Let them eat cake (write code) - James Taylor's Decision Management

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November 17, 2006
Let them eat cake (write code)

In a recent post Sandy K. said:

"I believe that the new world of enterprise software is less customization and more customizability: give the users the raw product and let them do what they need with it"

Now I like Sandy (or her posts anyway, never having met her outside the blogosphere) and I don't really disagree with her intent here - to make it easier for users to customize and adapt software and focus software developers on building core functionality not trying to customize the product to death - but there is a problem The problem is that business users don't want to write code so merely making it easier for them to do so (in terms of product design) will not work. I know Sandy believes that business users can and should maintain and evolve their process models and that they would do so given the right tools. Similarly I believe that business users would customize and manage their software if it felt like part of doing their job. Indeed this ability for business users to change and maintain business logic is one of the core promises of business rules technology.

To make this work, however, there is a secret - you must make it feel familiar and relevant to the business users so they don't feel like they are writing code. They won't write code, they will change their underwriting policu or their product promotions. If you create an environment where business users can do this, however, you can embrace and take advantage of change (as I discuss in my Business Rules Cafe article). In this respect I think Bruce Silver makes good points as to how BPMS products can benefit from the experience of making rules accessible to business users in BRMS. Until business users can manage their processes and their rules in a way that allows them to deliver business agility while still allowing their IT departments to manage performance, data, integration and so on we risk sounding like Marie Antoinette!

Closing thought. One of the nice possibilities of using business rules in this way is to make the build/buy decision more flexible. Essentially you can buy the core process functionality and the standard pieces and then use decision technologies and decision automation to build pieces that offer real competitive value.

Technorati Tags: BPMS, BRMS, business agility, business process management, business rules, composite application, service, SOA

Posted by jtaylor in Business Agility • Business Process Management • Business Rules • Decision Technologies • SOA |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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Comments

I never said anything about the users writing code, something that I would vehemently disagree with. I said that the focus needed to be on the ability to customize. In today's world, that doesn't mean writing code.

Posted by: Sandy Kemsley at November 18, 2006 10:23 AM

Just to be clear, Sandy NEVER implied that business users should right code and I NEVER thought she did. I was concerned only that someone might THINK she had.
OK Sandy? Will you stop hitting me now?

Posted by: James Taylor at November 20, 2006 10:32 AM

C'mon, give my readers some credit. :)

Posted by: Sandy Kemsley at November 20, 2006 04:19 PM