Food for Thought-An e-newsletter published by Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
December 2007, Vol. 4 No. 9
What does your company smell like?

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In This Months� Topic, I discuss the importance of recognizing 
patterns... 

Regular features to look for each month are:

- Monthly Morsels
  Hints, tips, techniques and reference info related to this month�s topic 

- Calendar
  Conferences, workshops, and meetings of interest to software engineers, 
  QA engineers and anyone interested in software development 

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*** This Month�s Topic ***

What does your company smell like?

Tim Lister from the Atlantic System Guild (http://www.systemsguild.com/)
inspired the topic for this month�s e-newsletter. I recently attended a talk Tim
gave about a new book he and his colleagues are writing. Their forthcoming book
is a collection of patterns that Tim & Co. have observed over the years in their 
consulting work with many organizations. Patterns are familiar concepts to 
many in the software development industry. For example, identifying and 
reusing a design pattern is a common technique for developing software.

The patterns that Tim spoke about in his talk were patterns of 
organizational behavior. Such patterns are important because they affect 
the health and vibrancy of projects and organizations. As you might 
expect, there are good patterns and bad patterns.


Tim characterized several patterns he and his colleagues have observed 
by associating them with a distinct and recognizable smell. What we need 
to do, according to Lister, is to recognize various smells, name them, and 
determine if they are good, bad or indifferent so we can decide whether or 
not to apply them again.

Associating a smell with organizational behaviors is an interesting idea. 
Scientists who have studied our five senses have found that the sense of 
smell can contribute anywhere from 70-95% of what we perceive as taste 
when we eat. Smell is a powerful sense that often can result in emotional 
responses. This is true whether the smell is of a freshly baked loaf of 
bread or of a project headed for disaster.

Like Tim and his colleagues, I�ve smelled a few smells over the years - 
from the sweet smell of success to the pungent odor of failure and 
everything in between. Here are some examples of project and 
organizational behaviors that you may recognize and some suggestions on 
how to deal with them...

- The �No-one Smells Like Us� Smell 

  I can�t keep track of how many times I�ve heard this... I ask a simple 
  question about why some aspect of the software development process seems 
  so unusual and the answer I invariably get is - We couldn�t possibly do 
  that the way everyone else does - we�re different!

  Well guess what? No, you�re not. Every organization that develops 
  software has many of the same problems - every one. I�ve seen many of 
  the same problems at the 100+ organizations I�ve worked with over the 
  years.

  What should you do if you work for a company that exhibits this 
  behavior? Well, I�d suggest trying to get the people who believe this to 
  be true to talk to people at other companies about their problems. They 
  can do this by attending a software engineering conference or by 
  blogging. Another option - have a reputable consultant come in to a give 
  a talk on software development topics. Sometimes companies will listen 
  to outsiders even though their own people tell them the exact same 
  thing.

- The DOA Smell 

  Some projects are dead on arrival. Before they even get started, they 
  smell really bad. On such projects, everyone (except Management 
  apparently) knows that the schedule is ridiculous and that the 
  requirements are totally screwed up. 

  Or maybe Management has decided to outsource this project and the 
  Project Manager doesn�t have a clue as to how to manage a development 
  team half-way �round the world...

  These are two examples of projects that are clearly DOA. Ed Yourdon 
  has a name for projects like this - he calls them Death March Projects. 
  Tim Lister calls this a Dead Fish Project. 

  What should you do if you�re working on a project like this? I�d suggest 
  reading Ed Yourdon�s book Death March (http://www.yourdon.com/
  ?loc=publications) to learn what to expect and maybe a few survival skills.

- The Who�s-on-First Smell 

  I�ve seen several project teams where basic roles and responsibilities 
  of team members were never clearly defined. When this happens, stuff 
  always falls through the cracks. Comments like �I thought you were 
  supposed to code that feature?� or �I assumed you knew that QA was doing 
  the daily builds,� are artifacts of this behavior. 

  This brings to mind the classic Abbott & Costello comedy routine
  (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor4.shtml) called �Who�s On First?�
  about the names of players on a baseball team...

  Listen to Abbott & Costello�s Who�s On First routine...
  (http://www.phoenix5.org/humor/WhosOnFirstAudio.mp3)

  What should you do if you find yourself on a project that has this 
  smell? Try having a discussion with the Project Manager and help him or 
  her identify the roles and responsibilities that need clarification. 
  Offer suggestions on what the roles and responsibilities need to be and 
  offer to help get buy-in from the rest of the project team.

- The Insane Asylum Smell 

  Bill Walsh, former coach of the San Francisco 49ers, defined insanity 
  as:

    �Insanity is doing the same thing over and over ... 
    and expecting a different result.�

  Management, it seems, is constantly complaining that development takes 
  too long, testing requires too many resources, and products are released 
  with too few features and too many defects. 

  Some organizations conduct project retrospectives as a way to identify 
  what mistakes were made and what needs to be improved. Sometimes, 
  project retrospectives identify many things that need to be changed in 
  order to be faster, better, and so forth. However, for some reason, 
  needed changes are never put into practice. Management often is the 
  reason that process improvements and other changes identified from 
  post-mortems and retrospectives are never realized. 

  And so we plod along using the same broken process that failed us before 
  and somehow expect the results to be different the next time. Doesn�t 
  Management realize how insane that is?

  A basic law of nature states that:

    �If you always do what you�ve always done
    You�ll always get what you�ve always gotten.� [1]

  Learn more about project retrospectives...
  (http://www.swqual.com/training/retrospectives.html)

- The Something�s Always Burning Smell 

  These days, many organizations are struggling with doing more, in less 
  time and with fewer resources. More often than not, I see organizations 
  that are constantly in firefighting mode. These companies spend almost 
  all of their time reacting to the latest disaster. This mode of 
  operation clearly takes its toll on people. In fact, an organizational 
  behavior expert observed that: 

    �In today�s business climate, many organizations have settled into a 
    permanent crisis mode. Management is continually unhappy with 
    performance, everything is always over budget, all projects need to be 
    done faster and cheaper, and jobs are constantly in jeopardy.

