There is some resistance in our industry to the idea that people factors dominate software development.
As I participated in initiatives for formal program specification, advanced programming environments, and new development processes, I kept discovering that successful teams were still delivering software without using our latest energy-saving ideas.
Initially, I viewed this as a nuisance: "Why can't those people just realize how much better off they would be if they used our ideas?!"
Eventually, it went from a nuisance to a curiosity.
Slowly, it became a discovery.
I reversed my assumptions and found that the opposite correlation held: Purely people factors predict project trajectories quite well, overriding choice of process or technology.
I found no interesting correlation in the projects that I studied among process, language, or tools and project success. I found successes and failures with all sorts of processes, languages, and tools.
A well-functioning team of adequate people will complete a project almost regardless of the process or technology they are asked to use (although the process and technology might help or hinder them along the way).
I need to remember this. Put the people above all else.
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