Lost in the weeds

Feb 7, 2021 • Julian Simpson

We live on a corner section, and I mow a lot of lawns. Not just ours, but the berm on the 2 streets of the corner. There’s so much grass that I’ve given up on mowing with a catcher: I’d rather not have garden waste trucked off to be composted.

This activity gives me a lot of time to think about twisted metaphors like this one: weeds are your security issues and technical debt.

The grass grows differently around our garden: there’s different species of grass, like the Kikuyu that spreads everywhere, and other species that don’t grow so fast. Some areas seem to get more water flowing downhill, and the grass grows like crazy there.

Then there’s everything else that grows: the wisteria, the honeysuckle I just found this afternoon, the olive trees on the berm: we’re constantly finding things as we rip out the weeds.

How does that compare to your organisation? Where do the weeds crop up? What’s under your Kikuyu?