One of the most challenging things about working in technology is explaining what I do to others outside the business. A chemical engineer at a food company can explain they help create flavors or ensure the potato chips we eat are consistently crispy. A petroleum engineer transforms crude oil into gasoline and other valuable petrochemicals, making modern life worth living. An agile coach, scrum master, or software developer has difficulty explaining what they do. Sometimes it looks like magic, and other times, it resembles tedious bouts of frustration. There are plenty of ways to describe my profession, but today on the blog, I want to explain what it is not.
Nothing is more frustrating for me professionally than interacting with executives who earn their leadership in their organization by mere survival. These people look like leaders but do not exhibit leadership characteristics because survival in a dysfunctional organization is the only accomplishment they can proclaim. They were mediocre people who were unremarkable employees. Eventually, these people are promoted by someone because they do not threaten the status quo and the leaders above them. These executives are allergic to risk and innovation because it would threaten their position.
Countless times I have been in the office of these individuals and their faux leadership. One ordered me not to speak to other departments because he did not want the different departments to learn about our challenges with software releases. Another explained that we were not a technology company, so to expect us to behave like a technology company was foolish. I even had a vice president pat me on the head and call me ‘son’ before explaining how I did not understand modern branding. Naturally, when layoffs came, these paragons of leadership remained, and I was made disposable.
These leaders are toxic and insulting to the professionals who keep the global economy spinning. By far the worst was a salesperson who said, “Software is easy; you just transcribe our order forms into the inventory system.” At that moment of emasculation, I knew it was a matter of time before I would quit the organization to do something else. Software development is not transcription! It is a complex process of taking business artifacts like forms and turning them into strategies that deliver value for the firm. It is not a transcription but countless creative decisions that developers make that have numerous implications for the business and the software development process.
The dismissive notion that software is just transcription is self-defeating. For example, how does an order form behave once a customer fills it out? Developers will ask about the impact of the order on the inventory and accounts receivable system. Software engineers worry about what happens if an item is missing from the warehouse. Can a data team use the inventory to track trends and determine how to serve customers better? Finally, what else should the ordering system do to deliver value to the business? It is a game with thousands of questions, and developers need to answer them to make the software work.
The technology world overflows with intelligent and talented people. Despite layoffs, the technology world has an over-abundance of work and needs more people to do it. Business leaders want to throw as much work at employees as possible because their labor is expensive. It is this crazy ratio of supply and demand which drives much of the dysfunction in the technology business. Instead of creating a cycle of productivity, there are episodes of burnout and failure to deliver.
Over the years, I have been profoundly disappointed by business leaders who do not understand technology or how to lead others. I joined the agile reformation because I know that there are better ways to lead others and deliver working software. The business world needs reform, and it is up to people like me and you to speed that process along, so now, when a toxic leader says software development is easy, I know what to say to convince them otherwise.
Until next time.
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