Are You Wasting Time?

No, I don't mean reading my blog or surfing the internet or watching youtube videos. I mean even when you are working, are you spending time doing repeatable tasks that could be automated, and are you doing tasks that do not contribute to the development of the product?

The first question is the easy one to ask, but can be a hard one to fix. For example, does your build require you to "do something" to go from the built baseline to a running executable to test or deploy? If not, what's holding it up? Is the build simply not setup to do that, or is some portion of your system not configured to do it? If it's the second case, that's a bigger problem, but it can still be overcome by working with your system administrator and addressing the holdup.

The second question is the bigger task, and will usually require buyoff from your program Higher-Ups. I see this problem as the corollary to the Agile Manifesto, which states (among other things) "Working software over comprehensive documentation." I like to sum that statement up simply "Does this help me do my job? Would this help someone else do my job?" If the answer is "No" don't do it. You can quickly see where that would be a problem with the Higher-Ups, and the "That's the Way We Do It" crowd.

Another corollary to the Agile Manifesto is "It's OK to Screw Up", meaning, do something, give it to the users, and they'll tell you what they like and don't like about it. But do it fast enough to have enough time to fix the problems, and add the new features to it. This can't be done in a rigid environment, where it takes weeks just to get a fix to the users, never mind the amount of time to develop a new feature. To do it, and do it fast, and get it right, actually takes less overhead than you'd think.