Gregory Maciag: Reuse is a Good Thing

Monday, 27 August 2012

Reuse is a Good Thing

A slogan is born! I've extracted this from a piece by Ben Allen at Appian Insight: “data standardization combined with process flexibility”.

Allen's context is defense procurement, however his formula will resonate with solution vendors and IT architects across the board. The next step is to get people to see that “flexibility” isn't the same as “peculiarity”. The aim is to do processes well, not weirdly. In achieving excellence in process delivery, systems designers will inevitably find themselves coming up with similar solutions to common problems. That's what the software design patterns movement is all about.

Designers need to concentrate on the real differences in their approaches to a business problem or challenge, and not be afraid to reuse answers that others have proven. This is the sense of “flexibility” we should have in mind when we cheer Allen's slogan.

Standards and Flexibility

Posted on Monday, 27 August 2012 in Standards | Permalink

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New Book

My latest book presents the challenges members face when adopting industry standards as well as the opportunities that come as a result. It features my discussions with many people over many years and follows the foundation I set in my first book "The Business Information Revolution".

Industry standards are never adopted in a vacuum. They become part and parcel of all the trials and tribulations managers face in their day to day work. ACORD Standards are always part of a larger software development project that brings along people, priorities and politics. Adopting industry standards isn't simple, but the benefits far outweigh the problems of building and maintaining proprietary alternatives.

I trust that you will appreciate my frankness, identify with some of the challenges and learn from what others have done to pave the way.