Hofstadter’s Law

It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. – Douglas Hofstadter

All groups believe interruption / lack of focus is a problem, and it outranks most problems (So why are open offices so popular?).

Restraining Forces

Managers shared that

• constantly changing priorities,
• a failure to communicate,
• constant meetings, and
• helping others

were the biggest restraints to their progress.

Developer-Managers attributed

• slow automated processes,
• a bad developer culture,
• fire fighting, and
• helping others

as their largest restraints.
Developers were the most vocal.

• Slow automated process,
• context switching (focus),
• changing priorities,
• too many meetings,
• high tech debt,
• overloaded sprints,
• adding requirements to existing sprints,
• lack of motivation, and
• unclear process

were on their list of restraints.

source: What slows development teams