RE: [AM] Demise of a 100-person company

Perhaps the imposition of a software tool was a symptom, rather than the
cause.

Charlie Poole
[email protected]
www.pooleconsulting.com
www.charliepoole.org





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adrian Walker [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 5:28 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [AM] Demise of a 100-person company
>
>
> Hi Jonathan --
>
> [Adrian]
>  > I have seen a perfectly good 100-person software company, with
> household
>  > name customers, that sank like a rock because of this problem. At
>  > management insistence, a three-page Perl script was replaced by a huge
>  > "does everything" object-code-only package from a vendor. 1,000-page
>  > manuals. Configurable only by scarce specialists. The rest is history.
>
> [Jonathan]
> >You description of the problem is unclear. Seems hard to believe
> that some
> >piece of code caused a 100-person company to go bankrupt.
>
> The company fielded a complex product that pulled data in various formats
> (EDI, various XML dialects, spreadsheets...) from different companies,
> translated it into relational form, stored it in Oracle, then produced a
> variety of active Web pages.
>
> The translation from the various formats into to relational form was
> originally done in three pages of Perl, which was very easy to maintain,
> and to extend as new formats were added.
>
> However, a vendor persuaded the CEO that the company should use their
> "universal data mapper" instead of the Perl script.  This turned
> out to be
> a complete bottleneck.  Strangulation of data-in, rapid disappearance of
> customers, followed within a year or so by liquidation of the company.
>
> Why did the company not simply go back to using the Perl script ?
>  I'm not
> sure, but it was probably because the venture capital backers insisted on
> the "universal data mapper".
>
> There were other factors, but the "universal data mapper" was a key one.
>
>                                  Cheers,   -- Adrian
>
>
>
>                                             INTERNET BUSINESS LOGIC
>
                                              www.reengineeringllc.com
>
> Dr. Adrian Walker
> Reengineering LLC
> PO Box 1412
> Bristol
> CT 06011-1412 USA
>
> Phone: USA 860 583 9677
> Cell:    USA  860 830 2085
> Fax:    USA  860 314 1029
>
> For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page
> at www.agilemodeling.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
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