Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Agility

I love Document Driven Development

One thing I really miss in Agile is having long, incomplete, boilerplate documents for me to “sign-off”.   I like to write code and deliver working software quickly, but even more I LOVE to read documents and like nothing better than to spend long days before a glowing flat-screen reading incomprehensible nonsense carefully crafted to appear complete and correct while still being essentially content-less.  Doesn’t matter what they are about, as long as they have small type and lots of words.  Of course, nothing is further from the truth.  If I want to read nonsense then I’ll read Edward Lear.  Or my own writings.

So documents are fine, but what about Sign-offs?

Even more, I love to take responsibility for documents that I did not write.  It gives me the feeling that I am a grown-up.  But apparently, I am very unsophisticated regarding sign-offs.  Or I was until recently…

I had one CEO show me the policy for documents at his organization (let’s call it “Anonymous Inc”) where there were 3 sign-off statements for a manager to sign on any document requiring her approval.  Oh joy!!!  It is in the spirit of Extreme Documents, I suppose.  If one signature is good, why not dial it up and try three?  More is always better.  In his defense, he was showing this to me as an example of something he wants to abolish – he understood the absurdity of it.

I approve this document

This typical sign-off is for the manager-type to “approve” the document.  In software development this often indicates that others can rely on this document as being “okay to use for doing whatever it is they do next based on this document”, and that it is Complete and Correct.  This is actually the third signature to apply after the next two required signatures have been taken care of.

I have read this document

At Anonymous Inc, besides approving the document you are also required to sign-off that you have read the document.  You’d think that approving something implies that you read it.  Guess what?  Apparently this isn’t as common as you might think, at least not at Anonymous Inc.  I suppose the “I have read this” signature solves the problem of someone later on saying “I just signed it, but I didn’t read it – if I knew what was in it I would not have signed it”.   I suspect that a lot of documents get “approved” without the approver having actually read it, and VP’s and upper management can always say “I was so busy I had my underling read it – he said is was okay so I signed it.  Let’s fire him, okay?”

I understand this document

Okay – “I approve this document” might make sense in some organizations.  “I have read it” at least keeps some people a bit more honest, I suppose – I’m not sure it would.  But “I understand it” is something I just do not understand.  Still, it is a very fun idea, and Anonymous Inc is all about fun.  Still, just because I say “I understand” doesn’t mean I do.  Any parent knows that.  “I understand” can also mean “shut up already”. But then, what do I know?

Have fun out there, and be careful when you sign-off.