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The opposite of "not invented here syndrome" is "the new shiny." In this condition, organizations culturally select new tools over older ones simply because th
by pjlegato 10y ago
The opposite of "not invented here syndrome" is "the new shiny."
In this condition, organizations culturally select new tools over older ones simply because they are new, get a lot of buzz among a certain userbase, and make extravagant promises of solving major problems with a tiny fraction of the amount of work that previous solutions required, due to some magical new technology or insight that the old school way of doing things didn't have.
Of course, in almost all cases "the new shiny" does not actually solve the problem with less work; it simply shifts the work around some -- frequently by moving upfront work into technical debt, unmaintainability, and non-extensibility. The usual net effect is to multiply rather than reduce the original problem -- but this is deferred into the future, so it's not usually noticed by "new shiny" enthusiasts and communities for some time.
The canonical example of "the new shiny" is NoSQL, which promised to simplify the design and scaling problems associated with relational databases. This is true when your app is tiny, but at any scale and after any amount of time, both of these problems become much worse. You just don't notice until much later, because the work has been shifted from upfront work to amortized work.
- tracker1 10y agoFor your example, NoSQL is not likely to be replacing your internal database, or being used in place of an internal database software... it's in place of another vendor's database software. Trading one not invented here for another. The opposite of not invented here would be a company that refuses to develop anything internally.
- mmsimanga 10y agoAh I get where you are coming from. New projects often get more funding and attention than enhancements to existing software. Is the software I am developing actually solving the problem (the new shiny in your words) or adding another maintenance layer.
- pjlegato 10y agoPartially. It's also about perceptions. People who are having a problem love to believe that there is a magic silver bullet solution out there somewhere -- one that will let them have to do a lot less work than the Old Way. It also makes them feel superior to the ignorant followers of the Old Way. Install library X or buy app Y and all your problems will magically go away, and you're awfully clever if you realize this is the case, versus the unenlightened who continue to do things the Old Way. This is the basis of most sales and marketing techniques.