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“Yes,” said Frodo. “I shall keep the Ring from the foolish parasities who wish to destroy it. For shockingly, many wish to destroy the Ring! They wish to keep the Ring from the rightful ownership of the rugged individualist who made it as his own, in clear violation of the sign of the dollar. For the only role of the state is to protect a man’s property. What a man has made is his and he is under no obligation to help anyone else even if that would be… helpful.”

Just then, Legolas son of Thurdill rose. “In this quest, Frodo shall have my bow. For shockingly, many wish to destroy the Ring! The moochers and the parasites wish to keep the Ring from the rightful ownership of the rugged individualist who made it as his own. That is blasphemy. For I say this to you now: the only role of the state is to protect a man’s property. What a man has made is his and he is under no obligation to help anyone else even if that would be… helpful.“

“You just said the same thing as Frodo,” observed Gandalf.

“…That will happen a lot in this book,” said Elrond in his low, sage voice.

“….And in this quest, Frodo shall have my axe!” said Gimli son of Gloín, who also rose. “The Ring belongs to the titan, the creator who fashioned it as his own. It must be kept from the rabble which society calls the ‘needy’ and the ‘indigent.’ For the only role of society is to protect a man’s property—”

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I’ve since given a lot of thought to what makes up an organization’s culture, and I realized that this obsession with culture, for many organizations, is killing that same culture.

I believe that what we typically call culture is a side effect of an organization’s traits and habits. Just like a fire needs heat, fuel, and air, I believe there’s a similar “Culture Triangle”:

1. Vision
2. Trust
3. Feedback

If an organization has a strong vision, high trust in its people, and tight feedback loops, it would be very difficult for it to have a “bad culture”.

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"Along with this kernel of useful insights there also tends to be a small kernel of software developers who actually get it. Object technology is not about SmallTalk. Patterns are not about frameworks. Components are not about COM or CORBA. Model-driven is not about Rational Rose. SOA is not about web services. Agile is not about Scrums. Responsibility-driven Design is not about mock objects. Craftsmanship is not about masters and apprentices or guilds or taking oaths."

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I am a nonaccredited, overly logical psychologist, therapist, mechanic, diplomat, businessman, and teacher working in an industry that is still defining itself each and every day.

That is as concise a definition I can give for the modern-day programmer.

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