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Subject:Re: Process kills the dot.com From:Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 26 Oct 2000 12:10:14 -0700 (PDT)
--- Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> wrote:
> It seems to me that one of the key points in the article is that
> Scient tried to replace knowledge with process. The Scient employees
> trying to implement the process didn't have any knowledge of the
> industry they were working in, so they couldn't be flexible enough
> to adapt. If problems existed, their solutions were to market the
> process differently, or to insist even more firmly in sticking with
> the process.
That's exactly correct Bruce. This is why so many processes are doomed to
failure. They place emphasis in the wrong area. The process becomes more
important than the content or knowledge.
Too many people assume that if they do something logical and structured
(documenting every little nuance), that this system will be inherently useful
everywhere. This just isn't true.
In my opinion this is one of the most fundamental problems in technical
communications today. Too many writers focus on the organization and structure
of information and not the "value" of that information. Crap is worthless, no
matter how you pretty it up. However, disorganized gold is still valuable.
Scient focused on their process and architecture without a comprehending what
they were building. The Scient process may be fabulous and amazing, but without
comprehension behind it - it ruined a company. Verde would have been a lot
better off to hire some people who actually understood their product and market
and taught them how to make pages in FrontPage. It would not have been a
permanent solution, but it wouldn't have cost them $10 million dollars.
Andrew Plato
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