While the language encodes well-known and reasonable folklore and practice about organizations, it also draws on unconventional insights gained through empirical studies of outstanding organizations. This pattern language builds on three years of research in development process and organizational analyses carried out by AT&T Bell Laboratories. The data come both from within AT&T and from other companies in computer-related fields. During this research, we used a largely visual representation of the organizations we studied, and built a catalogue of "Gamma patterns" of organizations, their structures, and their processes. These Gamma pattern visualizations are the source of many of the recurring generative patterns that we encode here. For example, the pattern Engage QA appears as a tight coupling between the QA role and the process as a whole in many highly productive organizations we studied. The original visualizations for these organizations are shown along with the pattern Developer Controls Process and with the pattern Engage QA.
This language builds a system which is part of a larger system: a development culture in a corporate environment. Executing this language perfectly is no guarantee of success. While the language attempts to deal with interfaces to marketing and to the corporate control structure (e.g., through Firewalls), the remainder of the organization must be competent. Other patterns are needed to shape the remainder of the organization. We find hints of these patterns in the pattern languages of Kerth [Kerth] and Whitenack [Whitenack].
This language certainly works best when the raw materials are available to build an enthusiastic organization. While the patterns work better when building an organization from scratch, they may be applied to an anemic organization to restore the ability to excel that people may once have had, before the culture drained that ability away. Some ``Site Repair'' [Alexander 104] would likely be necessary before these patterns could be applied to a legacy organization. Some patterns are best-suited to the problems of mature organizations that experience difficulties (Work Flows Inward; Divide and Conquer; Hub-Spoke-and-Rim; Prototype).