No Process = No Accountability

Your tech team says they’re following the best practices. They mention things like “Agile” and “sprints” in meetings. But when you ask for a simple update on when the next feature will be ready, you get vague answers and uncomfortable silence.

This happens way more than you’d think. Without a proper process, you’re basically flying blind while your money disappears.

The Invisible Work Problem

Here’s what really happens without process: Your team could be working on completely different things than what you think they’re building. Or they might be stuck on a problem for weeks without telling you. Maybe they’re building features that sound cool but don’t actually solve your customers’ problems.

Without clear process, you have no visibility into what’s really happening. Your team might be busy, but are they busy with the right things? There’s no way to know.

Why “Just Build It” Doesn’t Work

Many business leaders think process slows things down. They say things like:

• “We’ll add procedures once we’re bigger”

• “Process just creates red tape”

• “Our team is small enough to wing it”

But here’s the truth: You can’t track what you can’t measure. Without process, you have no idea if you’re making real progress or just spinning your wheels.

Real Stories, Real Consequences

The Multi-Engineer Mirage: A company paid for multiple engineers for years, thinking they had a full development team working on their product. When they finally implemented proper process tracking, they discovered something shocking - all that work was equivalent to just one engineer working part-time! The engineering team became increasingly aloof and would quit answering emails. They’d consistently show up halfway through 30-minute meetings. Without process visibility, there was no way to hold anyone accountable for the lack of real progress.

The Instant Exit: A startup gave equity to a junior engineer to build their product. After two years of minimal progress, they held ONE meeting asking him to commit to delivering the tasks he had chosen within two weeks. The engineer quit before the next scheduled call. Because they had no process to track what was actually being accomplished, they couldn’t see the problem until it was too late - costing them two years they could have been in the market.

The Explosive Reaction: Another company hired an offshore team that claimed to follow Agile methodology. When the project manager was asked why the team hadn’t followed their own Definition of Done and had pressured devops to release untested code to production, he completely lost it. Result? $140,000 spent with a team that couldn’t handle basic accountability questions.

The Simple Fixes That Change Everything

The good news? Setting up a basic process isn’t complicated. Here are four things successful teams do:

1. Use Two-Week Sprints - Break work into small, two-week chunks. At the end of each sprint, you should have something concrete to show.

2. Create a Clear Backlog - List out all the work that needs to be done. Think of it as a detailed to-do list for your product.

3. Estimate Everything - Give each task a difficulty rating. This helps you understand how much work fits into each sprint.

4. Define “Done” - Create a clear Definition of Done so everyone knows exactly what complete work looks like.

What Good Process Looks Like

When one company finally implemented proper Agile development, everything changed. They could see exactly how much work the team completed each sprint. They built a backlog with estimates, which let them tell investors and clients realistic timelines for new features.

Cost of this transformation? About $12,000 over four months for a consultant to help set it up. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands they were wasting before.

Red Flags Your Team Needs Process

Watch out for these warning signs:

• Your engineer says they’re “almost done” for months

• You can’t get straight answers about timelines

• Work seems to take way longer than expected

• Your team resists any kind of planning or tracking

• You feel like you’re throwing money into a black hole

Good Engineers vs. Bad Engineers: The Accountability Test

Here’s how you can tell the difference between professional engineers and problematic ones:

Good Engineers Welcome Accountability Professional engineers are happy to show their work. They’ll jump on calls with clients to demonstrate what they’ve built. They’re not afraid to raise concerns about timelines or technical challenges. They actually appreciate good process because it helps them do their job better and protects everyone from misunderstandings.

Bad Engineers Run From Accountability Problem engineers fight against any form of tracking or measurement. They give vague answers about progress. They resist client meetings and hate showing their work. When you ask for basic commitments - even ones they choose themselves - they might quit on the spot.

The best engineers understand that process isn’t about micromanaging - it’s about clear communication and setting everyone up for success.

The Bottom Line

Process isn’t bureaucracy - it’s protection. It protects your time, your money, and your sanity.

Good process means you always know where you stand. You can tell investors realistic timelines. You can make smart decisions about priorities. Most importantly, you can spot problems before they become disasters.

And here’s the real test: If your engineer fights against having any process, run. That’s not someone who’s going to help you build a successful product.

Coming Next Week: Process Management Recap - We’ll dive into organizing your tech to-do list so everyone knows what to work on next.