Taking Shortcuts
How much time do we waste on shortcuts?
The other day, I went to the local Ikea for the first time. The girl at the door gave me a pamphlet with a map on it that showed the route one would take through the showroom. However, on the map there were handy “shortcuts” marked for people like me, who already know what they want. I wonder if I spent more time trying to find the shortcuts and navigate through all the displays than if I had just followed the route indicated on the map.
Choosing to ignore process is choosing to waste time
In software development, there is always the temptation to take “shortcuts.” Pressing timelines force developers and managers to ask the questions like “what if we just chose to not follow the process this one time?” It’s times like that when I can’t help but wonder if we spend more time trying to shortcut the process than we originally would have just doing things using the defined process.
One shortcut leads to another
This week, I’ve felt the pain. In trying to get our product out, with a shortened deployment schedule, we’ve chosen to take shortcuts in the process. At each decision point, I’ve tried to remind the decision makers that we’ll likely end up redoing things because we’re choosing to abandon process. So far we’ve had that discussion 3 or 4 times over the last few days. Each time is the direct result of choosing the shortcut in an earlier decision.
Shortcut Warning: Here Be Dragons
My advice to any who are considering shortcuts, remember that shortcuts usually lead to wasted time and poor quality. In map makers terms, shortcuts should be labeled “hic sunt dracones.”
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