Laws of Software Engineering · Saying
Saying
The Iceberg of Ignorance
Most of the problems frontline workers know about never reach leadership. The proportion grows the further up you go.
How to use it. If you are a leader, assume what you hear is the visible tip. Build channels that surface the rest, such as skip-level meetings, blameless retros, and anonymous feedback. The information exists. The question is whether the system carries it.
How it gets misused. Used to demand frontline workers "speak up more". The iceberg comes from the system rather than from frontline reticence. Workers know what happens to messengers in their organisation. The fix is upstream.
Related
- Principle Psychological Safety The shared belief that you can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and disagree without being punished or humiliated.
- Pattern Westrum's Typology Three kinds of organisational culture, distinguished by how information flows. Pathological hoards it. Bureaucratic routes it. Generative shares it.
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Principle
Blameless Retrospectives
When something goes wrong, look at the system that allowed it, not the person who triggered it.
Clusters
- The Culture and Incidents cluster - How organisations learn, or fail to, from what goes wrong.