Is your development process about to be eroded?< via Coding the Architecture by Coding the Architecture on 1/25/09

The following quote from The Economist (Jan 3rd-9th) provides a reasonable analogy for what some development teams are experiencing as once free-flowing technology investment starts to dry up:

For the more curmudgeonly sort of older manager, the current recession is the joyful equivalent of hiding an alarm clock in a sleeping teenager’s bedroom. Once again, the touchy-feely management fads that always spring up in times of plenty are being ditched in favour of more brutal command-and-control methods.

The article refers to how the relationship between old-school management and the net generation is shifting back in favour of the former’s approach. While it wouldn’t be correct to equate “touchy-feely” with “agile”, some relationship is apparent.

I think this may ultimately be for our own good: a chance to experience how things might otherwise be done and to see whether our processes are really as perfect as we preach. Even Toyota, often cited by agile evangelists, is (understandably!) struggling, albeit far less than their american counterparts. Similarly, our software development processes will not make us immune from a downturn in business, however responsive they are to change.

As part of the interface between the business and the technology teams, architects may find themselves in an increasingly divisive position. On the one hand they may need to defend the progress (and investment) that has been made in coaching and process change. On the other, they may have to concede that lower-quality, shorter-term thinking may be required in difficult times. In either case, it would seem prudent to be proactively ensuring that your assumptions, requirements and, ultimately, the resultant process and architecture remain appropriate now that the business drivers may be shifting, if they haven’t done so already.

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