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by Anthony Boobier on 07 January 2011
A Procrustian Solution is the undesirable practice of tailoring something to fit into a container or some other preconceived stricture. In Greek mythology Procrustes was the ancient champion of enforced conformity. He kept a Stronghold on the sacred way between Athens and Elesius, where he offered hospitality to passing strangers. They were invited in for a meal and a night's rest on an Iron bed.
Procrustes claimed this bed had a unique property; its length matched exactly that of the person who lay down upon it. What Procrustes omitted to mention was the method by which this "one-size-fits-all" was achieved, he would stretch the guest if they were too short for the bed or chop off their legs if they were too long.
Greek Vase depicting Agile Theseus' defeat of Procrustes ca. 440-440 BC (Picture courtesy of Wikemedia Commons) located at British Museum.
The term Procrustean is now often used to define conformity by arbitrary means. This is an analogy that can be applied to many circumstances, including IT projects. Something that I come across all too frequently and draws immediate parallels for me, is that of a prescriptive and linear governance model (or SDLC) for the delivery of IT projects. This is where the delivery approach taken must conform to a set of preconceived gates and sequential activities. The delivery team is therefore forced into a predictive waterfall approach and is unable to follow an Agile iterative and incremental approach to development.
I am certainly noSome key points you should consider:
- De-couple the delivery method from your governance framework, don’t cast your process in Iron and enforce a predictive waterfall approach. Enable your team to select a delivery approach that best supports delivery of the Product
- Do not enforce a one parse linear process, support an iterative an incremental Agile approach to development, through use of checklists rather than rigid sequential stage gates
- Implement IT governance, but empower those who will be delivering the solution to make timely decisions within agreed tolerance. Manage exceptions and ensure the project is on track through regular feedback loops
- Map your IT governance model as a Value Stream Map, by visualising flow you can help identify any bottlenecks and constraints
To enforce people into one standard framework for delivery and one way of thinking, is like placing them on Procrustes' bed. Don’t fall into the trap of stretching your projects and the people delivering them, just so they conform to a “one-size-fits-all” governance model. Empower those who work on projects and enable them to make decisions within an adaptive governance framework. That should mean we can work at a sustainable pace and all sleep easy in our unique beds.
