Managing Software for Growth: Without Fear, Control, and the Manufacturing Mindset

Translation

Doing things differently is uncomfortable, sometimes painful, and usually risky. Managers have to walk a thin line between safety and disaster. Any failure looms large when you're in the thick of things and your job is on the line. As a practical matter, while it might be cathartic, it would be foolhardy for a manager to walk into the CTO's office and say, 'Our process is junk, and it's because you and I are a coupla dimwits locked into bad thinking,' even it that's true. Revolutions are made of stuff like that, but managers can be smarter about it.

I'll go out on a limb and claim that most project sponsors, who are managers themselves, aren't devils. They probably derive no pleasure from torturing people below them. They simply need ...