Work With What You Have

"Our vehicle is unique in that it more resembles a business jet than what you would envision as a suborbital space vehicle. It is also the only one, to our knowledge, that will take off and climb to elevation on its conventional jet engines prior to the rocket ignition that will propel it to 330,000 feet (62 miles) for a spectacular view of the Earth and the experience of weightlessness," said Mike Elder, Rocketplane business manager to the Oklahoma journal.

By using the Lear 25 body and standard jet engine, which have been around for decades, engineers don't have to re-invent the wheel, lessening development risks and reducing testing requirements. Likewise, when planning a large-scale program, use "blocks" of functionality that you already have, or don't have to invent yourself. This is what separates successful programs from poor ones: successful programs only develop the things they absolutely must for program success. The rest they steal from somewhere else

A good friend of mine got into the online pharmacy business just as it was taking off (talk about being in the right spot at the right time!). When we were talking about software to support the company, I suggested getting document-centered workflow software. Prescriptions come in over the fax, they're filled, orders go out to customers. It's a very paper-centric business. Document/workflow seemed like the natural solution.

Now I guess I could have suggested custom programming for my friend, but I still want to be friends! It was more than he needed. There is a core set of skills and value that your organization provides; it's the key to your success. Those are the things you want to put your effort into, the rest you should buy, plug up, and leave alone. Work the parts you know. I'm sure by now my friend has all kind of custom add-ons around his core offering, but the good news was he was able to get 90% of what he needed with zero pain (except for his checkbook, of course). That's a winning deal for everyone.