If You Want to Have Cities You’ve Got to Build Roads

I wrote this for consideration for the upcoming 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know book. Alas, I didn’t submit it before the deadline. I’m OK with that that because I had another submission that I think has a good chance to make it in the book.

I particularly like to apply this phrase in every-day software development and could easily apply it to entrepreneurship.

The city of Rome has a history of over two and a half thousand years. The city was the center of the Roman Empire and was the capital of the civilized world. It supported hundreds of thousands of inhabitants only by providing the proper foundation for the city. Its roads.

The roads of the Roman city were essential for the growth of the Empire. These roads were used to move goods and services enabling its citizens to prosper. The Roman armies used these roads to defend the Roman territories and to conquer new lands. The roads provided a network for information to be gathered and disseminated. The Roman roads were critical in for its expansion. Roads were the foundation of this great city.

When you think of Rome, you don’t think about its roads. But what would Rome have been without its roads. How big could it have grown? How could the armies defend the Empire? The Roman roads were required for the city to thrive. The roads are not what made the city great, but were what made the city’s success a possibility.

Every organization has its roads and your organization is no exception. What infrastructure have you put in place to foster the growth of your business and lead to its success? Do you have any infrastructure at all? How far can your organization proceed without this infrastructure?

Perhaps for you this is how you communicate. Not just among your team but with your organization, with your customers, and with your community. It could be how you notify your users of new features, how your users submit bugs, or how your managers communicate deadlines.

Maybe its not communication but your product management. From your code repositories and automated build processes to your deployment and monitoring suites. These might be the factors that contribute to the ultimate success of your organization. Without the proper infrastructure in place the city will fail or cease to grow. Without the roads Rome could not prosper and without a strong foundation your organization will fail or hit a wall.

If your users can not submit bugs they will be forced to use your product day after day with known issues. They will become frustrated and find alternative software. If your organization can not communicate its goals and strategies with you then you can not support your organization and so it will fail.

Find out what it is the supports your organization and fortify it. Be aware of its presence and its importance.

With that said, also consider this: the Roman’s roads played an important part in the Roman military defeat by offering avenues of invasion to the barbarians.

From If You Want to Have Cities You’ve Got to Build Roads

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