Vol. 2  No. 6   

Newsletter of the Menlo Institute   

October 2003

Outsourcing IT development to overseas locations is a current trend.  The single biggest risk posed by outsourcing software development, according to Michael Schrage of MIT, is the fact that organizations discover that they really don't know how to define requirements. But "unfortunately, the lure of 'cheaper' development distorts CIOs' judgment. They save a million dollars on development but pay an extra $500,000 on deployment and waste an extra three months because implementation was a tertiary concern for the programmers." A solution is to use a methodology like Extreme Programming which gives one the "opportunity to review the connection between how software is written versus how it is actually implemented."  Read more about the unanticipated costs of IT outsourcing.

All this training and a FREE laptop too! Attention IT Employers: Can't afford to give your employees a raise but still want to do something nice for them? Send them to Menlo for a week of training. The Software Development Methodology Immersion program is scheduled for Nov 3 through 7 at the Menlo Institute in Ann Arbor. It covers concepts in agile software development such as the Rational Unified Process and Extreme Programming. Students will get hands on experience with these concepts and learn practical ways to apply them in their own organizations. Your employees not only get a week of training, but they can also receive a brand new notebook computer to take home at the end of the five-day session (see offer details on web site)! The price for the weeklong program is $3,995.

Who should attend? Anyone interested in the latest in agile development methodology including Project Managers, Business Analysts and Software Developers.

Come attend the series used by major auto, health, governmental, pharmaceutical and insurance organizations.  Click here for more details about the course or click here to register.

Here's some good news.  Not everyone thinks the economy and the job market in particular are going to hell in a hand basket.  We've been through tough times before and times will get better again.  Read about these encouraging signs.  In the next few years, the demand for highly skilled workers may be even more acute than it was in 1999!

Business Intelligence gets Smart(er).  Read how firms are accessing important data to make more informed decisions and increase profits.  Here are the key factors of which one needs to look when deciding when to buy business intelligence software.

Menlo isn't the only company who has applied Six Sigma to Information Technology.  See what Mark Brewer, Vice President and CIO, of computer manufacturer Seagate has to say.  Read more on Six Sigma and what it can do for your company.

Classes, Classes, Classes.  The Menlo October and November class schedule is out.  Time to buckle down and learn how to really apply those use cases, manage those projects, and deliver systems successfully! 

We at Menlo have always been interested in disruptive technology.  How do you create a killer product that ends up replacing other more entrenched products?  Well, according to Clayton Christensen, you need to really understand the market.  Remember that "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole."

Can you afford to train 100 people? YES, with Menlo's new TRAIN THE TRAINER Program you can.  If you have bright and intelligent people on staff with the appropriate interests and skills, we can teach them to teach you.  Our TRAIN THE TRAINER Program lets you develop your own in-house training capabilities to teach Menlo's core curriculum.  For a fraction of the cost of an external training program you can train internal trainers, customize the curriculum, and launch an effective in-house education program.  Call Rich Sheridan at (734) 665-1847 to find out more.
What does it take to be a High-Tech Anthropologist and why are they important in the development of software? Adam Greenfield says "recall your own history of bad experiences with product and service design, invoke them in memory until your jaw starts to clench involuntarily, and then swear on the altar of your own frustration that to the maximum degree possible, you will endeavor to never inflict this feeling on another sentient being."

A Taste of Success, a continuing favorite Menlo event,  is scheduled for Friday October 17th.  If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time. A great time to meet Menlo team members, network, and get some free food.  The 90-minute seminar, covering the top six reasons software projects fail and how to avoid them, is presented at Menlo's office in downtown Ann Arbor. This event is free. Click here to pre-register 

About Menlo

Are your Executives having these conversations? 

"We are about to purchase a million dollar software solution and we're not sure if it's the right thing to do." 

"We’re about to approve a $3.5 million dollar budget for a new custom software project and we don't want this one to fail like the last time." 

"We have an old piece of software that no longer meets the needs of our business, but we're not sure how to modernize it without disrupting our current operations." 

"We are a software product company concerned that our user's experience is silently killing our market share." 

On-Target Success Through Thrilled End Users and Measurable Business Results

Menlo helps our customers move beyond on-time, on-spec and on-budget to on-target software solutions.  Menlo uses High-Tech Anthropology to define the user experience and discover the highest priority business needs.  It is applied at the critical beginning stages of a new endeavor and then iteratively during the entire project, leveraging the Menlo Software Factory to construct early-stage functioning prototypes to confirm initial findings and then carry the project on to completion. 

For those who wish to transform their own organizations, we also teach these methods to our clients at The Menlo Institute. 

Created in the spirit of Thomas Edison's Invention Factory in Menlo Park, Menlo is passionate about inventing software that makes a positive difference in the everyday lives of businesses and their employees. 

 To find out more, contact us, or attend our free 90-minute success seminar.

The Menlo Briefs is a permission-based newsletter.  If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter please visit our subscription page.  If you have received this newsletter in error please accept our apologies and use the link below to unsubscribe.

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