Maturing [Re: Time required to write down "wisdom" ...]

Brian E Carpenter brian at hursley.ibm.com
Tue May 13 18:46:30 CEST 2003


Spencer Dawkins wrote:
> 
> Dear Brian,
> 
> I'm finding myself reading a number of things into your e-mail that you
> didn't actually SAY - could you elaborate a bit, so that I can better
> understand?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Spencer
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brian E Carpenter" <brian at hursley.ibm.com>
> To: <john.loughney at nokia.com>
> Cc: <problem-statement at alvestrand.no>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 2:32 AM
> Subject: Re: Time required to write down "wisdom" (Re: "Adult supervision")
> 
> > Our industry is maturing, I think. Our notions of "good enough" and "too
> > slow" may need to change. Note, I'm not disagreeing that we need better
> > processes - but let's recognise that the world is changing.

Well, I wrote that while sitting in an IPv6 Forum meeting in Madrid, which
is a good place for realising that strategic goals are important in the
face of pragmatic solutions. Also the current Economist has an excellent
survey on the maturing of the IT industry - well worth reading.
For paid subscribers, it starts at 
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=1747329

I think we are heading towards a period when "good enough" may in fact
not be good enough. I would expect customers to be expecting something
much nearer perfection within a few years. And the history of every 
industrial technology has, I think, showed that high quality standards 
are an unavoidable part of getting to that level.

So I think that while the frustration of a thorough standards process
is annoying, that doesn't allow us to adopt short cuts that compromise 
quality. We should work out how to achieve quality more quickly.

   Brian


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