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by Laurent Bossavit.
Original Post: "Just a mistake" ?
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Two follow-up observations on my previous post about "four types of process errors".
One is to stress again the difference between (what I think are) the relevant attitudes toward process, as per my previous post, and how much formality accompanies process. The two dimensions are quite orthogonal. If you are very formal, you will define in painstaking detail the Inputs, Transformations, Outputs, Resources and so on, that constitute your process. If you are informal, you'll just say things like "our process involves shipping every two iterations, three if it's a big chunk of functionality". Just how much is to be gained by being more or less formal is still a mystery. To be Agile means, usually, to take a clear position that formalism doesn't gain a whole lot. Still it's interesting to note that people who label themselves Agile tend to vary quite a lot as to how much formalism they like.
One thing you gain by having some formalism is traceability, as in: the ability to resolve disputes by looking at something objective (a written statement or a diagram) when people disagree about what the process is supposed to be. (That distinction is still important. If it's written down, but people do not generally do it, it's not their process.) And as in: looking at the changes that were made to the process over time. And so on.
What is clear is that if you have too much formalism, it can be as much a hindrance to traceability as having too little. If it's written down, but people do not generally read it, look at it, refer to it, it's not their process.
Another thing that came to mind was an objection: "Maybe sometimes a mistake is just a mistake". Say we make a mistake and don't change the process - are we necessarily making a Type III error ? Suppose you've forgotten to pack your razor before going on a trip; it happened just this once, never before. And if you never had it before, you're not necessarily going to decide that from now on, you'll use a "check list" of things to pack, which includes your razor. Perhaps for many people that would be a Type II error: going overboard. On the other hand, before your next trip you're probably going to think twice about your razor before you're done packing. "I remember I forgot it last time". Well, remembering is maybe the simplest type of process there is. You did change your process. So, forgetting the razor would be a Type IV error.
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