Rethinking Software Delivery - A Systemic Approach from an Ackoff View

Many large companies need to reconsider their approach to software development and delivery. Typically, organizations are structured based on various disciplines, such as product owners, developers, operations, security, compliance, and risk. The software teams are often divided into front-end, back-end, and database. How an organization delivers software usually reflects its leadership structure, known as Conway's Law. For example, while working with a top-five bank, I conducted a qualitative analysis and found seven Distributed CIOs (DCIOs) in the retail division. Additionally, the bank separated capital funding from the top CEO level, commonly called "run the bank" and "build the bank."

Instead of working together to achieve the desired customer outcomes, organizations optimize each department individually, hoping this will ultimately improve the entire system. However, according to Russell Ackoff's teachings on systems thinking, improving one part of a system can often negatively affect the system as a whole.

The customer experience is not simply a collection of technical components but rather an integrated one. This holistic experience results from the entire system working together, not just individual parts. When each part is optimized separately, it often leads to local suboptimal results that distort the whole experience. What may work for a single team may not work or may even introduce problems at a system level. This misalignment can create fractures, and no one is held responsible for the overall outcome.

We must adopt a more comprehensive approach focused on achieving business outcomes instead of simply completing specialized tasks. A seamless customer experience can only be delivered by cross-functional business alignment. These organizations must work collaboratively across all disciplines, primarily resolving and predicting customer problems rather than fixing technical issues. To achieve this, they need to follow a holistic approach that involves reimagining how to eliminate entire categories of problems from the customer's perspective. People view problems through disciplinary lenses, but problems are not divided into disciplines.

There is no such thing as a problem. It's an illusion. It's really a concept, not an illusion. A problem is, in reality, what an atom is to a table. What you experienced are tables, not atoms - Russell Ackoff?

It is crucial to focus on mastering specific areas of expertise and understand how their work impacts the overall human experience. This requires a level of wisdom that goes beyond technical knowledge and involves considering the system as a whole. By developing this perspective, organizations can better understand how to transform their work to create more positive outcomes for their customer. The Taguchi method, created by Genichi Taguchi, measures product quality by evaluating the impact of a product's variations and deviations in function and any adverse side effects it may cause to society. In software delivery, loss refers to variations, deviations in the product, and adverse side effects of a service.

As production expanded during the 1950s, Toyota shifted its priorities from improving capacity and basic manufacturing technology to developing an integrated, mass-production system that was as continuous as possible, from forging and casting through final assembly. —Michael A. Cusumano, The Japanese Automobile Industry

Organizations can develop holistic mastery not through top-down pedagogy but by engaging in self-driven learning. It has been found that imposed instruction often kills engagement and creativity. Removing essential context from problem-solving creates an academic exercise. Leaning exercises oversimplify real messy problems into neat formulations, preventing realistic problem-solving ability. Instead, people discover their passions through exposure to new ideas rather than being taught what is already known. Mike Rother's book "Toyota Kata" describes a coaching technique called the Coaching Kata (CK). At Toyota, coaches would assign vague tasks or challenges to learners without providing solutions. This creates a shared responsibility between the coach and the learner.

To spark curiosity, teams should interact directly with customer environments, immerse themselves in unfamiliar disciplines, and formulate systemic problems that lack formulaic answers. When Jody Mulkey was the Chief Technology Officer at Ticketmaster, he would routinely have developers and operations attend concerts and sporting events. Periodically, he would have them work in ticket and gate handling services.

When improving software delivery, taking a step back and re-evaluating how things are done is essential. Instead of making small changes, it's better to ultimately transform the system to solve problems at its core.

The most damaging phrase in the language is 'We've always done it this way' - Grace Hopper

Organizations must keep the customer at the forefront of their focus to attain success and collaborate to integrate various aspects of the process. This approach will enable them to unleash new ideas and creativity that might have been hindered. Eventually, they will be able to establish systems that revolve around the customer and prevent any problems from arising that could potentially impact the customer's experience.