The SDLC Game (Part 1)

Should Software-Teams be like Soccer-Teams?

Photo by Mike from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-soccer-field-1171084/

What if world-class defender Joshua Kimmich could not score the goal if the situation came up just because he is not a striker?

What if Lionel Messi would let the ball pass because he is not a defender?

What if goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had not done that long-shot pass that led to a goal?

To most people, the situation is clear: totally fictional questions.

Of course, players in a soccer team adapt to conditions, have a shared understanding of the game, and share values (score goals, prevent goals from the other team).

Wouldn’t it be good for a software development team to act similarly?

Desire to understand

Imagine a stream-aligned team with a broad set of values and a relatively sizeable shared skillset. Just like a soccer player is (usually) able to shoot and dribble a ball, a member of such a software team should be able to participate in discussions cognitively, follow the thought process, and understand the value each team member brings to the table.

The best teams I have worked with were not the ones with the craziest individuals. It was the team that consisted of like-minded peers who were not afraid of touching one other’s crown.

One of the great quotes from that team was:

How hard can it be?

This is the attitude we need: To understand what the team is doing.

Playing the SDLC Game

Take the following picture:

This is an early version of my soccer-field adaption to Emilie Freeman’s great visualization in her talk “Rethinking the SDLC. that illustrates the responsibilities of a cross-functional software team:

• Architecting

• Developing

• Automating

• Deploying

• Operating

as sections on an imaginary soccer field where team members play their (SDLC-) game.

No one should avoid actively participating in any section, just like Kimmich would not stop running into the opponent’s penalty area.

The Cross-cutting attributes:

• Testability

• Reliability

• Flexibility

• Observability

• Securability

• Scalability

are modeled as pass-routes. You cannot score a goal without cleverly passing the ball across the field.

Likewise, you cannot build a successful software team that does not embed the cross-cutting attributes into every aspect of their “SDLC”-Game.

Follow-up Questions

As an early-stage model, this is more an idea than a fully fleshed-out concept. But I think it serves well as a motivation for further discussion:

1. Can we expect this level of shared consciousness from software teams?

2. Are soccer teams even remotely comparable to software teams?

3. What is the role of the coach here?

Have a great week,

Toni