# Tyranny of the Urgent

- Show: [The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast)
- Published: 2023-09-12
- Length: 41m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent
- Listen: https://agileembeddedpodcast.com/episodes/tyranny-of-the-urgent-Yvo9hH9J

## Summary

Hosts Jeff Gable and Luca discuss the 'tyranny of the urgent,' a phenomenon where the pressure to ship features immediately leads to the accrual of technical debt by neglecting documentation, testing, and refactoring. They argue that while immediate business value is important, organizations must also invest in opportunity enablement, such as implementing over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities, and risk reduction through rigorous 'first time right' practices. The conversation highlights the need for a 'definition of done' and explicit allocation of resources to improvement stories to prevent long-term organizational crippling.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=1) Introduction: The Tyranny of the Urgent and Technical Debt
- [3:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=225) Neglected Practices: Documentation, Refactoring, and Process
- [6:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=413) The Value of Experiments and Speculative Work
- [10:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=644) Over-the-Air Updates and IoT Infrastructure Investment
- [15:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=931) Strategies to Escape the Urgency: Awareness and Culture
- [20:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=1236) Definition of Done and Lean Manufacturing Principles
- [27:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=1658) Embedded Challenges: Hardware/Software Cycle Mismatch
- [35:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=2112) Pair Programming and First Time Right Quality
- [40:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2023-09-12-tyranny-of-the-urgent#t=2420) Actionable Tactics: Explicit Improvement Stories

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Mempholton (company)
- Jenkins (tool)
- McKinsey (company)
- Agile Embedded Academy (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [440: Condemned to Being Perfect](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2023-01-13-440-condemned-to-being-perfect) (Embedded.fm)
- [Is This A Show?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-07-02-is-this-a-show) (The Amp Hour)
- [Moonshot Engineering Projects: Getting Innovative Initiatives Off the Ground](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2021-05-25-moonshot-engineering-projects-getting-innovative-initiatives-off-the-ground) (Over the Air)
- [#002: The secrets to building secure & scalable OTA infrastructure with Nick Sinas](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/coredump-sessions/2024-12-18-002-the-secrets-to-building-secure-scalable-ota-infrastructure-with-nick-sinas) (Coredump Sessions)
- [Agile + 20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20) (Oxide and Friends)

## Citing this page

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