'ABD'... Acronyms can be great for encapsulating an idea or philosophy, and providing a mental trigger to access the contents. Not always, but they can. When they do it's much the same as having defined an effective index. Your brain can find it fast, and apply it in situations that are relevant.
Gregory Heller provided me with an example in a Lullabot podcast on Drupal, the excellent open source Content Management System / Framework. He first refers to the sales-related acronym 'ABC', Always Be Closing, and then modifies it to 'AAV' - 'Always Add Value'. This is a particularly useful concept in the context - in that case in deciding what the feature set for an application should look like (don't succumb to 'featuritis'!).
Recently I've been working on a series of large scale projects with the public sector. The process for development in these environments is generally well defined, with a tendency towards more rigour and ceremony. This is natural when you consider that the downside of failure (coverage in the National press etc.), generally dwarfs the upside to success (pat on back). This can lead to protracted projects, producing a large amount of shelfware in comparison to software.
So, what's the solution? Well, I started thinking about the habits we get into. What we define as 'normal'. If normal for your project is preparing for reviews, lengthy assessment by peers, and you have a large stakeholder group (particularly if accountability is blurred within that group), it's easy to become habituated to delivering papers and presentations. On the other hand, if you're working in an output-focused environment - driven by one of the agile methodologies - that's becomes your 'habit'. In the first instance you get good with words and pictures, and the delivery of persuasive arguments. In the second with software, testing and deployment, and gathering feedback based on the system being in operation.
My trigger for this ends up being 'ABD'. Always Be Delivering. Make the working solution the only reason for your existence, and you'll get more and more comfortable with the stuff that delivers the business value. And you'll be a happier person ;-)
