People have passionately argued about whether people are more important than process or process is more important than people. Tune in; for instance, a colleague writes passionately about the triumph of people over process. Another colleague writes passionately about the importance of heroes. A pundit writes passionately about how great systems (process) are more important than great people. And yet another colleague writes passionately about a method that helps competent people perform better.
I can reveal a lot about my biases by answering the following question: How do I feel about the thought of being employed by a company with a great process?
Threatened.
My first thought is of a totalitarian process that turns me into a gear inside a machine.
I want to be a person who is part of a team of people who use an evolving process rather than a cyborg working with other cyborgs following the rules prescribed by a totalitarian process.
My work experience is there is always someone in a company attracted to the idea of a totalitarian process because it appears to them as the most efficient way to produce something.
Perhaps in some industries there is a “most” efficient method. But in the Information Technology industry,I believe anyone designing the most efficient method for producing our products has a screw loose.Before anyone tries to create the most efficient method, we need to become consistently effective at producing products that please our customers and learn from those experiences. In my opinion, we have a long way to go.
There is a another part of me that likes and believes in process as long as it treats people as humans rather than machines. I have been a member of teams that have had a highly-effective process. It helped me structure my thoughts and feelings and use them to create better products for our customers.
I don’t have to feel threatened by a company with a great process. I need to investigate whether people who do the process have a say in the process. If they do, it’s a worthy company.
It doesn’t have to be about people over process orientation. It doesn’t have to be great process over great people. People design process. Don’t have outsiders design the process for a workgroup. Let the people who do the process design the process. And I gather this action is exactly what some of the best manufacturing companies do. We can learn from them.
I couldn’t agree with you more Steve. No body wants to be a part of the big machine ‘process’. Many big companies have ‘process’, ‘process’ as in paper work, overhead, and being handed requirements while you work in a cubical.
I think in order to have a great development process you need great people. Great people who are disciplined enough to adopt and innovate the process. We have a great process where I work, but it came from hiring great people. People who bought into the process and were\are always looking for ways to improve it.
The toughest challenge we have is hiring people who can adopt the process and move the process forward.
P.S. I met you at AYE last year and thought you were great! I was in on your little marbles experiment. You were the highlight of the conference for me.
Your comment made my day, Chris. I remember you from the AYE session, which was a lot of fun. It’s great to hear from you. I hope you are well.
I agree with you 100% about the challenge of hiring people who can adopt the process and move it forward. We are on the same page.
Thank you making the time to comment.
-Steve
It seems that many companies focus – maybe not as an intentional business decision, but just because that’s what they’ve always done – on people: long hours, tribal knowledge, “super heroes” saving the day.