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(U) Letter to the Editor : More on Tool Development
FROM: the editor
Unknown
Run Date: 01/20/2006
(U//FOUO) Here's a final reader opinion on the "Roadblocks to
Change" article :
(U//FOUO) I'm not surprised about the content of this article. As an
analyst I have been on the receiving end of both good and bad
developments and the good ones tend to have the following
characteristics:
1. They start small with incremental improvements. The large
5 year economic plans didn't work for the Soviet economy
and they don't work for tool developments. In the large
efforts, serving the project seems to become the goal and
the actual product becomes secondary. In addition, large
efforts lack the agility to cope with changing targets and
technology. It is simply not possible to produce a
requirements document that predicts all future needs.
2. They are analyst-directed. The best tools are developed
when developers sit with the analysts everyday and see
what the analysts really do. The developers take what they
learn and the analyst comments and make the
improvements without the need for users to fill out lots and
paperwork and justifications.
3. They use developer creativity. No customer went to Thomas
Edison with the requirements for the light bulb, he saw the
need and used his creativity. When item 2 happens,
developers see analyst needs and can bring their talents to
bear. And the incremental improvement concept in item 1
allows the developer to make it happen.
SERIES:
(U) Roadblocks to
Change
1. Study Points Out
'Roadblocks to
Change'
2. Letters to the Editor
: About 'Roadblocks
to Change'
3. Letter to the Editor :
More on Tool
Development
4. Letter to the Editor :
A Tool Developer's
Perspective on
'Roadblocks to
Change'
5. Letter to the Editor :
Getting Buy-In for
Tool Development
6. Letters to the Editor
: Still More on Tool
Development
4. They are user-focused. Research is great, but there is a big
difference between a research-based tool concept and a
real tool that analysts can use. The 80% solution often
means that the developers have done the fun part, leaving
the users to suffer the 20%.
-- Anonymous
(U) See also previous Letters to the Editor on this topic.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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