Devin Mullins
7/15/2005 11:09:00 PM
Where I work (and I imagine most places), they don't bring developers on
a project until *after* the technology decisions have been made. (Well,
there was a market evaluation project about 3-4 years ago that made all
the decisions.) On my interview with the PM of a greenfield project, I
saw on her computer screen in the background completed order forms for
the J2EE application server, the database, and have a strong hunch that
we'll be tied to a particular framework, too. Given that ordering things
takes time, it makes sense to get this done before you have developers,
so that they're not twiddling their thumbs, but hey, we might've been
able to save them some time and money by suggesting a free platform
(Tomcat & Postgres or, gasp, RoR*).
What is it going to take for us to adopt it? My guess: Skunkworks. Some
tiny, rogue development team manages to use RoR simply because they're a
blip in upper management's radar, and does something really successful
(though small) as a result. Then, they go on tour throughout the
building, presenting and such. Unfortunately, I'm not working for that
tiny, rogue development team.
Devin
*Actually when I've mentioned Ruby at work it's inspired more often a
chuckle than a gasp. It's partly because they know how difficult it is
to get new technologies (well, new anything) adopted there, but I think
it's partly because it sounds like hype to them.** It'd be less of a
problem if the bureaucracy was this adversarial system against which the
agile development shops would try to push back, but, sadly, the
bureaucracy seems to have permeated the culture.
**Well, okay, there are a few that were, however, really interested in it.