> Also, I didn’t mention it specifically but of course you still have your run of the mill bureaucracy that slows things down
Parallel friction: the more peers your work impacts, the more peers their are that can gatekeeper your work, for good and ill.
Grows roughly: log P, where P is impacted peers.
Serial friction: the more significant a change, the more management layers decision making has to pass up through, and every layer already has enough to do without considering significant changes. Can be very hard for a great idea to actually make it to someone who can say "yes", and for them to have the time.
Grows roughly: S^2, IMHO, where S is layers of "too busy" management to be traversed to a potential "yes".
That's the natural default. Some large organizations fight hard to keep the friction down, but it's going to be a fight.
After many years of nimble progress, a company I worked with went through a phase transition, and I spent as many years and more, slowly sinking into quicksand. Before giving up on my own project and moving on.
IMO you just can’t have one unit in the business be subservient to the other
People should be able to deploy changes without seeking approval/permission from other people/teams as long as they are around to immediately fix something if it breaks
This of course only works provided you’re staying in your lane and only updating systems you own/maintain and systems in close proximity
Parallel friction: the more peers your work impacts, the more peers their are that can gatekeeper your work, for good and ill.
Grows roughly: log P, where P is impacted peers.
Serial friction: the more significant a change, the more management layers decision making has to pass up through, and every layer already has enough to do without considering significant changes. Can be very hard for a great idea to actually make it to someone who can say "yes", and for them to have the time.
Grows roughly: S^2, IMHO, where S is layers of "too busy" management to be traversed to a potential "yes".
That's the natural default. Some large organizations fight hard to keep the friction down, but it's going to be a fight.
After many years of nimble progress, a company I worked with went through a phase transition, and I spent as many years and more, slowly sinking into quicksand. Before giving up on my own project and moving on.