[OKC JUG] temptations

[David Wilson-Burns]

Excellent advice.  I can attest to the pitfalls of this temptation.  Lessons learned include meeting the requirements and nothing more, especially in early releases.  It may not get people as excited as you like, but  it's much better than the excitement generated from missing deadlines and releasing pretty looking junk! 

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 26, 2009, at 12:31 AM, Ivan Zhidov <izhidov at gmail.com> wrote:

There was a good post regarding one contractor's attempt at creating his own startup from ground up.
http://www.teabuzzed.com/2009/08/the-number-one-reason-my-startup-failed/

It's a good read in itself but he verbalized something that has been on my mind for awhile.

"/So the number one reason my startup failed was:/ I was distracted by a cool and shiny feature that didn’t solve anyone’s problem. The shinier and more tempting features of any software program should be regarded with a high level of suspicion. There may be a reason some things are so shiny and alluring. Traps often have this quality. My advice to anyone creating a solution is to march straight towards your initial goal, as long as the goal really does address a true need then that’s what you should focus on."

I put together a lot of 24x7 99.999% SLA systems and conservative approach to technology always pays off. I see there's a constant trend in the industry to jump on new 'silver bullet' which will 'solve everything' yet it will always lead to new unforeseen issues so unless you enjoy getting 3 AM calls be conservative about what you put into production or what somebody tries to sell you on from inside or outside of your organization as you may be the one left holding the bag. Granted there's room for innovation but as the above mentioned article says make sure it actually solves the problem and not just a shiny thing somebody wants to put on their resume.

Ivan


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