What about “moral debt” or the “moral backlog”? (Tales from an agile managerie)
We have backlogs in Agile and we have technical debt, but what about “moral debt”?
What I am refering to is the phenomenon of things, actions, people, decisions which lead to a bad moral outcome. A bad moral outcome could be something that”de-moralizes” team members, or it could be “ethically immoral” or anything else that makes you feel dirty that you did it (skipping that unit test in order to increase velocity). You all know what I am talking about because at some point or other you have been there. We track everything that higher management wants to see to turn people into micro resources but I have never heard of anything in Agile “designed to improve morality”.
Since Agile is supposed to be all about high quality at a lean cost, one would think that satisfaction of employees in their job should create a big part of the overall equation since it affects quality. We are usually supposed to value “people” over a “process”. Personally I’m tired of catch phrases and pretenses and “new ways” of doing things when the reality at the end of the day always ends up the same… “work harder not smarter”. The “moral debt” is always present whether we accept its existence or not. People keep track of it in their minds and hearts and it affects their productivity and loyalty.
Unfortunately the typical North American focus in business revolves around making money and not around making X (the product you make). Instead of worrying about competition from China, maybe we need to build a quality product that will last longer than a pack of bubble gum! More and more people are seeing how the “deals” they thought they were getting were not deals at all. That old Ford that used to last 20 years is breaking down the next week after its 10 year warranty has expired. That netbook (and even regular laptops too) with its cheesy 1 year warranty is as disposable as my children’s diapers.
Do your reasearch and support high quality products (and promote them). Vote with your wallet and word of mouth, and be a part of the solution to this current crisis. Spend “smarter not harder”.
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