Business Analysis and Training

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Mon Jan 6 05:00:46 PST 2003


At 09:54 AM 1/5/2003 +1100, Christine wrote:

>I wonder if there has been any discussion on this list about the use of OS
>in the software development lifecycle?  I have done a quick trawl of on line
>resources and have not stumbled over anything yet.

More years ago than i care to remember -- and certainly before the genesis
of OSLIST -- I had as a client a large  American software/systems
integration company. Each year they put on a weekend "retreat" for their
clients which consisted largely of Talking Heads and a great deal of eating
and drinking. Eventually the clients objected (didn't come) and it was
resolved to try something new -- OS to be specific. The clients in question
were major banks and other financial institutions. The theme was, "Issues
and Opportunities for building IT support for the Financial Community." We
had a whole day. When the issues were posted, it became clear that most
were from clients, and constituted their "wish list." This is called market
research. As the groups convened, participants included not only clients,
but also "staff" from the host company (techies, sales, execs, etc.) And
there was a real buzzz.

It quickly became clear that the groups were going way beyond just talking
about new products and approaches -- they were doing it. I watched one
group where the clients were actually writing software for products they
would eventually buy. This is called Co-Design -- or how to get the client
to do all the work.

My clearest memory was of one of the VPs leaning against the door frame,
watching what was happening. He was shaking his head, and when I came up he
said something like, "Harrison, I think this may be immoral. Pretty much
like shooting fish in a barrel." I replied that I thought it was just good
business.

By the end of the day something like 6 new products had been sketched out,
and 5 actually went to market. Indeed they had been "sold" before we left,
and all developmental costs covered. Not too bad for a single day's work.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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