"Work capacity is not the same as productivity."
@coda lays down the maths on limits of organizational growth and how to overcome them.
codahale.com/work-is-work/
@coda lays down the maths on limits of organizational growth and how to overcome them.
codahale.com/work-is-work/
Adding people scales at best linearly upward, at worst geometrically _downward_.
Two things you must constantly seek in order to get more done with more people:
Two things you must constantly seek in order to get more done with more people:
1. "Constant pursuit of force multipliers"
Instead of adding more people to the same task, change the task to be done.
Develop more-complex internal structures, such as tooling teams that facilitate many development teams.
Instead of adding more people to the same task, change the task to be done.
Develop more-complex internal structures, such as tooling teams that facilitate many development teams.
2. "A careful and continuous search for shared resources, and developing explicit strategies for mitigating their impact on performance"
Queues are empty or full (see @coda's mathy details). You want yours to be empty … and you want fewer queues.
Queues are empty or full (see @coda's mathy details). You want yours to be empty … and you want fewer queues.
Smoothing shared resources (code reviews, work assignments, infrastructure knowledge) takes vigilance not-too-far-removed from the work.
"the more distance between those designing the organization and the work being done, the greater the risk of unmanaged points of contention."
"the more distance between those designing the organization and the work being done, the greater the risk of unmanaged points of contention."
Watch for "subdivisions which seem like parallel efforts when listed on a slide but which are, in actuality, highly interdependent and interlocking" @coda
If you require different teams to use the same methods, you make them interdependent even if the software wasn't. (me)
If you require different teams to use the same methods, you make them interdependent even if the software wasn't. (me)
"If an organization is largely working on the same types of problems it was in previous years, it’s cause for concern."
@coda
@coda
"the percentage of the organization dedicated to improving how the organization works" should grow as your org grows. This includes internal tooling teams.
We can't all do the same thing and be productive. But we can do different things to help each other be productive.
We can't all do the same thing and be productive. But we can do different things to help each other be productive.
This is the first post on codahale.com in 2.5 years and it is a good one. Thanks @coda and I'm going to invite you to a podcast (please)!
codahale.com/work-is-work/
codahale.com/work-is-work/
