Hobbes observed that life under the rule of the mob is “nasty, brutish, and short”. Similarly, life in a startup modeling itself after a society such as the “Lord of the Flies” is wretched and hardly short enough.
I seized the opportunity to respond in kind with a rival French maxim. I quoted Voltaire: “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien” (the best is the enemy of the good). My companion was startled and said he didn’t understand what I meant.
To those unfamiliar with the term, a death march is not a walk through Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. Rather, it is a reference to a development project where requirements exceed the realistic deliverables by at least 50 percent.
Playing telephone can be fun, but it’s not if you are trying to accurately convert business requirements to a software solution in a timely and cost efficient manner.
The ceremony in which the team lead finally admits that he can’t deliver the features on time climaxes in a primeval ritual that rivals ancient Aztec human sacrifices, albeit somewhat more painful.
A high performance team’s esprit de corps is derived from a strong sense of individual belonging, common culture and shared vision.
Building and managing strong development teams goes beyond simply managing developers to quarterly objectives and delivering functional products.