Con Zymeris gave a talk after lunch on “Corporate Linux Evangelism”. The first stage in any Linux deployment is evangelism. That is, raising awareness of Linux and its strengths (and weaknesses). There are three main groups that you’ll need to pitch to, Technical staff, managers, and the financial people.
Technical people need to know what the product does, how it does it, and articles, etc that will get them up to speed on a product quickly. The managers will want case studies, articles showing strong interest in Linux, and what type of productivity gains they could expect. They need to be reassured that Linux is a “safe” choice. Financial people will be more interested in TCO and ROI. i.e. how much will this system cost me, and how long will it take to pay for itself in savings. Accountants are typically looking for about a 1.5 year ROI on IT investments these days.
Keep an eye on news sources looking for quotes which might be helpful, but studies quoting TCO and ROI figures can be a but misleading. These analysises are pretty simple, so do your own foe each job you’re bidding on.
With the recent SCO vs IBM stuff, open source is now seen as a risk. But in reality its no more risky than closed source (Microsoft’s entire liability for XP is the replace a faulty CD, not to fix the software). However companies should inventory their software (both closed and open source) and sure licence compliance. If you will be modifying any open source software, you need to track that and ensure compliance with licences.
To introduce Linux to an organisation start with low key infrastructure services. DNS, Web proxies or similar where a well established open source system exists can be good starting points. Make a business case for replacing it and quantify the benefits in dollar terms. Audit the existing system to ensure you’re completely familiar with the existing setup, and carefully plan a roll over and roll back strategy in case things go wrong.
After the trial roll out, prepare a report to management. Draw attention to your success. If you want to use more Linux, call attention to the successes that you have had. Solicit feedback from IT staff and users, the n picks a new system or server and repeat the process.
There are a few key areas in which you can sell desktop Linux. Linux desktops can be locked down, they have a lower TCO, and are less prone to viruses. Use these strengths to advocate desktop linux where it makes sense. Desktop deployments are trickier because they’ll mean that you’ll need to get buy in from each of the individual users who’s machines you’re migrating.
Christopher Duncan has writen an excelent series of articles for CodeProject.com on dealing with issues of management, office politics and the like. Worth a read for any coder.
Pro Developer: Delivering Quality Software
Pro Developer: This is Business
Pro Developer: Improving Your Career In Any Economy
Pro Developer: Throwing Money Out the Window
Pro Developer: Creating Your Dream Project
Based on the strength of his articles, his book (Slashdot Review) should be worth a read.
I was looking around the web this afternoon for a source of foreign exchange rates which could be easily parsed by a Perl script. This site seemed to be the best that I could find, and doesn’t seem to place any restrictions on the use of the data.
Comming from a SmallCo perspective where I’ve always been involved with “everything”, this was very interesting…
For the purpose of this article, a “programmer” is someone who does nothing but code new features and [if you’re lucky] fix bugs. They don’t write specs. They don’t write automated test cases. They don’t help keep the automated build system up to date. They don’t help customers work out tough problems. They don’t help write documentation. They don’t help with testing. They don’t even read code. All they do is write new code. In a small ISV, you don’t want any of these people in your company.
The Business 2.0 article Management by Blog? Is an interesting overview of the current state of blogging in the business world.
The Guardian introduces the concept of the “Whole Product”.
In marketing terms, “the core product” - such as a car, a computer, or a video recorder - is just the start. You have to add on all the things like reliability, service and support (the expected product), its expansion capabilities (the augmented product), and its potential for future development (the potential product) to get “the whole product”.
Its an interesting spin on why the technically superior product doesn’t always “win”. Definately worth a read.
… but how do you explain that in terms that management can understand. evolt.org offers some advice.
So, this essay will look at how corporate types might be brought to understand the inherent evils of HTML email. I address the following to middle management everywhere.
Joel on Software talks about publicity for unreleased products.
So, which is right? Should you talk endlessly about your products under development, in hopes of building buzz, or should you hold off until you’ve got something ready to go?
We issue a new software release about once a month, which probably makes us a bit unique. I’ve always been happy to talk about features which are already coded and will definately make the next release prior to that release, but reluctant to comit to things which haven’t been coded yet. I’m happy to solicit feedback for features we might implement, but I hate to give indications of when we might implement something, because things always change. There’s a happy medium there somewhere, but I’m not sure exactly where it is just yet.
The Kalsey Consulting Group has a good explanation of why all small businesses should have their own web site, even if they’re not the typical “eCommerce” type scenario.
Many business owners don’t have a site because they don’t see any value to having one. Their product can’t be sold online, so they won’t directly increase revenues by having a site. Their business grows primarily through referrals, so a sales and marketing site seems pointless.
McDonalds announces its first loss in 39 years! Scott Johnson makes an interesting point about competition. By focussing on specific competition (eg. Buger King), McDonalds was most likely blindsided by competitors it didn’t even see coming (eg. “healthy” alternatives lik Subway).
