Blame In Software Development

“Blame” is one of those words that we need to be careful around. On the one hand, it has a clear dictionary definition that we all agree on. On the other hand, it has an emotional set of associations that conjure up all manner of unhappy memories of stern teachers and parental figures that make use of the term highly constrained.

In most professional environments today, it is unusual to hear the word “blame” tossed around. In fact, the most common usage of the term is its negation: “Nobody is to blame here” or “we’re not here to assign blame.” It feels like every incident…