2023-02-21 Tuesday - 12 Anti-Patterns for Collaboration, Agility, Innovation, Productivity

 

[Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay.com]

A meditation...based on reflection...over 40 years in the IT industry...and the patterns that seem to repeat...

12 Anti-Patterns for Collaboration, Agility, Innovation, Productivity

1. Class distinctions are made based on the employment status of the team members (IT vs. Non-IT; between business units; between divisions; between full-time vs. contractor). [You must operate as a team - first, last, always.]
2. The default setting for Information sharing is to hide/restrict/limit access - regardless of the information classification.
3. Access to critically important information is denied.
4. Teams operate in silos - and there is little-to-no cross-communication/awareness.
5. The priority of focusing on *potentially* perceived feelings - overrides honest, straightforward communication.
6. Appearance is more important than substance.
7. Make-work supplants deep work.
8. Titles & Seniority rule - over whoever has the best idea
9. Tasks/Activities are constantly driven by fire-drill prioritization - and investments in long-term, foundational work - is constantly deferred
10. There is never time to make improvements - or do it right right the first time - but somehow there is always assumed to be time to do it over, again - and again.
11. Complexity eclipses simplicity - and common sense.
12. Bureaucracy strangles creativity.

 

Additional notes:

• Miklos Janoska (Director, Technology Solutions at EPAM Systems) suggested two interesting books:
• Understanding the Corporate IT Strategy Game: What You Should Know But Were Never Told to Drive Corporate Information Technology Paradigm Shift (The New Age of Corporate Information Technology)
• Antipatterns (Applied Software Engineering Series) 2nd Edition