[WikiEN-l] Process is evil

[David Gerard]

On 19/08/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:

> I do so wish people would stop trying to legislate cluefulness. Read
> [[m:Instruction creep]] until you understand why.


And I see someone has added a beautiful and oh so apposite quote to
[[m:instruction creep]]:

    Process is an embedded reaction to prior stupidity. When I was CTO
of a web design firm, I noticed in staff meetings that we only ever
talked about process when we were avoiding talking about people. "We
need a process to ensure that the client does not get half-finished
design sketches" is code for "Greg fucked up." The problem, of course,
is that much of this process nevertheless gets put in place, meaning
that an organization slowly forms around avoiding the dumbest
behaviors of its mediocre employees, resulting in layers of gunk that
keep its best employees from doing interesting work, because they too
have to sign The Form Designed to Keep You From Doing The Stupid Thing
That One Guy Did Three Years Ago.

    - Wikis, Grafitti, and Process, Clay Shirky, 2003-08-01


- d.