Home > Catalogue > Thrown Over The Wall
Also Known As: Throw It Over The Wall
Documents (from one role or development step) are believed to be by themselves important and self-explanatory, and they are passed over to other roles/steps without explanation to convey their purpose and key insights. Lack of understanding and slow learning cycles result.
- TBD (siloed contributors to documents?)
n/a
| Anti-pattern | Relation |
|---|---|
| Band Aid | TBD |
| Collective Ownership | opposite |
| Emperor's New Clothes | potential result |
| Stovepipes or Silos | common org context |
The semantics of the pattern differs slightly between sources. In [CUN'13] the key problem described is that each role in development process creates its artefacts independently and passes them on to other roles without discussion and coordination. [BRO'98] is more concerned with the internal documentation (guidelines etc.) being used formally, without actually understanding their proper purpose and intent.
Though different in focus, the two descriptions share the "lack of communication about an artifact's purpose and content, leading to their mis-interpretation and improper use" as the underlying issue. This is at the core of the description we use here.