There’s No Excuse for Shoddy Work

Inevitably if you’re under the gun to hit a deadline with your product, the temptation will be to allow things to slip. Your development team might say things like “We’re going to skip x or y if we’re going to make the deadline” or “We’ll have to take a shortcut here and come back and fix it later.” Don’t get sucked in, and don’t allow it as the leader.

Here’s a quote from Rob Mee, founder of Pivotal Labs on this that’s dead on:

“Many software teams use the excuse of a high-pressure market and the need to ship product right now as an excuse to do shoddy work. Writing tests goes by the wayside; careful design is forgotten in the rush of frenzied hacking. But software teams are no different than other teams we’re all familiar with, and the way high-performing teams succeed is not to lose their cool: on the contrary, when the pressure’s on, you stay frosty, and let your training carry you through. How many times have we heard stories of remarkable performance under unimaginable pressure – whether it be military, professional sports, or a pilot landing a plane on a river – and the explanation almost invariably involves the heroes saying, “We trained for this situation.”

It’s worth reading the rest of his 7 myths here.

Pros work like pros.  Mistakes are one thing. Laziness is another.

Stay frosty, my friends.