RE: Moving on

So said  Alleman, Glen B.  on  12/24/2002 --------------------

>JB
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: J. B. 
>[>] snip
>> 
>> I find it sad, though, that large organizations would rather see
>academic
>> studies than results from smaller commercial ventures. They'd rather
>see
>> it work in a test-tube than in (a smaller version of) real life. Am I
>> wrong in stating this? It's just a feeling I have.
>
>[>] One transition I made some years ago was to stop barking at the moon
>(not that you are) in a manner that says "those folks there just don't
>get it," or "those folks really are missing the boat." 
>
>In the DOE Complex, the processes used to move forward are based on
>consideration of the consequences of a mistake as well as the benefits
>from the decision. A cynic would say this is "cover your ass." A
>pragmatist would say, "The cost of a mistake in the nuclear weapons
>decommissioning world (here) is catastrophic so please go slowing and
>carefully less you pollute the entire state of Colorado." The caution
>leaks out to the IT department as well. 

Please know that I understand this. Please also know that I don't plan to work in environments where mistakes cost lives and large-scale environmental destruction. I have worked in e-commerce, and at the end of day, they're just selling another bag of groceries. The cost of mistakes is measured entirely in dollars, and probably isn't that high. The cost of mistakes may be measured in the safety of my job, and I'm willing to accept that responsibility to advance the state of the art.

As for "they just don't get it," I admit that that way of thinking is counterproductive. I don't know what else to do; so I do that.

>So when the XP community uses words like "missed opportunity," "no
>courage to move forward," etc. a context and domain needs to be applied
>before those words are meaningful to us here in the field.

[Unsubstantiated claim. Apply salt as needed.] The vast majority of us don't work in satefy- and life-critical systems, so we share that essential context: the cost of failure is, at worst, losing our job.

>So in fact large organizations behave differently than small ones.

I have learned that, working at IBM. I needed to work in smaller organizations that felt ready to take some risks in order to move ahead. I don't expect the lumbering giants to move quickly on this stuff. In fact, I don't think it's worth even including them in the conversation, since I suspect they're not yet interested in what the leaders of the XP movement have to say. I'd rather talk to the ones that at least feel they can take a risk -- any risk. That factored into my decision to leave IBM.

>"Sadness" is not a description I would use, but one of "reality" of the
>context and domain. I choose to work in that reality, so it is far from
>sad, but is a great opportunity to bring something new to a closed
>community. This is shared from the President of our firm on down to the
>guy who pulls fiber on site.

Well, I see it as a losing game:

* Big businessmen expect us to give them real-world experience to back up our claims
* Big business appear to react better to large-scale academic studies, rather than real-world experience on a small scale

Again, that's my perception, and not meant to describe reality. That internal contradiction is silly. Pretending that building a business on internal contradiction is "the right thing to do" is, in my opinion, a little sad.

>It might be the half-full half-empty vision as well. But a good engineer
>sees the glass as twice as big as it needs to be...

Perhaps it is. Perhaps I simple need my second wind to move from complaining about the problem to contributing to the solution.

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.




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Get 128 Bit SSL Encryption!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/CBxunD/vN2EAA/xGHJAA/NhFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
extremecustomering-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/