Re: Summing up and moving on (I hope)

So said  Glen B. Alleman  on  12/20/2002 --------------------

>>J. B. Rainsberger wrote:
>[snip]
>
>I guess I haven't seen it that way. I'm not saying that I think Glen has
>been
>doing the opposite, but I am saying that I haven't seen the intent. I
>probably
>need to read what Glen writes more carefully.
>J. B. Rainsberger
>
>[GBA] My last post contained some cleared thoughts. Here they are
>seperated.
>These are Business views of "agile" processes, not views from the
>development side of the house:
>
>(1) Managers and above need that hear a message that resonant with the
>experience and "felt need." Shouting that a new process will save their
>business will not likely be that message for the general population of C
>and
>B-Types

Agreed. I mentioned some things that I thought were "felt need"s that XP addresses very well. Can you suggest how to take that message to the top of the chain?

What I read from your previous reply was, "We're already taking care of those problems." Is that true? What if XP addresses those problems *and* makes us developers happy? Isn't that a win-win? Who wouldn't want that?

>(2) Business managers want software to show up on time on budget. Advanced
>delivery is a second order effect for them. It is a first order effect for
>developers and SQA folks, but in order to move this effect out to the
>general customer, on time on budget needs to be accomplished first.

But what if advanced delivery is a step on the way to on time on budget? What if advanced delivery helps us practice "on time on budget" every two weeks? Practice makes perfect.

>(3) The presence of an XP customer is part of the XP success. XP has little
>to say (getting better) about how to transform a customer into an XP
>customer.

From what I've read, XP says that a customer is already an XP customer -- that no transformation is required. I understand that others have horror stories on this front. I claim that no transformation is required, but that the customer needs to know up front what's expected, and either they're willing to commit (we can do XP) or they are not (we can't). We admit that without a customer*, the project is dead in the water, XP or not.

>(4) Understanding, tailoring, and focusing the "marketing message" is a
>sign
>of a maturing process. This happened with TQM, Six Sig, BSC, "Change"
>processes, etc. All started as zealot processes and matured to broad based
>processes by transforming "their" message not transforming the listeners.

I recognize the need to change our message to make it sweeter to the ears of our intended audience. I don't know how to do that. Will you help me do that for one of these aspects of XP that I'm trying to market? Arbitrarily, I select "Ongoing Customer Feedback". Are you willing to start that discussion on this group right now?

>(5) For any change to take place a "felt need" is first necessary. Without
>this need the message is left at the door. Once this need is felt, it must
>be "internalized," that is the need must be turned into an internal source
>of action. Arriving at the door with a solution for the need without an
>internal recognition that the need can be fulfilled "externally" leaves the
>message at the door again (not invited in).

This is where I am different, and in a way that is consistent with the XP philosophy. When I'm stuck, I ask for help, rather than wait until I've tried everything I could possibly try first. I ask for help, I hang around to help solve the problem, I learn, then I become the expert next time. Am I wrong to conclude that this trait is rare among C-level and B-level folks?

>These concepts are at the core of any "service" based sales strategy. The
>buyer of "hard goods" can compare side by side products and prices. The
>buyer of a service or a process improvement, can only compare the product
>with the "felt need" through an intellectual absorption. This includes
>asking peers, observing others (bench marking), absorbing the message in
>words of the receiver not words of the sender...

Right. I'm asking for help to start doing that.

* If the term "product advocate" is more palatable here, then substitute it freely.

J. B. Rainsberger,
President, Diaspar Software Services
Let's write software that people understand.
http://www.diasparsoftware.com/
telephone: +1 416 791-8603
All correspondence (c) 2002 Diaspar Software Services.
If you want to use it, just ask; don't steal.




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