War story: There was a certain major US-based mainframe software company (which I will not name) who decided to outsource the maintenance/development of one of their software products to an external company (not US-based, and once again, for fear of offending the overly-sensitive, I will not name the country). This product was partly written in some serious assembler code. Just before the contract was awarded, the in-house developers of the product thought it would be a good idea to do some due diligence, and interview the prospective future developers.
One of the questions they asked was: What is a supervisor call? The answer: That's when we pick up the phone and call our boss. When pressed, it became apparent they didn't know what a SVC was. They didn't get the contract, despite it being very late in the process, it was awarded to the small company that I then worked for. Unfortunately, some managers will take decisions based on their perceived financial value and little else. The risk analysis seems secondary, further, they don't seem to understand the value of decades of in-house expertise and knowledge. Such is business. Or, as Roger Waters (ex-Pink Floyd) said: "Don't be afraid, it's only business." Ant. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
