Thought 1: Training Software Teams - Building the machine that makes the machine

From https://qz.com/972118/simple-math-is-why-elon-musks-companies-keep-doing-what-others-dont-even-consider-possible/?utm_source=readnext

Elon Musk at an annual meeting:

“The most important point I want to make is [that] the true problem, the true difficulty, and where the greatest potential lies is building the machine that makes the machine. In other words, building the factory … like a product,” said Musk at the annual meeting (starting at 2:20), predicting a new factory would deliver a “ten-fold improvement” in productivity.

As a software developer, I felt that we can discuss, in the same way, about software-teams that are building software-products.

A Software-Team can be thought of as the 'machine that makes the machine', and itself should be treated as a 'product'.

If the software-team is the machine that makes the machine, then how should a company take care of it?

When you talk about a Machine, the aspects of Maintaining it, Making it Better, come into the picture.

What steps can a company take towards a software-team to 'Maintain it & Make it Better' ?
One step a company can take is taking the responsibility of Continuous Training.

How is this different from current thinking?

Current thinking seems to be:

• Hiring the right people = Building the machine that makes the machine
• Continuous Training is the responsibility of the Software Engineer and not the company

However, with the new perspective of a software-team itself being a 'product' and being a 'machine that makes the machine', it is very clear to us that hiring good people is only half the job. Maintenance is the other half, and it is in the best interests of a company to take care of Maintenance too.

My personal opinion is that a lot of software developers move between companies at a frequent rate due to situations/problems/environments that arise as side-effects of lack of this Maintenance.

Current processes like Scrum are all about Project Management. But Project Management is just one aspect of Software Engineering. Perhaps something similar to Scrum has to come along to take care of the importance of Continuous Training.