Saturday, January 27, 2007

Implementation Assurance - Making COTS Work for You

The promise was sweet: instead of developing an application from the very beginning, you will just buy a packaged solution, customise it a little and - voilĂ ! - here is a working system that saves you loads of time and effort: an ERP, lab management application, CRM, billing, etc.

In practice it's different, though: after paying a hefty price for the basic package, you discover that there is a lot of customization to be done to make it work for you. Actually, not so much customization but rather re-writing the SQL queries; and changing the forms; and the core code... And then the vendor tells you that you should have articulated the needs clearly from the start; and they are probably right about that... And then the implementation clock starts ticking - and they charge you by the hour... Finally, you end up with some of your requirement satisfied after spending twice more time and money than you had planned...

Sounds familiar? I venture to guess that large portion of software implementation projects are like that.

So what to do? Abandon the whole idea and start re-inventing the wheel each time instead of implementing COTS?

Here is my suggestion: do Implementation Assurance - Conflair's invention for ensuring that you get what you need from software implementation. The basic idea behind it is simple:

1. Define the requirements for what you need and the criteria for selecting the vendor of a COTS solution.

2. Estimate the gaps between what you need and what the vendor has out-of-the-box.

3. Sign an agreement bearing in mind the costs of bridging the gaps.

4. Track the implementation closely in terms of budget/time spent vs. work done and other parameters (you know, metrics...).

5. Test the product - against your needs rather than the Use Cases the vendor has.

Well, this is just an outline. We have a whole methodology for it. If you want to know more, please drop an e-mail to info@conflair.com.


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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Live Not by a Lie!

In 1972 Solzhenitzyn, the author of "The Gulag Archipelago" and the oldest living Nobel Prize laureate in literature as of today, wrote a small article titled "Live Not by a Lie". The essence of it was simple: if you cannot resist the regime actively, you might do it by refusing to cooperate. His suggestions were like "Do not vote for somebody you do not like, even of the local Party committee recommends this person", "Do not recite a propaganda sentence if you do not agree with it", etc. In the Soviet Union of 1972 even that was quite brave...

We are in 2007. USSR is history. However, Solzhenitzyn's method can be as useful today as it was in 1972.

- Do not like wasteful and inconsiderate use of natural resources yet cannot leave your job and start picketing polluting factories? I have an easy way for you: do not invest in companies that treat the Earth like dirt.

- Disgusted with the idea of Internet censorship yet wonder what you can do? Try not to use services of companies that succumb to Chinese government's requirements for censoring web content. Use Wikipedia that refuses to do so!

- Uncomfortable with the idea that governments might be reading your e-mails without your permission or proper legal procedure? Boycott e-mail service providers that are willing to share e-mail contents with oppressive regimes. Wonder who these are? Start with Yahoo! - read the story of Shi Tao, Chinese journalist who is serving 10 years in prison for sending an e-mail to his friend and who's e-mail was willingly disclosed by Yahoo! to Chinese authorities.

Want to make one more step and promote Freedom? Use your blog and your website, put there links to Human Rights organizations and blogs. I do that - see http://www.conflair.com/TheOtherStuff.asp.


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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Hello, World!

Blogs answer an ancient temptation of an individual - to share your thoughts with the world. After living for 33 years, I have a couple of thoughts to share on a variety of subjects.
First, I will be sharing thoughts in the area of Quality Assurance and Testing - a professional area I've been working in for the last decade, give or take. The name of this blog is QAway, because Quality Assurance is having quite an impact on how I think and work. I hope it will work the other way as well :).
I will be trying to promote my company, Conflair (http://www.conflair.com/), that I opened in August 2006 - since it was established to implement some of my ideas, it has its legitimate place in this blog.
I will be also sharing some of my ideas about life, work, human condition, technology, etc. - after all, that's what the blogs are for.
Finally, I will be trying to promote some noble ideas and let Freedom ring through this humble blog as well - you know, there is no Internet without freedom of speech... Some Internet companies seem to forget it - but this is a topic for another post. Stay tuned and post comments!