Standardisation or Innovation?
A recent book club discussion took the group into the familiar pros and cons of standardising an organisation’s technology stack or choosing specific tools for specific jobs. I’ll share some examples we discussed.
At a web agency, innovation was a key element of their positioning, both to clients and staff. As such, the freedom for teams to choose the technology they felt was most suited to the task was the default. But this space to experiment and explore came at a cost. The agency couldn’t easily staff up a successful project as other developers didn’t always know the programming language, web frameworks, or database chosen. For the same reason, developers couldn’t review code across projects to ensure quality and support less experienced members of the team.
At a scientific research organisation, they had a similar challenge. Except they were more extreme. Each project would begin with the team sitting down to determine the technology stack and architecture from first principles as well as what version control system, document sharing tool, knowledge base, and even email platform to use. Sometimes this took weeks.
A developer tool startup used a monolithic common stack. But their codebase and development team were so large there was significant scope for tools to be added or expanded without discussion. And for different design patterns to become prevalent in parts of the app. This had significant impacts on performance and maintainability.
But standardising onto a default stack with change control processes stifles innovation and exploration! Or does it?
The web agency agreed on a default stack for new projects, but established an exception process for when a client’s idea truly needed something different. Their new projects got shipped a lot faster, with better quality and support, and then the team got to really experiment by solving customer needs as they came up rather than struggling with unfamiliar code.
The research organisation had much clearer requirements for specific technologies to meet the differing needs of their academics. Some languages simply are faster, have better memory management, or have better tooling for mathematical correctness. But they didn’t need to choose between Gitlab, BitBucket or GitHub each time they started a new project. Let alone deciding between Microsoft Office and Google Docs. They began to standardise the basic tools and systems while leaving scope for technological choice.
The startup went further and developed a series of guidelines. They characterised technical choices by how supported they would be organisationally. Some choices were highways: high throughput, clearly signposted, and smooth. Others were suburban roads, dirt tracks, or kangaroo paths through the scrub. Only certain kinds of projects were allowed to venture off the beaten path. Most were expected to use highways or suburban roads.
Choosing between standardisation and innovation is not a binary selection. There’s nuance and opportunity to see the benefits of both. You may just need to explore a little to find what works best for your organisational needs.
~ Lachlan
What’s been happening?
Masterclass in Team Performance
Whether you're an experienced manager looking to refine your skills, or you're an early stage team lead wanting to build confidence and competence, Nicola has the program for you:
- 8 online coaching sessions of 90 minutes
- Small group (no more than 6)
- One:one session before the series so Nicola can tailor the content to your needs
- One:one session at the end, so we can build a roadmap for what comes next for you
- and more, for $1,200 plus GST
The full detailed breakdown is on the ticket site: 👉 https://ti.to/blackmill/group-coaching-202502
The program starts February 19th, so buy your tickets now!
HopePunk at EverythingOpen
Last week Nicola went to Adelaide to speak at EverythingOpen about the HopePunk movement and its connections to open source: https://2025.everythingopen.au/schedule/presentation/101/
If you can’t wait for her talk to be uploaded, you can read a write up by Christine Hall.
Think our book club sounds like your thing?
We’ve been meeting every week for seven years, with a break over the summers. We usually read ~40 pages a week and take several weeks to finish a book. We’re informal, inclusive, and love new people to learn from.
We start a new book this Wednesday, but you only need to read the first 40 pages to be ready. If this book isn’t your cup of tea, let us know and you can be part of selecting the next one!
Just email gday@blackmill.co to get involved.
What are we reading?
- Egoless Engineering – At Blackmill we remain big fans of Dan McKinley’s work. Here he works through common logic around work assignation and ownership.
- LD – Are you starting too late? – A PDF download discussing the average age of people undergoing leadership training versus the average of people in leadership roles in the same orgs.
- When the hero is the problem – Rebecca Solnit with a banger essay from 2019 that, while written in response to the first Trump Presidency, holds lots of resonance for software teams and early-stage organisations like startups.
- Communication Structures in a Growing Organisation – Jessica Kerr offers some thoughts on the usefulness of broadcast communications as teams and companies grow.
- Eight Clams Control This Polish City’s Water Supply – The title says it all really.
A cuppa with Damian Maclennan
1. What do you do? And what do you like about your work?
I am a freelance “Consultant CTO” and software architecture trainer. I help companies be more strategic with their software architecture, and I help teams avoid mistakes by helping them build software in an agile way, following good engineering practices.
I like that I can bring a level of experience and expertise to smaller businesses that otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, which leads to expensive mistakes. I also like being able to set my own hours and agenda and not have to ask permission.
2. What aspect of your work do you find most challenging?
The “feast or famine” nature of freelancing means I tend to overcommit and become overwhelmed. Also admin and invoicing.
3. What are you passionate about?
Work wise? I like making developers lives easier by teaching them that doing things “well” will save them time and heartache in the long run.
Outside of work, I have all sorts of hobbies I’m passionate about! On any day you might find me riding a bike, playing guitar, going on a road trip, or trying to make the perfect coffee.
4. What is one mistake that you will never make again?
Working with narcissistic startup founders (hopefully).
5. How do you manage stress?
Ha! Not so well lately, but cycling, yoga, and long drives help.
6. What is the best advice you can give?
There is no right or wrong path, you don’t have to do things the way everybody else does them. Be you.
7. What one thing would you change about our society?
Something about capitalism and the ruthless pursuit of growth at all costs. It does so much damage to the vast majority of peoples lives, to benefit very few.
8. What are your goals or aspirations for this year?
One of my yearly rituals is to sit for a few days at the beginning of the year, do a retrospective of the year that was, and decide on a theme for the year ahead. I’m usually too frazzled in December to think about it. So watch this space, but I actually have a lot of software I’ll be writing. Some will be for a client, and some for me. I also want to record some music.
What are we cooking?
One of Damian’s favourite things to make is a shredded Mexican beef.
Shredded Mexican Beef
Ingredients
- 2kg Skirt or Flank Steak. I chop this into 5cm pieces against the tendons so it pulls to a good size for nachos / burrito bowls)
- 2 tins chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
- 1 Red onion
- 1 Head of garlic (peeled)
- A whole bunch of coriander
- Juice of 4 limes
- Tin of tomatoes
- Beef stock cube
- 2 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Put chilis, onion, garlic, coriander, limes, tomatoes, herbs in food processor and chop / mix
- Sear the beef strips.
- Put everything in the pressure cooker for 50 mins.
- Take the beef pieces out and shred them, then put back in the sauce to sit for a while. Then strain it all out.
OR the lazier option, which is almost as good with 90% less mucking around, shred the beef and then pour some of the stock over the top until it looks right.
Works great for nachos / burritos / burrito bowls etc etc
Or use the stock to make Birria tacos like this photo (you usually have to add a little oil into it, flank is pretty lean)
And we’re out
Thank you for showing an interest in our newsletter and we hope that you enjoyed the read. Feel free to contact us if you have any feedback, a burning question, or just a recipe that you would like to share.
Until next time, keep learning!
Everyone at Blackmill