tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6628985022531866193.post1718099198120353151..comments2024-02-12T17:37:05.629+00:00Comments on The OldWood Thing: I Know the Cost but Not the ValueChris Oldwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18183909440298909448noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6628985022531866193.post-17247621010645818912011-11-24T07:35:41.474+00:002011-11-24T07:35:41.474+00:00I think all you can do in these situations is buil...I think all you can do in these situations is build trust by setting out your reasons for recommending action (a) over action (b) in writing to those who "feel informed enough to make the decision".<br /><br />They'll select the "wrong" option most of the time, at least to start with. But if you keep at it and clearly explain why each previous choice failure resulted in particular business issues then they may start to come around to selecting the "right" options. <br /><br />This takes time. I went through this working at an IBank in London a while back (see <a href="http://www.lenholgate.com/blog/2003/12/end-of-the-refactoring-project.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.lenholgate.com/blog/2003/12/end-of-the-refactoring-project.html</a>) and slowly managed to move the business from a situation where we had no release process and people simply hacked fixes into production to one where we had a reliable release system with a regular release schedule which we kept to most of the time but the business knew they could insist on an emergency release if they really needed it.<br /><br />The key point was slowly gaining the trust of the business people and explaining the actual cost of all the "shiny things" that the previous developers had been giving them...Len Holgatehttp://www.lenholgate.comnoreply@blogger.com