OOTB? ROTFL!

I've been a big fan of Cote and Charles' DrunkAndRetired podcast for a while now - it helps to ease the 10 minute walk to work every morning. I came across this great post on enterprise software by Cote on his People Over Process blog.

To those who don't know, I work in the BPM sector for a company called Pegasystems - we specialise in providing business process managment solutions to our clients. Cotes post perfectly states the complexity we encounter on a daily basis - the fact that each organisation involved - each vendor - specifies that their product is middleware. From network infrastructure solutions (IBMs Websphere family) through to SAP and Pegas own PRPC, to some degree this all consitutes as middleware. Having to deal not only with middleware, but a miriad of different front and back end technologies is enough to keep any developer on his/her toes.

Cote mentions the 'customization tug of war'. Each client will want the software to perfectly align to their business processes. Each vendor wants the client to accept the software to be provided OOTB (out of the box). Where I fit in is to ensure the two align by configuring the application to meet business requirements.

With software positions moving out of the country, it is very important to never underestimate the importance of business knowledge - the 'MBA programmer' may keep business related development jobs in the country, but going forward the emphasis should lie on the programmer - changing context to the programmer with an MBA. A floating workforce, with the maleability to rapidly adapt to different verticals is my vision.

Hm - where's my London Business School brochure gone again?