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I think it’s important to realise that the vast majority (I’m sure it’s more than 90%) of software development being done is technical people from enterprise A

I think it’s important to realise that the vast majority (I’m sure it’s more than 90%) of software development being done is technical people from enterprise A building something to help nontechnical people from enterprise B with process C. That’s not something that startups have ever competed with, for good reason. I love startups and I love working on that space, but you must stay aware that it’s a tiny galaxy within a much larger universe of software that is built and sold like any other engineering project. And in this “enterprise” (for want of a better word) space, management is important. Not because managers are omniscient or omnipotent, but because at the end of the day, when a customer is paying a large amount of money for something intangible, they need people to talk to, they need figures to see, they need metrics. And in business, the customer is king. Again, except for the startup galaxy where customers are two a penny

wpietri 6y ago
Startups compete in the enterprise space all the time, [1], so I don't think your characterization is correct. I agree that client relations is important, but that's something that happens in many businesses. Like the comment I replied to, you assert that a managerial apparatus is necessary for that. I don't think that's the case. It's true that managerialist-dominated companies often prefer to work with other companies of a similar culture. But that doesn't have anything to do with what makes for efficient software engineering. [1] e.g.: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3412380/the-hottest-enterprise-tech-startups-to-watch-in-2020.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3412380/the-hottest-en...
- namdnay 6y ago
  No again you’re mixing two markets. Just because a SaaS startup sells solutions to big companies, doesn’t make that the same thing as custom IT projects Enteprise but Startupy: MS Teams Not startupy: BMW need a solution to track how many defective gearboxes are detected every month, sorted by supplier, model and assembly site, data fed in from the various factory control networks, verified weekly by each quality responsible on an intranet and sent monthly to top mgmt. What I’m saying is that the second type of project represents more than 90% of the software being coded out there today. A startup by its very definition (or at least PG’s definition) does not operate in this space , because it’s not exponentially scalable
  - wpietri 6y ago
    I would be interested to see your data for that 90%. Even if correct, I also don't think your point invalidates mine. I have done contract work for small companies that build "second type" code for large companies. One doesn't need Jira for that. As I said, one needs good client relations, but that can certainly be accomplished without a lot of top-down mangerialist claptrap. Indeed, it's my experience that things are better that way. They don't need metrics. They need their problems solved. Those two sometimes go together, but they're quite often opposed.

wpietri 6y ago

Startups compete in the enterprise space all the time, [1], so I don't think your characterization is correct. I agree that client relations is important, but that's something that happens in many businesses. Like the comment I replied to, you assert that a managerial apparatus is necessary for that. I don't think that's the case. It's true that managerialist-dominated companies often prefer to work with other companies of a similar culture. But that doesn't have anything to do with what makes for efficient software engineering. [1] e.g.: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3412380/the-hottest-enterprise-tech-startups-to-watch-in-2020.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3412380/the-hottest-en...

namdnay 6y ago
No again you’re mixing two markets. Just because a SaaS startup sells solutions to big companies, doesn’t make that the same thing as custom IT projects Enteprise but Startupy: MS Teams Not startupy: BMW need a solution to track how many defective gearboxes are detected every month, sorted by supplier, model and assembly site, data fed in from the various factory control networks, verified weekly by each quality responsible on an intranet and sent monthly to top mgmt. What I’m saying is that the second type of project represents more than 90% of the software being coded out there today. A startup by its very definition (or at least PG’s definition) does not operate in this space , because it’s not exponentially scalable
- wpietri 6y ago
  I would be interested to see your data for that 90%. Even if correct, I also don't think your point invalidates mine. I have done contract work for small companies that build "second type" code for large companies. One doesn't need Jira for that. As I said, one needs good client relations, but that can certainly be accomplished without a lot of top-down mangerialist claptrap. Indeed, it's my experience that things are better that way. They don't need metrics. They need their problems solved. Those two sometimes go together, but they're quite often opposed.