Beyond Experience LO14538

Martin Wood (mwood@ukmkwt.cig.eds.com)
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 15:43:34 +0100

Replying to LO14475 --

In LO14475, Simon Buckingham asks:

"How necessary is it for people in fast-moving industries such as
communications and technologies to have a few years of experience when
everything has changed in that time: the technology, competition and
customer applications?"

Some thoughts from my perspective (that of developing software and systems
for clients over more years than I care to remember !):

I think it depends on what the people are trying to to do. In my world,
the computer languages and operating systems have changed significantly
since I started work.

However, regardless of the underlying technology, I still see the same
issues arising:

What is the computer system designed to do, and for what benefits ? Have
we put a proper and sensible testing regime in place during development ?
What are the ways in which we monitor and track our progress ? How often
should we report progress to our client (and with what metrics) ? What
are the risks, and how have we planned to remove/reduce them ?

The issues of managing remain the same and here "experience" does count.
If you've never made a mistake (i.e. a learning experience), then you may
not have the experience that will stop you (and your organisation) falling
into the same trap again.

-- 
 
Martin Wood, Projects Manager
Communications Industry Group, EDS, Wavendon Tower
Wavendon, MILTON KEYNES MK17 8LX, ENGLAND
E-mail: mwood@ukmkwt.cig.eds.com, Tel: +44 1908 284050

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