SEEING LIKE A SOFTWARE COMPANY

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Thinking in terms of legibility and illegibility explains many of the things that are confusing about large software companies. It explains why companies do many things that seem obviously counter-productive, why the rules in practice are so often out of sync with the rules as written, and why companies are surprisingly willing to tolerate rule-breaking in some contexts. Increasing legibility often lowers efficiency, but its benefits are high enough that organizations are typically willing to do so regardless. Both the legible and illegible are important - the legible allows organizations to do things that would otherwise be impossible, while the illegible allows for high-efficiency work.