Most governments, most of the time, seek to monopolize violence. If only the government can legitimately use force, and this use is constrained by law, then the forms of politics that we take for granted become possible.

— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

We all know a lot of very “book smart” people who can tell you all the facts and figures. But when it comes time to get their hands dirty, they’re more talk than anything. That’s because to actually apply something takes an even higher level of knowledge.

— Jonathan A. Levi, The Only Skill That Matters

Good operations can often work around the limitations of bad (or incomplete) software, but good software cannot run reliably with bad operations.

— Martin Kleppmann, Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Many people interpret this as “agile developers don’t do documentation,” which is wrong. Agile developers do create documentation, but they use a pragmatic filter to make sure the investment in creating any documentation is really worth the effort.

— Andy Hunt, Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

These “standards” have nothing to do with the organization’s image as perceived by outsiders. It’s the image perceived by insiders that matters. The insiders in question—typically second- and third-level managers with shaky self-confidence—are uncomfortable with any kind of behavior that is different from average. They need to impose safely homogenized mores on those beneath them to demonstrate that they are in charge.

— Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister, Peopleware