Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

3.2. Knowledge into Action

The above definition of knowledge specifically included action, because without action we can have as much knowledge as we like, but it doesn't mean anything. Unfortunately, many organizations regularly have problems turning what they know into action.

We cut corners because we're rushed or because doing it right involves doing more work. Maybe the work is dirty – or nobody else does it right, so why bother? Or perhaps we think 'they want it done this way'. Sometimes our definition of 'the right way' isn't necessarily what others think is 'the right way'.

Software developers are not alone in this. Pick up a newspaper and you're sure to find a report of some incident that could have been avoided if people had only listened to advice from the government, from consultants or from the newspaper itself.

For example, in the manufacturing sector Toyota is widely admired and many companies seek to emulate the company's productivity and quality. In theory, this isn't difficult: Toyota's production methods are far from secret and they have opened their plants to suppliers and competitors alike. The company has been studied and documented for decades, business schools teach their ideas and at least one book on the topic is a bestseller.^[] The difficulty is not information on Toyota's practices: it is turning that information into lasting action.

^[] See Womack, Jones and Roos (1991).

This gap between what we know and how weact has been called the 'knowing–doing gap' ...