Cleaning Out My Closet, Part 3
Of course, I am throwing out a lot of stuff, too. For example, that binder of PC standards from the mid-90's - trashed. But there are some interesting things that I am coming across. The past two posts have outlined some of them, but here are a few more.
I came across a research note from Gartner Group on the value of training IS professionals (from 1995, hence the IS instead of IT). In it, Gartner notes that the per-employee costs of retraining a programmer on a new development paradigm (that was a big word back then) is almost $7000 over 25 days. I wonder if this still holds true? The note goes on to discuss the hidden costs, too: things like productivity loss, the cost of the underground support network, and diminished service levels. I think this is all still very valid. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
Another interesting Gartner Group research piece I pulled out of a very old pile was on metadata from 1994. The note basically described the function of metadata for data transformation, data delivery, and informational purposes. It closed by stating that organization needed to recognize the importance of metadata to achieve success. And this is still true today. Indeed, there is somewhat of a renaissance of metadata management occurring in businesses today as they struggle to cope with growing mounds of data and stringent regulatory requirements.
Finally, at least for today, I came across a 1997 research note on the repository market. Ooops, I mean the Repository market. There is a difference between the little "r" and the capital "R" repository. This research note talked about the consolidation that was going on in that space back then: Brownstone and Reltech acquired by Platinum technology; R&O acquired by Viasoft. Interestingly, neither of the acquirers exist as independent software vendors today. And the big "R" respository is basically dead (or dying).
Check back in a couple of days as I continue to review the "stuff" that comes out of my closet.
© 2006. Mullins Consulting, Inc.
