The Dark Side, ACIs and Too Many Layers

As I prepare to take some time off and soak up some ☀️ in Greece, I’m sharing a few thoughts from the week.

The Dark Side of Software Development

Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash

Over the past few weeks, I’ve covered some topics related to team structures, AI agents, and productivity. The focus has been on supporting the idea of fast flow within teams—structuring teams so as not to over-encumber them or burn out individuals. I’ve touched on DORA metrics in the past, and within peer groups and related publications, the key signals DORA highlights appear to align well with fast flow, Kanban, and increased agility within teams, which is why I was quite surprised that Dr Junade Ali CEng FIET, principal investigator of “The Dark Side of Software Development” concluded that

“Given that software engineers place priorities elsewhere than speed and given risk tolerance differs by industry; the use of the DORA “Four Key Metrics” as a blanket measure of software delivery performance should be discontinued, instead using metrics which are suitable for the risk/reward appetite in a given environment”

Thi…