From: GBanschbach@... Date: 2002-12-13T05:48:02+09:00 Subject: Re: help -- persuade my boss to adopt ruby I have found that convincing management is really more a matter of showing them "evidence" in addition to my own opinion. So, get case studies. Or get anecdotal evidence. See if you can use Ruby for a small project where the Bourne Shell or C, or Visual Duh would have been used....... Talk to your in-house Java people. Ask them to please just review some of this "evidence" and try it out. If any of them have worked with scripting before......they will probably like it. You see, management typically is averse to RISK. I have been on job interviews where the manager said they would prefer to use software X for a project, but even though it was a better product, they didn't want to be singled out as the "bad guy" who suggested it.... so they went with Micro$oft because they said they could just blame it on them. When you can tell UPPER management that they have to wait for a BIG company to get around to fixing it, OR that the big guy is to blame , then your job is safer [ and with all of the layoffs we've witnessed, they are REALLY averse to risk]. [ This does not imply that the intention is to lay blame on them for a fixable problem ]. This reminds me of the character - Vs - GUI debate. If I want to check on a backup, or check on a print job from home, or over a not-so-fast connection, do you think I care about the GUI interface which takes 3 to 5 times longer to get to ? Or do I want to just telnet in, and type a command, get my data and logout in the same timeframe....? GUI's are ALOT sexier than character based apps. The marketing people say so. The perception is that GUI is therefore always going to be better...... I think it depends on what purposes these changes serve....... In the case of support personnel ......SPEED is paramount. IF you are a data entry clerk, GUI's are not going to remain sexy - or very exciting beyond 30 days if the old interface allowed them to work faster, or was more helpfull in doing their jobs. Good Luck.......we've all been there.... Greg Shannon Fang om> cc: Subject: Re: help -- persuade my boss to adopt ruby 12/11/02 06:36 PM Please respond to ruby-talk What do you mean making waves? Confused... Shannon On Thu, 12 Dec 2002 08:00:28 +0900 "Ted" wrote: > Unfortunately, people rise in management by NOT making waves... > > > Hi Phil, > > > > You are absolutely right. What they fear is that: > > > > 1. Currently only I understand Ruby. > > 2. Java is in vogue. They want the language to be there after 10-20 > > years... > > > > I am currently writing a small introduction letter to my boss... > > > > Shannon