Quintessence For Busy People

Ok. So you don’t have time to read a whole book. No matter how productive it might make you and your teams. I get it. 

So here’s a Cook’s Tour of Quintessence, in a nutshell.

We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.”

~ The Buddha

Quintessence is a collection of ideas which differ from those in general circulation in the software industry – and in business more generally.

From the Foreword

The Ideas

Change is desirable. Seek it out. Embrace it.

Discussion is essential. Dialogue skills can be learned.

Undiscussables (taboo topics) balkanise common understanding.

Courage is necessary to taking risks, and to facing difficult questions.

Everybody has needs. Celebrate folks’ needs and attend to them.

Inevitable, some folks’ needs matter more than others. Make the policy for deciding who matters transparent and discussable.

The collective assumptions beliefs of the organisation define its culture. And its (relative) success.

Success is defined in terms of the organisation’s common (shared) purpose, and its attainment.

Culture is a read-only manifestation of collective assumptions and beliefs. Alignment of culture to organisational objectives and ambitions is the main lever for success. 

Fluidity is the essential attribute of organisations structures. Being able to restructure in the light of daily experience and learning. 

An organisations policies and structures must change as its collective assumptions and beliefs change.

Talent – the rate at which someone can develop their capabilities – is a function of the system (the way the work works) as much as the individual.

Interpersonal relationships are the key to organisational effectiveness.

Remuneration is a poor motivator. More a hygiene factor than anything else.

Economies of flow trump economies of scale every time.

Waste correlates inversely with effectiveness. Ineffective organisations have high levels of waste.

(Share, common) purpose drives alignment and a sense of community, motivation and morale.

A clearly articulated Case For Action improves clarity and shared understanding, as well as motivation and a sense of community.

A shared vision for the organisation improves understanding and enhances engagement.

A focus on effectiveness trumps a focus on efficiency by a factor of five or more.

“Efficiency” and “effectiveness” are by no means synonymous.

Proficiency in systems thinking allows us to break the chains of the silo mentality.

Managing parts of an organisation in glorious isolation (local optimisation) is the height of folly.

Innovations in the way the work works have a significantly higher payback that product or service innovations.

Understanding the virus of variability makes work more predictable, and thus more controllable.

Learning has happened ONLY when behaviours have changed. And happens mostly via action (normative learning).

Serious Play is much more fun, and much more productive, than “work”.

When the workers own the way the work works, joy is the outcome and productivity is the norm.

Improvement serves meeting folks’ needs better, in aggregate.

Don’t do anything that isn’t play.

Slack is desirable. Busyness is wildly dysfunctional. Utilisation is only relevant at a bottleneck.

Explicit doctrine promotes dialogue and discussion about purpose, who matters, the way the work works, etc.

Quality emerges from a carefully constructed cultural environment.

ZeeDee (Zero Defects) is a cultural and social choice.

When we exclude consideration of some folks’ needs, we risk hugely inflated costs (waste).

Delay has a cost. And can be quantified.

Risk is desirable, when adequately controlled.

Quantification (expressing ideas, needs, etc. in terms of numbers) enhances clarity and communication, and reduces misunderstandings.

The only measure worth a candle are those collected by those who subsequently use them.

Hierarchy has had its day in the sun. We prefer flatness and self-organisation.

Management must reorient to enablement, resourcing and support.

Group accountability trumps individual accountability. 

People choosing to take ownership and accountability is much preferable to assigning same.

Prioritising shared goals over personal self-interest leads to fellowship, collaboration and esprit de corps.

Value flows best horizontally across the organisation, not up and down silos.

Longer-term product orientation trumps shorter-term project orientation.

Considering multiple planning horizons contributes significantly to growth.

Speed (a.k.a. velocity) serves folks’ needs only when relevant.

Diversity implies heterogeneity rather than homogeneity.

Reuse demands investment and close attention to ROI.

Software is rarely the best form for solutions to folks’ needs.

Group collaboration benefits from a cadence a.k.a. operational rhythm.

Better decisions arise from those closest to the work.

Evidence serves decision-making best when collected and collated by those doing the work.

Radical transparency serves the bottom line.

Requisite skills are much broader than just technical skills.

Throughput Accounting enables better decision-making

Effective governance relies on the social dimension (relationships between people), not processes.

The topography of the workplace impacts productivity.

Differing belief systems within one organisation cause dissonance, conflict, unproductive dissent and increased risk.

Nonviolence and volunteerism serve organisations better than violence and compulsion.

Software development has much in common with other branches of engineering. Heuristics rule.

Recruiting human beings is the way to go.

Single-piece continuous flow is the acme to aim for.

Identify constraints, focus attention on improving throughput here.

Treating people like adults promotes a passel of good things.

Morale matters.

Motivation means discretionary effort, and increased joy for all.

Situations are always inherently simple. The trick is to discover that simplicity.

Egalitarian cultures enable people to collaborate more effectively, to the benefit of the organisation’s overall effectiveness. 

Productive conflict is the equivalent of a strenuous workout for a team – it builds strength and resilience, and leads to success. 

– Bob

Further Reading

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Quintessence: An Acme for Software Development Organisations. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub).