RE: Should users have a say in the software development process?

There's no doubt that a committee can come up with the best solution.
The question is whether or not the committee will agree to use the best
solution.  That's where the major disconnect comes in.  It can sometimes
be difficult-to-impossible to get a majority decision that favors the
best solution.  Especially if the committee chair is biased against the
best solution.

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James H H Lampert
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 11:52 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Should users have a say in the software development
process?

Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am reminded of an exercise we did years ago.  The idea, proved to my

> satisfaction, was that the group always found a better solution to a 
> problem than any single member of the group.

Hear, hear. I remember years ago, people (mostly Pascal and Modula-2
enthusiasts) deriding PL/I as a "language-by-committee." Yet it's PL/I
that, in my book, comes closer than any other language to the ideal of
being able to tell the compiler, "you know what I want; just do it."

--
JHHL
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