[WikiEN-l] Process is evil

[Steve Bennett]

On 8/19/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>    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.

Cute. I think the solution is to write in the margin of the process
"This was instituted because Greg fucked up". Then, when Greg leaves
the company, you put the process into remission.

Steve