

Taming Complexity with Reversibility - KentBeck
https://www.facebook.com/notes/kent-beck/taming-complexity-with-reversibility/1000330413333156

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Merrack
Amazon has a leadership principle
([http://www.amazon.jobs/principles](http://www.amazon.jobs/principles)) that
seems to be related:

"Bias for Action

Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do
not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking."

Interesting correlation with Kent Beck's note that "Not all decisions are
reversible ... the two kinds of decisions need to follow completely different
workflows."

Anecdotally, I've observed that the leaders that can distinguish between these
two types of decisions and learn not to sweat the small stuff increase their
teams' velocities by increasing the confidence that you can do the right thing
now and handle the outcome when it comes.

------
taeric
I do get annoyed with any example that begins by harkening to the success of a
forerunner. Ford had amazing success. He also had some solid competition and
the parts of Ford's success that are often cited are not necessarily the path
to success in today's world. (Nor were his competitors all losers...)

To give the article credit, it does mention later troubles Ford faced. But
more as a lip service to deflect any criticism that entire section could
receive.

The rest of this comes down to hedging your bets and return on investment.
Nobody really cares about anyone that had to pivot during their execution.
Indeed, often we forget the pivots that companies had to do. To that end,
being able to pivot (i.e., reverse a decision) is a very important skill. Is
it a "double win" if you automate that? Depends. Did it cost more to automate
the reversal than it would have to just manually do it?

Seriously, the cost of building a solution should be considered with the value
it will provide. If what you are building will not cost less than the extra
value it will provide. Than it likely isn't providing value. You don't get
double points for how a solution was built. You only get value out of things
that add value.

