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Spartans & The Perfect Process

I just watched a PBS documentary on the Spartans.  Interesting at time and always informative.  But it wasn't till right at the end where the narrator Bettany Hughes wrapped up the reason for the downfall of the Spartens.  

In a nutshell "The Spartens fatal flaw was that in the pursuit of perfection, they made a enemy of change itself".

What a powerful statement!

Looking at current events in the software industry I can see instances of this with the the resent staffing changes at Apple and Microsoft.  High level staff, that was thought to be core to the company, have been let go.  Their dogma that used to be OK for the times, now appears to be so harmful that they needed to go.  Times change, change is powerful can not be denied.

This can be seen on the smaller more personal scale in the form of language and process dogma that can be held so tightly.  Statements like "your not doing it right if you are not using X".    

You may have seen these statements in forums and blogs.  You may even work with someone that holds a strict dogma on development.  They are not as interested in sharing information as converting others into their way of thinking.  That their way is not just a different way but the best way.

Change does not care.

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