The problem with standardisation

Standards are a double-edged swordSubbu Allamaraju, CTO Expedia, https://m.subbu.org/lessons-from-2019-5beb64e63bc7 TL;DR: Standardisation reduces the dimensionality of a problem space thus eliminating possibilities for optimisation. Standards reduce the number dimensions of a problem space Consolidation initiatives aim at reducing the number of domains in a problem space in order to make problem handling easier: reduce the number … Continue reading The problem with standardisation →

Goodhart’s law

Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes. Goodhart's law (source Wikipedia) Or, in other words, once you tell people "improve that KPI or else", that KPI will be abused to the point of becoming useless: the KPI will improve, but the overall quality/speed/cost (pick a … Continue reading Goodhart’s law →

How to improve conversion rates

I watched Kevin Hale's presentation [1] "how to improve conversion rates" (with your UI) and liked his get-to-the-point style. I highly recommend watching the video and am summarizing the content here. I omitted a few parts of Hale's talk (eg. knowledge point and one push button) which, while encyclopedic and interesting, imho didn't advance the … Continue reading How to improve conversion rates →

Digitalisation vs. Automation: it is about capabilities

A pre-digital organisation focuses on efficient processes implementation; a digital organisation focuses on capabilities.

Technical Debt

dilbert.com Technical debt is the amount of work needed to decrease the total cost of a product.Me The classical definition doesn't work Technical debt (TD) is intuitively easy to grasp as an inherent quality/complexity issue that makes a product hard to operate and change, which is a good description but not a good definition of … Continue reading Technical Debt →

The Accordionist and the value of specifications

On those rare occasions when I arrive home at a God-fearing time, there is, sometimes, a Bulgarian Accordionist sitting in the neighbourhood playing familiar tunes. It's not the action-laden showmanship that compels one to stop and gaze at the spectacle nor the stereotypical French sailor (the kind I never have met in France) easily recognisable … Continue reading The Accordionist and the value of specifications →

Of Babylonian kings or why technical users in user stories are OK

Every time a technical system impersonates a human in a user story, God drowns a kitten in an agile waterfall.-- Unknown User stories are supposed to advocate the user's view on a system's behaviour. Whatever technical systems which interface with "our" system think or do does not interest us. But why then is it so … Continue reading Of Babylonian kings or why technical users in user stories are OK →