Planning Smarter: Creating Blueprint-Quality Software Specifications

5.7. Collaborate

In an adaptive model, close collaboration is essential. Just because you emphasize the importance of specialization and the need for the champion to make decisions, does not mean that you sacrifice collaboration. A team is critical in a software project of any size, but a team of specialists is far more desirable than a team of generalists.

Flashback—The German Orienteers I took a 6-week hiking trip through the jungles of Borneo last year. We hired some Dayak tribesmen to lead us through the dense and virtually untraveled rainforest. It was an extremely difficult and treacherous trek, days or weeks from aid with no means of communication. One night, our English-speaking leader was chatting with the native guides. They started ...