What DOES make sense is a competitive argument that has the elements of
- It's really NOT new, in that we have all the knowledge and skills to make it work and there are no hidden surprises. It's the next step up that has fewer vulnerabilities and more opportunities. It's a progression. It's proven.
- With tango, I can serve you faster and with less labor than my counterpart at a competitor. I want to preserve that advantage, that's why witango.
- Developers don't have to be deep tech geeks, but can be people who also have time and breadth to understand business requirements.
- Best to implement the new system BEFORE you have specific functionality requirements so that those application development projects can run smoothly and quickly.
things of that nature...
To the question of "Is something broken with the system we have?"
- It works beautifully. It was a good decision that still is a good decision. The world evolves, however, and people find vulnerabilities in systems that appeared rock solid. That's the evolutionary point where we are, which means we need to move on. If everyone else upgrades and we're alone and people are hunting for targets, we look more and more inviting.
- The developers have moved to the next version and put their effort into maintaining it. As cracks appear in the older system, there are no patches. It's like the '57 Chevy - nice, but hard to get parts and service.
- It connects different systems. As they advance, so does the glue that makes them work together.
- It's not a crisis, but a proper maintenance upgrade that will prevent crises and preserve efficiency of coding. Upgrading before the crisis is cheaper than when you are against a wall.
to the question of costs:
software is typically depreciated over 18 months with good reason. That's the average useful lifespan before it needs to be upgraded. You can delay the upgrade, but there are unknown costs associated with that. It's just like a roof. It wears out over a period of time and needs to be replaced. You can patch it for a while, but at a certain point, you need to replace.
Tango was one of the cheapest alternatives around and witango continues with one of the cheapest licensing prices and lowest cost of ownership. Cheaper than open source, in fact, because it's simpler to run, and cheaper than cold fusion or gawd forbid MS's .net. (Word on the street from experienced folks is that if you are using .NET, you take your highest estimate for time and cost and then triple it. Longest development time of any alternative, in fact.)
and when talking to a suit:
- a feature, function, or capability is "blah blah blah" to them. Even tech-savvy.
When someone gave me one of those, I'd ask, "Where would you need this?" and they'd think and come up with an example, to which I'd offer, "Can't you get to the same solution this other way so you don't need that new feature?"
or
- if they'd say something was faster or somehow better, "Is that our biggest problem now? Is the biggest user complaint the speed of an application and you've traced that down to this function?" Whereupon the techie would stutter.
therefore: don't talk features and benefits to a suit. If they are paying attention, it sounds like, "PULL!" and they take an easy shot.
On Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 07:50 AM, Cornelius Conboy wrote:
Management types, eh? Here are some bullit points translated from English
into management
Greater NPV* to the project brought about by lower developmental costs.
Ease of conceptualization leading to higher awareness and communication flow
to the project stakeholders.
Basic SWOT** analysis shows increased stability leading directly to stronger
infrastructure foundation.
The upgrade represents a change that presents an oportunity to promote real
understanding of the underlying technology.
-Cornelius
* Net Present Value - managers love to use this as a metric to help decide
which projects to implement
** Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats. Classic tool used by marketing
departments.
on 7/30/03 3:34 PM, Wilcox, Jamileh (HSC) at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
OK, I've got to justify why we need to upgrade our Tango2000 to Witango5. ROI-type stuff. (Not counting the patch needed for the buffer overflow; I'm counting on that as a final ace.)
This is for pseudo-techie, bottom-line-obsessed management types. I don't speak mgt-ese and I'm not entirely sure of some of the technical details in the upgrade version. Plus I may have missed some improvements/features of the new software.
Any suggestions or corrections would be much appreciated.
This is what I've got so far (scrounged from Witango press releases & the list archives):
Improved Dev Studio for faster, easier development
Improved server performance/speed Improved server stability Improved threading/multitasking Improved email functionality Improved debugging facilities Improved error/exception reporting and handling Improved variable functionality and handling
Improved interfaces with non-web client apps *(by this, I mean the C++ and Java interfaces mentioned by Witango - I've not used these yet so I'm not sure how to describe it) Improved object interfaces *(here I'm talking about the com & javabean object discussions I've seen on the list - I've not used these yet so I'm not sure how to describe it)
or are those last two the same thing?
Anything else y'all can think of?
It seems like there's someone else that's in the same boat I am (budget
crunch &/or difficult management) - please feel free to swipe the
finished list if'n ya needs it.
First prize is a virtual Hershey bar; all other entries receive a virtual Chiclet. ;^P
Thanks for any help you can offer!
jamileh
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