Doc Norton
Speed Is a Side Effect

When leaders ask teams to "go faster," they're usually not asking for better outcomes. They're asking for more output. More stories delivered. More code shipped. More visible progress.

Implicit in that ask is a pretty big assumption: that we already know exactly what needs to be built, that the plan is correct, and that execution is the only thing standing between us and success.

So "go faster" becomes shorthand for "execute the plan harder."

That's where things start to go wrong.

Speed Is a Side Effect
Doc Norton
Don't fail fast; Observe often

The problem with "fail fast" is that it too often becomes "move fast." Failure is hidden or spun as success, speed is rewarded, and the learning part gets lost entirely. At its worst, "fail fast" is an excuse to rush into the next thing without pausing to understand what just happened.

What I want to promote instead is Observe Often. The shift in language is intentional—when we say “observe,” we bring focus back to what matters: seeing, measuring, and learning from what we do. And “often” reinforces frequency over haste. It’s not about reckless speed; it’s about small, deliberate moves and frequent feedback loops.

Don't fail fast; Observe often
Doc Norton
Why I Joined Test Double

When I say I’m joining Test Double as their new VP of Delivery, I’m not just making a career move—I’m making an alignment move. This is a company that already values the things I value. They’ve built a strong culture, a strong team, and a strong set of practices. I’m not joining to overhaul anything. I’m joining to help make something great even better.

Why I Joined Test Double
Doc Norton
Collaboration Contracts beta release

Today, I’m excited to announce the beta launch of Collaboration Contracts, a lightweight app designed to help teams—especially distributed ones—quickly define and manage their roles in decisions. Whether you're using it to bring clarity to one-off decisions or baking it into how your team operates every day, the app is built to support alignment, accountability, and smoother collaboration.

Collaboration Contracts beta release
Doc Norton
An Experiment Canvas

The Experiment Canvas is a simple means of planning, tracking, and responding to your experiments.

An Experiment Canvas

Keep your ears, your eyes, and your mind open

Developers shouldn't specialize

Davey Brion wrote a post not too long ago warning developers about the dangers of specializing in a particular technology.

The real message

Davey concludes his post with the following paragraph:

"Keep your ears, your eyes and your mind open. If you notice that a group of people gets excited about something new, then figure out why. If you notice that something appears to be working well for others, then figure out why. If you notice an increasing stream of criticism on the technology you’re using, then figure out why. You’ll need information like this to make well-founded decisions about your future."

Should we always pay back Technical Debt?

A former coworker of mine, Jim Highsmith, has recently written an article on The Financial Implications of Technical Debt. Jim states that recent studies indicate the cost of technical debt is near $1 trillion in the U.S. I would like to see these studies. I do know that not too long ago, Gartner released a report indicating that the worldwide cost of IT Debt will be $1 trillion by 2015. Regardless, the point he makes is still valid - technical debt is egregious.

Jim states, "Unfortunately, by the time many organizations are paying attention, all the solutions are bad ones: 1) do nothing and it gets worse, 2) re-place/re-write the software (expensive, high risk, doesn’t address the root cause problem), or 3) systematically invest in incremental improvement."

Of these three (bad) options, I think the second is often a better choice than the third. The first represents failure to make a necessary decision.

Training Software Professionals

Here is the slide deck to my SCNA talk, "Training Software Professionals, Just What the Doctor Ordered". In the past, my slide decks stood on their own. That is, you could thumb through the deck and easily glean all the key points of the talk. But I am trying to move away from that presentation style to one where the slides offer visual support, but the speaker (me) tells the actual story.

Uncle Bob on Humility

The following just hit my inbox. It is a post on the Software Craftsmanship Google Group.

 

On Oct 24, 2010, at 12:36 , David Starr wrote:

My question is, "what can be done to fix the reputation [of elitism] and change the conversation before craftsmanship is deemed irrelevant"?

Uncle Bob's Reply

As a craftsman I am dedicated to improving myself; and therefore I realize I am deficient.  As someone who is admittedly deficient, I am not interested in pointing out someone else's deficiencies.

In general, whenever someone asks "what can we, as a group, do to ...", the best answer is going to be of the form: "Each of us, as an individual, should ...".

So, to deal with perceived elitism, each of us as individuals should remember that we are not elite.

 

Code as a Cause of Project Failure

During the speaker panel at SCNA this past weekend, Chad Fowler (@chadfowler) asked, "How many projects fail because of the code?". Given the context, I assumed he was making the point that projects fail due to business issues, not code. The room was silent. While one might have assumed this meant the entire group thought it rhetorical, I concluded everyone agreed with Chad. Projects fail not due to code, but due to business issues.

Esther Derby asks: Are we aiming too low?

Esther Derby put together a nice post on the importance of design for a web site in which she asks, "Are we aiming too low?"
 

Agile methods manage business risk. They can bring back enjoyment and pride in work for development teams. For the people who use our software, they make work life maybe less frustrating, because the software isn’t buggy, and maybe a little easier because the software does what it’s supposed to do. But I think we are aiming too low. Can we also make software a pleasure to use?

Values Revisited

In 1992, I started a custom software development company out of my basement. I started it because I was angry. At a relatively young age, I was already keenly aware of the gross dysfunction that existed in most organizations. I didn't want to be a part of that. I wanted to be a part of something different; something better. I had no plan, but I had an abundance of temerity.

Motivating the Unmotivated

I read a post recently from teknophyl entitled "Motivating the Unmotivated". He asked me to read it and give him some feedback. I started a reply in the comments and realized this one was going to take some time.

I encourage you to read his blog entry. I am willing to bet it will resonate with most of you, either as a participant in a similar series of events, or at least as a witness.