Bob Salmon | Comments

I recommend this video from Jez Humble for lots of things, but in particular this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zYxWEZ0gYg&t=1682s HP Laserjet's firmware division was going too slowly, and got faster in an interesting way (as told in the video).

Re. What's slowing us down? - it's worth thinking about this, rather than just playing whack-a-mole with obvious things. For instance, LLM-generated code has in theory sped up typing, but if the constraint on overall speed is thinking and communicating (product management, design, etc.) you're not going to gain much. Also, LLM code generation is an example of another point: what *cost* is there to speeding up? Increased rework? Unhappy customers? How do you avoid or reduce these costs?

Alice thinks all testing should produce objective results: numbers etc. that can go into a spreadsheet and have calculations performed on them, with easy to automate tests. Bob thinks the only valuable testing produces subjective results: how easy to use the software is, how much it solves a user's problem, etc. How do they communicate and collaborate? (Just two characters: Alice and Bob ;-))

Quality is (or isn't) wherever people are. Does my utility bill add up? Can my phone sync with my laptop? Does the software I use to file my tax return make me want to choose violence? Are the dashboards our executives use to make important decisions making pretty pictures out of random numbers? You could easily extend it to things beyond just software like: can the call centre staff answer questions about in-store purchases, is it easy to return stuff, etc? It matters because people matter.