Never stop evolving

While this edition must come to an end, this book is never truly finished. We continue to evolve with each passing day. One of our greatest assets as an organization is our growth mind-set. It is also the reason why I’ll have to return to these pages and refactor. Often.

Martin originally called our process the Devbridge Value Framework. I still think it’s a solid name—it implies that, assuming we follow our process to the letter, value will be created for the client when the work is done. I wanted to make the name simpler, so I started calling my training sessions the Secret Source of Devbridge. There’s a mythical quality to secrets—the pasta tastes better when it’s grandma’s secret tomato sauce, Chanel N° 5’s proprietary blend of exotic flowers excites the senses, the ending of a mystery novel hits us harder if some questions are not neatly answered. The name eventually evolved to the Secret Source because . . . well, because we’re in the software industry.

I’m fond of cooking for my family. I’ve gotten decent at it, and it gives me comfort that I can create pleasure and nourishment for those I love. I try different cuisines, usually by purchasing as authentic of a recipe book as I can find. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child is one of my favorites. I mean, who knew butter made things taste this good, right? Anyway, the point I’m getting to is that family recipes always have the “secret” in them. One of these mystery recipes that has intrigued me for years has been the red pasta sauce.

Buy tomato sauce in a can and prepare for an acidic assault on your taste buds—not the way to go if you want to preserve the flavor of fresh ingredients. I finally succumbed and purchased a book on classic northern Italian cooking. A tomato sauce recipe called for Roma tomatoes, a single onion, butter, olive oil, and salt. The blanched tomatoes are peeled, cut into chunks, and simmered for two hours or more until the oil starts separating from the water. The long duration increases the concentration of the tomato flavor, caramelizes some of the pan content, and, almost magically, transforms acidic tomatoes to a sweet, savory sauce. I’m not 100 percent on the chemistry that takes place behind the scenes, but these simple five ingredients make one incredible tomato sauce.

And I suppose that’s the point I’m trying to make with this book. The building blocks of how we work are not new. In fact, most of the processes are made simple intentionally—less room for error, higher adoption, less documentation, and more collaboration. But blend the disciplines of design, product, and engineering all together and you get something really special. Something that allows us to play at the highest caliber, help the biggest brands in the industry, and beat out much larger competitors with tens of thousands of employees worldwide.

I sincerely hope this book provides you with a solid foundation. I hope you’ve learned something new or rounded out your knowledge of our process from a perspective you hadn’t previously considered. As a result, perhaps your game has been elevated just a tiny bit and you can push the envelope on high-quality output from your team.

You’ve reached the end of this book but are only beginning the next leg of our journey. To speed you on your way, I will leave you with the most essential takeaway . . .

Underpromise, overdeliver. Remember happiness is reality exceeding expectations.—Aurimas

Thank you.