Rick, > >> In actual practice, the consultant is just as often chosen to beef up > and sell the bosses pre-determined point of view.<< > > Sure this happens. I have worked in environments where the > consultants are brought in for opinions, and are used to make > the best decision. It is a valuable service and one I provide > to my customers. There are good and bad consultants in every > business. Life happens.
I have no gripe with consultants, although I too have known a few that I wouldn't speak too highly of, but I also believe that yourself and some of the folks here are a cut above. The whole point I've been trying to make is that the decision on which languages/tools to deploy in a major development effort is too consequential to be made by consultants and/or committees, that it's the providence of the companies 'guiding light' and anything less is a disservice to all concerned. BTW, I'm not thinking about "utility" and special purpose applications, often provided by 3rd parties, but the applications that comprise an IT company's core business development strategies/tools. > >>> >> Perhaps what is really being asked is "what is the best general > > >> purpose database product for future investment?"<< > > > > Totally different question for a totally different perspective. > > > But it is high on the list of considerations with something > as important as a language decision, > where hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars are > involved.<< > > The difference of when the decision of language and tools is > made is huge. You make it first and you > are likely to fail. You make the decision after the bulk of > the requirements are made and you are > more likely to improve the odds for success. Once you have > the requirements figured out you can ask > the question of what is the better of the development tools > and can debate more efficiently which > vendor you will use for language X. I can use any language to > build an application that stores data > in tables. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses between > the languages for a specific project > is what good developers are able to do. The question was: "We are maybe looking at a largish <$200k development for which we want to get returns for the next ten years, longer if possible. Now lets assume that I am being employed as a Strategic Consultant to examine which development environment is right for the job, where do I start?" In this context, where a strategic development effort is being considered (presumably by a company that's in the IT business in the first place), I'm saying that the boss already knows what he/she wants to do - or the boss is incompetent and doesn't belong in the job. Thus the best starting place is to get to understand where the boss really wants to go. One could ask "where the boss get the knowledge in the 1st place?", but it comes from the obvious place: the boss's stature in the business that qualified him or her for the job in the first place. It's also true that visionary types are able to sort through complex issues and separate what's important from what's not with an ease and skill that ordinary people just don't have. Sure, there are truly incompetent bosses out there as well, political appointees and the like, but I don't count them as important. Bill > > Rick _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
