in sum is "Have Less Windows". Given what you read so far, what do you think about the idea of balance as it relates to both moving forward and improving what's already there? My organization gets a bit ahead of itself in trying new initiatives instead of improving current processes (or, living with broken/low-quality windows).
I absolutely agree with your "Have Less Windows" corollary. "Keep it simple stupid!" as my former professor used to say. But, I think the importance is more so keeping those windows intact. Adding functionality is adding windows, and doing so is a necessary part of product development. Moving forward knowing something is broken creates the snowball effect of entropy, and will be more difficult to deal with the longer one waits.
I know this all too well. I have found it can be difficult to deal with this depending on the size of the organization and the size of the team. Sometimes the broken windows are out of one's scope of work, but do have an effect on the overall productivity of the team. My opinion so far is that it is a joint effort on the individual within the team to hold themselves accountable for their own work, and management to be open to suggestions and improvement in the project management life cycle.
Thanks for replying! KISS is something I'm coming to understand for myself in not overly complicating/complexifying things.
That's a good wisdom, thank you!