This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Getting Unstuck
Any company that has gotten stuck in a Big Ball of Mud and taken complex detours with technologies and techniques needs to get unstuck and find its way out. There isn’t one single answer; there are no silver bullets. At the same time, there are means that can serve companies well.
A software system that has become deeply in debt and possibly reached the maximum entropy level took years or even decades for its sterling qualities to erode and digress that far. It’s going to take time to make progress out of this mess. Even so, effecting big change is not a waste of time or money. Consider two reasons for this assertion, both based on the poor decision to continue to invest in a losing proposition:
Escalation of commitment. This is a human behavior pattern in which an individual or group facing increasingly negative outcomes from a decision, action, or investment nevertheless continues the behavior instead of altering course. The actor maintains behaviors that are irrational, but align with previous decisions and actions [EoC].
Sunk cost fallacy. A sunk cost is a sum paid in the past that is no longer relevant to decisions about the future. “Sunk costs do, in fact, influence people’s decisions, with people believing that investments (e.g., sunk costs) justify further expenditures. People demonstrate ‘a greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made.’ Such behavior may be described as ‘throwing good money after bad,’ while refusing to succumb to what may be described as ‘cutting one’s losses’” [SunkCost].
This does not mean that saving any part of the preexisting system always equates to chasing the sunk cost fallacy. The point is that continuing to maintain the existing system as is, with its deep debt and near maximum entropy, is a losing proposition from both an emotional standpoint and a financial position.
Time won’t stand still and change won’t cease while teams heroically defeat the great brown blob. Moving onward as time ticks away while surrounded by mud and inevitable change, and without sinking deeper, is an absolute necessity. Succeeding under those conditions depends more on attitude than on distributed computing. Positive attitude is developed through confidence, and the remainder of this book delivers a number of tools and techniques to build the confidence needed to make strides to achieve strategic innovation.