The other day, I started a small series of texts about having a strong and internalized viewpoint about something you’ve spent your whole work life on, and suddenly noticing that some people you meet hold different, sometimes even opposite, viewpoints. The idea is to share viewpoints I think might be helpful to others, as well as to check my own biases and hopefully get new thoughts from you to look into. I called the series “Surprise-Driven Sharing” and you can read the first part here.

My second text is not about a recent surprise, this is something that originally shocked me a few years ago. However, I do notice it coming back in milder versions over and over again.

The first and strongest surprise occurred when a C-level person I met at a conference years ago asked what our (factor10’s) unique selling point was. With pride, I told him that we are good at developing software with long-term smooth changeability. To my great surprise, he looked at me with disdain and said something like: “What, so you never get it finished?” My jaw dropped, why on earth would he not like something I was so proud of?

Now, I can think of a few situations when business-centric, value-creating software won’t need to be changed:

  • The software is offboarded and won’t be used any longer.
  • The company using the software doesn’t exist anymore.
  • Nothing related to the business that the software is supporting ever changes.
  • The requirements are extremely well-known and the context is completely closed and static.

But if any of those situations are to be expected, should software be custom-developed in the first place? I don’t think so.

A milder surprise than the one I mentioned above, is when I, quite often, hear people saying something along the lines of “Once we finish this final feature we are done”. And everytime I find myself fighting the urge to say that that can’t possibly be true…?

Reflecting on all this reminded me of being a child and asking my grandfather if his house, which he had built himself many years ago, was finished. Surprised and shocked, he told me that that would never happen! :)

I guess it could be a misunderstanding, I know I can be picky with words. Perhaps (hopefully?) what people really mean when they say “the software is done” is: The software is ready to create value, but flexible for “forever”.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn. Join the discussion and read more here.

About the Series

Surprise-Driven Sharing (SDS) explores moments when established viewpoints are challenged, sparking reflection and learning. Read other parts of the series: