After a few years in startups, I’ve found the only death knell to shipping software – when product runs out of ideas.
You can work around everything else. Prioritize speed or stability, use different standards for different areas, even any number of project management methodologies. A group of talented folks with a goal can make anything work.
But when you’re out of ideas, that’s when shipping dies. Your engineering department devolves into a pile of factorings and refactorings and turd polishing projects and academic exercises and none of it drives the business forward. It’s just busywork because engineers are expensive.
And trust me, they’re gonna get tired of the busywork and they will leave. You’ll get tired of paying them for busywork too.
You can work around everything else. Prioritize speed or stability, use different standards for different areas, even any number of project management methodologies. A group of talented folks with a goal can make anything work.
But when you’re out of ideas, that’s when shipping dies. Your engineering department devolves into a pile of factorings and refactorings and turd polishing projects and academic exercises and none of it drives the business forward. It’s just busywork because engineers are expensive.
And trust me, they’re gonna get tired of the busywork and they will leave. You’ll get tired of paying them for busywork too.