    Stress management experts tell us that, to stay healthy, for every 
    period of stress, there must be an equal period of �Whew!� to break 
    the pressure. The predicable consequences of unremitting stress are:

    (1) people try harder as long as they can,

    (2) people burn out or break down, and

    (3) people ultimately give up.

    A fear-driven, unhappy, pressured, can�t-win environment generates 
    employees who check their brains at the door. The problem is a total 
    lack of balance. Organizations cannot survive in a continuous crisis 
    mode. Management must either provide breaks in the crisis or else 
    develop established processes for handling day-to-day requirements 
    without merely applying more pressure to workers.� [4] 

  If you work for an organization that is always in firefighting mode, I�d 
  strongly suggest that you find another job so you can preserve your 
  sanity and maybe your health (mental and physical). 

IT�S ALL ABOUT MANAGING RISK

All of these behaviors result in increased risk of failure. A recently 
published analysis of project risk from assessments of more than 280 
projects yielded the following seven characteristics of dysfunctional 
software projects... [2]

1 Failure to Apply Essential Project Management Practices 
  Many troubled projects fail to apply proven project management 
  disciplines like cost estimation, project scheduling, resource planning, 
  configuration management, and proactive risk management, and then wonder 
  why their project is in constant turmoil.

2 Unwarranted Optimism and Unrealistic Management Expectations 
  Some managers recognize the potential for negative impact on their 
  project from potential problem areas; however, they choose to see things 
  through rose-colored glasses, assuming that problems will work 
  themselves out even when all available evidence raises a red flag.

3 Failure to Implement Effective Software Processes 
  Many projects fail to implement effective software processes because 
  their approach to process application is not balanced. Some apply 
  minimal process and rely on staff expertise, while others insist on 
  rigorous global process conformance.

4 Premature Victory Declarations 
  Pressures to deliver timely products often result in premature 
  declarations of completion by managers. Success cannot be declared until 
  products have been completed with the built-in contracted quality and 
  reliability.

5 Lack of Program Management Leadership 
  Managing a software project requires "courageous" and often clairvoyant 
  individuals who are willing to confront today's challenges to avoid 
  tomorrow's catastrophes. We have observed two types of problem managers: 
  those with software engineering and no management experience, and those 
  with management and no software engineering experience. Both types lack 
  the ideal blend of both technical and managerial know-how.

6 Untimely Decision-Making 
  Some managers avoid making time-critical decisions until it is too late, 
  even when they are faced with overwhelming warning signs of impending 
  problems.

7 Lack of Proactive Risk Management 
  Many projects claim to implement risk management but few do so 
  effectively. "What distinguishes the best organizations and best 
  managers is not just how well they do in their successful efforts, but 
  how well they contain their failures." [3]

SUMMARY

Patterns (smells) are everywhere - in our work as well as in our personal 
lives. We need to learn to identify patterns and recognize those that are 
positive and those that are negative. Only then can we begin to identify a 
compelling rationale for change - be it changing the organization or 
changing jobs.

If you want to savor the sweet smell of success, remember...

  �We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us,�
  - Walt Kelly, Pogo Cartoon Strip, 1970 

Happy Holidays!

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*** Monthly Morsels ***

Every month in this space you�ll find additional information related to 
this month�s topic.

- References: 

  [1] O�Toole, J., Forming the Future - Lessons from the Saturn 
  Corporation, Blackwell, 1996.

  [2] Evans, M., et. al., � Seven Characteristics of Dysfunctional 
  Software Projects�, CrossTalk, April 2002.

  [3] DeMarco, T., Why Does Software Cost So Much?, New York, Dorset House 
  Publishing, 1995, p. 62. 

  [4] CooperComm Consulting Inc. White Paper on Dysfunctional 
  Organizations (http://www.coopercomm.com/dysfnorg.htm)

- Resources: 

  For an interesting view of software design patterns and how they can 
  negatively impact software projects, see:

  - Brown, W., et. al., Anti Patterns Refactoring Software, Architectures 
    and Projects in Crisis, Wiley, 1998 

  Christopher Alexander (http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/ca.htm), the
  noted architect, is recognized as the father of the pattern language movement
  in computer science. He has written a seminal book on patterns titled, A
  Pattern Language (http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-
  Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&
  qid=1195592922&sr=8-6). 

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*** Calendar ***

Every month you�ll find news here about local and national events that 
are of interest to the software community...

- Software Quality Calendar 

  There are many organizations that sponsor monthly meetings, workshops, 
  and conferences of interest to software professionals. Find out what�s 
  happening... (http://www.swqual.com/links/upcoming.html)

- Workshops Offered by Software Quality Consulting 

  Software Quality Consulting offers workshops in many topics related to 
  software process improvement. Get more info...
  (http://www.swqual.com/seminars/courses.html)

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*** About SQC ***

Software Quality Consulting provides consulting, training, and auditing 
services tailored to meet the specific needs of clients. We help clients 
fine-tune their software development processes and improve the quality of 
their software products. The overall goal is to help clients achieve 
Predictable Software Development(TM) � so that organizations can consistently 
deliver quality software with promised features in the promised timeframe. 

To learn more about how we can help your organization, visit our web site
(http://www.swqual.com/index.html?AboutSQC) or send us an email
([email protected]).

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I hope this newsletter has been informative and helpful. Your comments and 
feedback are most welcome. Send me your feedback... ([email protected])

Thanks,

Steve Rakitin
[email protected]


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