Corporate Culture Shows Up in Practice
Mission statements on the wall mean little. Corporate culture becomes visible where teams are under pressure, where decisions get made, and where people collaborate — or try to.
This page collects examples from real software development: articles analyzing how culture shapes team dynamics, and telenovela episodes that dramatically show what happens when culture, pressure, and human nature collide.
Articles: Team Culture and Collaboration
These articles examine how corporate culture shapes software teams — from intrinsic motivation and respect to the invisible forces that separate developers and leadership.
Foundations: What Drives Teams
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Intrinsic Motivation and Software Developers
Pride, curiosity, and purpose are the real currency of great software. Organizations that respect intrinsic motivation get better deliveries and healthier teams. -
Treating Developers with Respect
Respect isn't a bonus — it's a prerequisite for building anything useful. Developers give their best voluntarily when they believe in the mission. -
Bridging the Great Divide
Since 1968, a pattern repeats: non-technical leadership and technical teams don't understand each other. Organizational intelligence and embedded support can replace assumptions with facts.
Collaboration in Practice
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Beyond the Solo Developer Myth: Pair Programming, Mob Programming, and AI Collaboration
Pair programming has existed since the ENIAC days but remains misunderstood. This article explores collaborative programming forms and how AI changes the dynamics. -
Raw-Dogging the Team Beats Factory Method
Sometimes the best team structure is the one that emerges organically when competent developers collaborate — without framework overhead.
When Process Meets Reality
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When Discovery Collides with Process
Process rituals often collide with the reality that software development requires discovery. Culture decides whether teams get space to learn. -
The Gray Beard and the Machine
Experience meets AI automation. How does an organization respond when long-standing expertise encounters new tools? -
When Developer Advocate Meant Something Else
How the Developer Advocate role evolved from embedded technical excellence to conference circuit celebrity — and why that matters for culture.
Telenovela Episodes: Culture Under Pressure
Sometimes dramatic stories say more about corporate culture than any case study. These episodes show how culture becomes visible when teams are under pressure, deadlines loom, and personal loyalties collide with business goals.
La Startup: A Fintech Telenovela from Bogotá
A series showing how toxic culture, impossible expectations, and broken trust destroy a promising startup from within.
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Episode 1: El Pitch Perfecto
$15 million raised. Lead developer vanished. The codebase is chaos. The culture that enabled it becomes visible. -
Episode 2: La Nueva
Stefan Richter, a German Developer Advocate, meets the team. He sees not just the broken code — he sees the broken culture behind it. -
Episode 3: Los Secretos del Código
The codebase reveals secrets. Diego's shortcuts, commented-out warnings, and technical debt that speaks volumes about a culture of fear. -
Episode 4: Fantasmas del Sprint
Flashbacks reveal Diego's burnout, impossible deadlines, and the culture that treats people as optimizable resources. The ghosts of past sprints return. -
Episode 5: El Demo Day
The investor demo is a disaster. The cracks in the culture become impossible to hide. -
Episode 6: Cenizas
In the wreckage of the failed demo, the team faces a choice: rebuild the culture or abandon the dream. -
Episode 7: Desde Cero
Starting from zero means confronting the culture that created the crisis. Trust must be rebuilt line by line.
More episodes: La Startup — All Episodes
Signal Through Noise: Cutting Through Organizational Chaos
A thriller series about a company trying to gain visibility over chaos — and the culture that sees transparency as a threat.
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Episode 1: The Crunch That Never Ends
An endless crunch. Teams burn out. The culture accepts it as "normal." -
Episode 2: When Players Revolt
The team pushes back. Culture decides whether dissent is heard or punished. -
Episode 3: The All-Hands Disaster
Leadership tries transparency. The culture isn't ready for the truth. -
Episode 4: The Slow Adoption
Resistance to visibility reveals culture. Data becomes a mirror people don't want to face.
More episodes: Signal Through Noise — All Episodes
Código del Destino: Legacy Systems, Legacy Families
A Mexican software dynasty faces extinction. Family secrets, technical debt, and generational culture conflicts collide.
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Episode 1: El Regreso
Stefan returns to Mexico to help a family business. But the culture runs deeper than the code. -
Episode 2: Primeros Pasos
Workshops on TDD and CI/CD meet resistance. Veterans push back against change. Culture vs. survival.
More episodes: Código del Destino — All Episodes
Related Topics
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Agile Transformation Doesn’t Work
Why superficial process changes without culture change fail. -
Developer Advocate: The Role Explained
How embedded technical support changes culture from within. -
Caimito Navigator
Daily logbooks and weekly synthesis give leadership visibility without micromanagement — culture becomes fact-based.
Ready to Understand Your Culture?
Corporate culture isn’t abstract. It shows up in your pipelines, your meetings, and how your team communicates (or avoids it).
Schedule a 30-minute conversation to discuss what your culture reveals about delivery problems — and how you can change it.