Comments by "Andrea Laforgia" (@andrealaforgia) on "WORST MISTAKES When Choosing A Technology Framework" video.

  1. When things are too liberal, someone might start a project with their favorite toy, develop a whole system with it, and leave a trail of rubbish after they've left. I've seen that first hand and it's a huge problem. There is a lot of risk, for companies, associated with reckless technology adoption. On the other hand, it is also true that too much caution creates stagnation and crystallises people's skills. I've seen people that after 20+ years became totally unattractive to other employers. I guess it's worth having a process that does not prevent the adoption of new technologies but at the same time puts some governance on it. Finding the right balance is not easy.
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  2. In a professional context, "enthusiasm for new toys" is a personal feeling, whilst "choosing a technology" is a collective action. The problem is how you bridge the gap between those two, i.e. how you transform your enthusiasm for new toys into a projection of tangible benefits for the organization you work for. There should be a dialogue of some type and a consent like that Aino was mentioning should mature. You might not know if there will be benefits, therefore you ask to experiment, but experiments must be controlled and with well-defined expectations, otherwise the risk of going off tangents is high. I've seen all of that in my career. Deciding on new technologies carries a lot of risk for organizations. A developer might leave after a couple of years, but systems written with a specific stack might survive them much longer.
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  3. I never understood why in LoTR they want to live like in the Middle Ages when they have magic and could just make quantum computers out of thin air :D Great video, Aino, thanks. In my company, I'm trying to establish a process based on Tech Radars (inspired by the work done by ThoughtWorks). It's much harder than anticipated. Defining how to evaluate new technologies, how to make them progress through rings, how to create consent and manage disappointment when a specific one doesn't make it. All hard tasks. Whether there should be a "final word" panel or it should be more democratic. How to justify when a technology moves to the "Hold" ring and gets deprecated, and the countless flaming discussions that could generate. Choosing technology frameworks and managing their life cycle is far from trivial. Also thanks for pointing us to Linda Rising's talk. There is an interesting book suggested to me on LinkedIn: "Immunity to Change", by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey.
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