Re: Whine, I got no spec

["Tim Altom" <taltom -at- simplywritten -dot- com>]

Again, I think we've come up against a basic division in culture. I recently
read an interesting article describing companies as developing through three
stages. The first stage is "commando", in which a group of people land on
the beach and immediately start causing things to happen, using energy and
cleverness to create quantities of stuff out of all proportion to their
numbers. Although I have yet to see a startup planned as well as a typical
SEAL operation, the basic idea is that both kinds of operators thrive on
chaos and busted plays. Andrew Plato and his colleagues like this kind of
environment. No rules, no constraints, no specs, only goals. The mistake
they make is assuming that this model should rule all of business.

The next wave is the infantry. Things are still dangerous and somewhat
chaotic, but the emphasis now is on getting geared up for major operations.
This is when the commandos take a back seat, because now it's vital that
some order be imposed from above, on the scene. In CMM terms, this is about
late Level 2 or Level 3. A company reaches this point after the initial
hurricane of activity has abated somewhat and there's a need to coordinate
far more people and activity. Now there are some titles that mean something,
processes, and other constraints. The company has to plan more carefully.
There's more at stake. Commandos like Plato are now uncomfortable and out of
place. There's still a need for initiative, but it has to be channeled. Most
commandos hate this phase and just want to move on. Yet, no company above a
certain size can afford to be all commandos.

At this phase, the need for specs is high. The company can no longer afford
to have dozens of people off scrambling after their own visions of quality.
The management is often interested in planning for more than the next month
or two. The corporate vision is on longer fixed on the floor a few paces
away, but has risen to about a 45-degree angle. Planning implies process,
specifications, order, meetings. The planning can become a monster of its
own, and often does. Yet, no company in such a position can do without it.
Trying to do so will doom the company, because it will fly apart under its
own centrifugal force.

The third phase is police. Things have calmed down and the goal now is to
pacify and control. There are still more officials, more rules, more
meetings and planning. Everything now requires approvals. This is not
necessarily a sign of decadence, but often of maturity. The corporate vision
is now on the horizon. "Just get it done" is now suitable only for small
"Skunk Works" projects, not for the company as a whole.

Those of us who advocate specs and other planning aids aren't deluded or
control freaks. We're simply serving the infantry and the police. Andrew
loves the atmosphere of the commando, and occasionally I still do, too. But
for me there is far more challenge in higher levels. Those levels need
planning aids, so that's what our company provides. Such aids aren't
intrinsically bad. They're just serving a specific kind of master.


Tim Altom
Simply Written, Inc.
Featuring FrameMaker and the Clustar(TM) System
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