Why breaking down work is important

This is a write-up of a talk I did for our tech team at work.

As developers, our bread and butter is to get our software from its current state to some future state. Working sustainably in small batches and performing regular releases is considered industry best practice. It reduces the risk of errors being introduced, makes delivery of work more predictable, and enables us to learn faster.

But why is this the case, and how might we do that? First, a definition.

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The team’s the thing “Be ruthless with systems, be kind with people” - Michael Brooks

Delivering high-quality software is a team sport, and we need to support each other. We should be aspiring to set up our workplace such that psychological safety and non-violent communication are first-class concerns rather than nice-to-haves.

Work together, challenge the systems that make doing that hard, build an environment where good software is a natural outcome rather than a goal.

tl;dr

• Identify where the value is.
• Do those things first.
• Optimise your delivery for fast feedback.
• Challenge things that hinder you.

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