People First – In Missions and in Business

I am part of a relatively new movement in the software development industry. The movement is called agile software development, and is centered around four core value statements:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

One thing I find interesting about these four values is that I think they all boil down to a recognition of the importance – even centrality – of people and relationships in software development. It is a recognition that the major focus needs to be on people.

This is certainly not a new idea in software development. Fred Brooks[1] pointed out over 30 years ago in his classic text The Mythical Man Month that the Tower of Babel failed not because of technological limitations or lack of resources. It failed because of communication problems and the disorganization that followed because of lack of communication. The same problem can be applied to large software engineering projects. Many large system programs fail because of communication problems among the programmers and among the implementers.

Steve McConnell wrote in Rapid Development that “peopleware issues have more impact on software productivity and software quality than any other factor…technology is not the answer; the most effective practices are those that leverage the human potential of their developers…Taken collectively, peopleware issues matter more than process, product, or technology. You have to address them if you want to succeed.” (pp. 12-13)

This idea about the importance of people in software development is the central theme of Peopleware, by DeMarco and Lister, which states that: “The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature"). It seems so obvious, yet somehow it gets lost somewhere in the meetings, in the coding, in the other day to day activities. And I think that if this key insight is lost to those inside of the information technology camp, then how much more is it not seen by those who watch us from the business side – the ones relying on us to help solve their problems.

The key point I want to bring out here is that this central value is right in line with Jesus’ teaching on the value of people. To him the most important commandment in the Law was to love God, and the second to love your neighbor as yourself. Our relation to God is paramount, and rightly so - since God is the Creator and we are the created. But this then provides the context for the need to value the people in our lives and our relationships with them above all other created things.

In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus answered the question, “What is the greatest commandment in the law?” with the statement, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “ Love your neighbor as yourself.”

His teaching on loving one’s enemies is radical, and implies an even greater love for one’s friends than perhaps we typically see or give.

⁴³ "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48, TNIV[2])

As I said in a previous posting, “When I do a good job at work, when I pursue excellence in what I do, I am loving not only my coworkers, but the customers, the shareholders, and the clients. Most of whom I will never meet.” So we need to remember that the people we work with are made in the image of God and thus deserve our respect, and that it is these very people that we rub shoulders with everyday that we are called to love.

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[1] "He is married to Nancy Greenwood Brooks. They have three children: Kenneth, Roger, and Barbara, and nine grandchildren. Dr. Brooks became a Christian at age 31. He chaired the Executive Committee for the Central Carolina Billy Graham Crusade in 1973. The Brookses advise a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and he has taught an adult Sunday School class for over twenty-five years." (from his biography at http://www.cs.unc.edu/~brooks)

[2] Today's New International Version, International Bible Society, ­© Copyright 2001, 2005