Software Development: Building Reliable Systems

Streamlining Bureaucracy

One of the side effects many development organizations have suffered as they grew has been increased bureaucracy. While over half of this book is devoted to people and process issues, the aim is to help streamline bureaucracies, not develop new ones. For instance, at some companies, a standard operating procedure is that, with few exceptions, no document shall ever require more than two approvals , one from the person who authored the document and one from the final approver. Besides empowering employees , this makes it very simple to place blame when an incorrect decision is made. In addition, this removes the possibility for two superiors to reject a document and send it back to the original author with conflicting modifications.