How does the analogy apply to software?#
Direct on-farm work is about 1.2% of US employment, while global construction productivity grew only about 1% a year over two decades. Software contains both. The delivery path of specify, build, test, release and measure repeats, so it can become farm-like almost everywhere. The product becomes farm-like only where it varies little. Most organisations can mechanise the path long before they can mechanise what they build.
Why does the distinction matter in practice?#
The two need different delegation settings. Repetitive, well-specified, cheaply reversible work can sit far out on the delegation boundary and be reviewed by sampling. Novel work needs people close to it. One policy for both wastes attention on routine work and takes too much risk with unfamiliar work.
Moving work towards the farm is the job of an autonomy enabling team.