The #NoSoftware Option

One of the many things that distinguishes The Quintessential Group from the Software Delivery also-rans is that our Quintessential Teams service provides our clients and prospective clients with a #NoSoftware option. John Seddon and his company, Vanguard Consulting, advise deferring software automation of new business processes and process steps at least until those steps have been trialed and proven through manual implementations – Post-its, paper-based processes, manual steps, etc. For those organisations that buy into this perspective, our #NoSoftware option means our teams will deliver these non-software solutions quickly and cheaply.

Also known as “software last”, a #NoSoftware solution is one that minimises the amount of software in a solution – in particular minimising the amount of custom-written software – ideally to the exclusion of software from the solution entirely.

As Steve Jobs famously said:

The way you get programmer productivity is not by increasing the lines of code per programmer per day. That doesn’t work. The way you get programmer productivity is by eliminating lines of code you have to write. The line of code that’s the fastest to write, that never breaks, that doesn’t need maintenance, is the line you never had to write.

~ Steve Jobs

The Benefits of #NoSoftware

• Less maintenance overhead

The fewer lines of code in any given solution, the less needs to be spent on keeping that code up to date in line with e.g. changing requirements and discovered defects.

• More flexibility

Did you know that the term “software” was first coined back in the 1950’s to reflect the idea that software could be changed more easily, quickly and at lower cost than the hardware solutions that then predominated? It was supposedly easier to change a line of code than to reroute traces on a PCB, or swap out soldered components. Nice wishful thinking, but it hasn’t turned out that way. Software is notoriously expensive, inflexible and difficult to change. Less software means increased flexibility and business agility.

• Savings on up-front costs

Software costs money to write, even before it goes into service. Not only to pay for ever more expensive programmers and their friends, but also the opportunity costs of having to wait for the software to be ready to deploy. In most organisations this can mean months or even years of waiting.

• Minimal automation

When a new business process or process step is implemented, it’s rare for the implementors to fully understand what’s needed, and to anticipated the unintended consequences of their choices. Premature automation can lock in inappropriate or suboptimal design choices. Once a process or process step has been up and running live in a manual form for some time, it’s generally easier to see where (limited) application of software-enabled automation may bring benefits. Hence “software last”.

• Try before you buy

Use a #NoSoftware solution live in your business to prove your process or process steps to trial the solution before committing to implementing a software-based solution. You may actually find that a software-based solution is in fact unnecessary, or can be much more limited in scope – and cost – than originally imagined.

Attending To Folks’ Needs

Implicit in the idea of #NoSoftware is the imperative of attending to folks’ needs – the primary focus of The Quintessential Group. Generally speaking, folks have little need for software per se. As the old adage goes; folks don’t need a 1/4″ drill so much as they need a 1/4″ hole. When considering the means for attending to – and meeting – folks’ needs, software is often the default, but rarely the optimal means.

Chat More?

We’d be delighted to discuss the idea of our #NoSoftware solution option and how it will be suitable for your business or organisation. Curious? Please get in touch.

– Bob

Further Reading

Seddon, J. (2019). Beyond Command And Control. Vanguard Consulting.