Without being aware of it, I seem to be very concerned about my or (maybe others's?) decision making skills. Several books I've read lately deal with improving decisions.
Nudge takes an interesting approach. Instead of questioning how people decide, it asks how decisions can be organized in a way that helps people make a wise decision. Some might debate what makes one decision wise compared to another, but the authors point out that often people would make a choice except that they are forgetful or find the options too complex.
A simple example: defaulting 401k enrollment instead of forcing people to opt-in. People can opt out if they so desire, but usually don't.
The areas they discuss relate to government and institutional programs -- health insurance, charitable donations, marriage.
The theory applies very directly to software and software management. Much of good management involves getting people to do the right thing -- and in this case, the "right thing" is more easily defined -- without using a heavy hand. Sometimes micromanagement is required, but it should be a last resort.
Test driven development strikes me as a good way to encourage good practices. You encourage testing and more up-front analysis by making the former easier and the latter part of the process. Domain driven design provides tools to express the business more accurately. You also encourage developer involvement in the business by easing the barriers to understanding. Just working to get the developers in front of the users goes along way to this goal, as well.
Many other agile practices are less about software development per se, and more about putting people in the right spot and frame of mind to make the right decisions.
It's great to hire people who self-start and need no guidance. Most of us, however, need a little nudge.
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