Managing Software for Growth: Without Fear, Control, and the Manufacturing Mindset

A Different Kind of Problem

The manufacturing mindset applies when a problem is predictable and controllable, and when optimization is king. In other words, it makes sense when Taylorism applies. His problem was formulatable, static, and predictable, once you knew the One Best Way. Of course, since the problem was static, you could find the One Best Way. That made the manufacturing mindset a perfect way to think about the problem he was trying to solve. Software is entirely different.

First, software isn't formulatable. Certainly both Taylor's problem and software are complicated. The difference is, the software problem doesn't always have the same form. It rarely follows exactly the same rules twice. The act of solving the problem, or creating ...