> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ok, I have two comments/questions.> First, from what
> I see the link points to an ISPF replacement.
SimpList isn't an ISPF replacement but rather an add-on product that increases
productivity for people who works in ISPF environments. Think of it as
something like ISPF option 3.4 but with many enhancements.
> That might have helped a few years ago, but now most developers are not
> doing> their work on ISPF. They're using tools on Windows or Unix. I know>
> that we're mainframe bigots, but that's just the way it is today.
It's true that many developers are using Windows and Linux, especially if
they're developing applications for those environments. But there are thousands
upon thousands of mainframe developers who spend a large part of every day
using ISPF. Anything that can be done to improve their productivity goes
straight to the bottom line.
> Second, how do you measure developer productivity?
Some people have mentioned counting lines of code or functions points, but IMO
that's only part of the picture. For example, SimpList increases the
productivity of almost everyone who works in an ISPF environment including
developers, systems programmers, analysts, DBA's, help desk/support people,
business users, and so on. These people might spend a large part of their day
in ISPF but aren't necessarily writing programs. So, simply counting lines of
code or function points isn't necessarily a true measure of how someones
productivity has increased.
To justify a business case for licensing SimpList, one company counted the
number of times certain tasks were performed each day (e.g. editing data sets,
printing reports, browsing DB2 tables, submitting batch jobs, etc). Then they
timed how long it took to perform each task, and from this were able to
determine an average SimpList user saves about 2.5 hours a week (or slightly
more than 3 weeks a year). If each developer is paid a thousand dollars a week,
that's more than 3 thousand dollars a year in savings. For 100 developers,
that's over $300,000 a year. These are real savings, as the company can do the
same amount of work with fewer people or do more work without hiring new people.
Measuring the time it takes to perform various tasks made it obvious to the
company that SimpList was well worth the annual licensing cost of $5,000. But
this didn't even begin to take into consideration many other benefits; e.g. one
company was able to reduce their ISPF training course from 5 days to 3 days;
another company decided to drop their mainframe migration plans; another
company found they were able to attract and keep more people (etc).
Any SimpList user knows instinctively their productivity has improved without
needing to measure it. But it's easy enough to see for yourself as it only
takes about 30 minutes to install. Hey, it's Christmas; why not treat yourself?
:-)
Happy holidays!
Dave Salt
See the new SimpList(tm) rollover image
at:http://www.mackinney.com/products/SIM/simplist.htm > > > > From: [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
> > On the "buy more" side, I generally favor looking first at
> > application developer productivity, because that's> > where you'll find
> > significant IT cost. That's also where business> > benefits result, if
> > developers can deliver quicker and with higher> > quality. I get very
> > concerned with organizations where this "software> > line" in the developer
> > productivity area hasn't moved in 20+ years> > > > <ad>> > I couldn't have
> > said it better myself! Anyone that's interested in> > improving developer
> > productivity, please click the link below.> > </ad>> > > > Happy holidays
> > everyone!
> >
> > Dave Salt
> >
> > See the new SimpList(tm) rollover image at:> >
> > http://www.mackinney.com/products/SIM/simplist.htm
_________________________________________________________________
Discover new ways to stay in touch with Windows Live! Visit the City @ Live
today!
http://getyourliveid.ca/?icid=LIVEIDENCA006
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
