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Also, it's complicated. If I'm running a startup, and I have 100 customers using my product who each have a wishlist, I can prioritize which of those wish item

Also, it's complicated. If I'm running a startup, and I have 100 customers using my product who each have a wishlist, I can prioritize which of those wish items fit best with my product and business vision, without excessive implementation cost or technical debt, and proceed on that path. On the other hand, in the enterprise, non-technical managers make business requirements that are largely non-negotiable. Product complexity spirals out of control as everyone wants their "pet feature" included, even if it conflicts with other features, leading to massively customizable (and thus even more complicated, to implement that customizability) solutions.

lmkg 13y ago
I don't think you can point at management as the source of the problems. I think the real source is the nature of enterprise itself: a small number of large customers. When each individual customer provides enough revenue to subsidize the development of their own pet feature requests, it's a plausible business decision to accommodate, or at least entertain, those requests. Blaming that on management seems to me to be shooting the messenger. And the vendors that don't accommodate feature requests, lose business to the vendors that do. Survival of the fittest is a cruel master.
- mey 13y ago
  I agree with this, I am currently working in an Enterprise focused company and I generally look at our job as being custom integration. Not because that is the best way to develop software, but the best way to engage with these large clients. It's how they want to be engaged. In turn you charge them appropriately, help guide them away from the obvious traps, and have a fundamental knowledge about what your domain expertise is. The last one is important to know what to say yes/no too. It can be very profitable, but frustrating from an engineering point of view due to the unnecessary complexity created when multiple "vendors" are developing software to glue the client enterprise together. Lots and lots of glue.

lmkg 13y ago

I don't think you can point at management as the source of the problems. I think the real source is the nature of enterprise itself: a small number of large customers. When each individual customer provides enough revenue to subsidize the development of their own pet feature requests, it's a plausible business decision to accommodate, or at least entertain, those requests. Blaming that on management seems to me to be shooting the messenger. And the vendors that don't accommodate feature requests, lose business to the vendors that do. Survival of the fittest is a cruel master.

mey 13y ago
I agree with this, I am currently working in an Enterprise focused company and I generally look at our job as being custom integration. Not because that is the best way to develop software, but the best way to engage with these large clients. It's how they want to be engaged. In turn you charge them appropriately, help guide them away from the obvious traps, and have a fundamental knowledge about what your domain expertise is. The last one is important to know what to say yes/no too. It can be very profitable, but frustrating from an engineering point of view due to the unnecessary complexity created when multiple "vendors" are developing software to glue the client enterprise together. Lots and lots of glue.