7 Signs You Need a Systemic Approach to Software Production

Repeated mistakes, new priorities, incidents, overwork, rework — all signs that something is not right. Anyway, most urgent things finally get done with huge efforts one way or another, while most of the team is looking to change jobs.

In such situations, there is so overwhelming pressure that it feels hard to find time to do the job, so even less to try improving things. And previous attempts are recalled as failures, like hidden forces were pushing things back to their initial state.

These symptoms are the ones of unhealthy systems suffering from multiple issues that ended-up rooted in the day-to-day of organizations. This article describes 7 signs of such systems and how a systemic approach can develop sustainable solutions.

Overemphasis on Siloed Metrics

I had my baggage lost in the airport recently. As I fell into an exception, I had to call a specific support line. I was passed on by more than 4 departments, each one trying to quickly close the call probably due to call duration objectives to be “efficient”.

While each department may have reached its performance target, one week has passed and I still don’t have any news. I’m now quite unsatisfied as a customer with a long lead-time, unsolved problem, and an…