I'm not talking about Just-In-Time compilation. I'm talking about
JIT
manufacturing.
When you order furniture, it likely gets assembled only after the order was received.
Toyota is famous for doing it with cars.
You can do it yourself with
JIT published books.
On top of that, Land's End offers
custom tailored, JIT manufactured clothing.
It's easy to say, "yes, we can publish software in the same manner." Every time we offer a
download, it's done just in time. This post was copied and downloaded (published) at the
moment you requested it.
That's not what I'm talking about either.
A disclaimer: I've yet to read the relevant book (
Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit)
from
the Poppendieck's that brought
Lean to
software. They may have covered this before.
What my question covers is this: Can we think of an idea that would be repeatable, sell
it to customers to fund the project, and then deliver it when it's done? (It should be sold to
many customers, as opposed to custom software, which is, for the most part, already developed in that manner.)
In essence, can we pre-sell vaporware?
We already pre-sell all types of software - but that software is (presumably) nearing a
releasable state (I've had my doubts about some of it). Can we take it to the next level
and sell something which doesn't yet exist?
If such a thing is possible, there are at least three things you'll need to
be successful (and I bet there are more):
- A solid reputation for excellence in the domain you're selling to, or a salesperson with
such a reputation, and the trust that goes with it.
- A small enough idea such that it can be implemented in a relatively short time-frame. This, I
gather, would be related to the industry in which you're selling the software.
- An strong history of delivering products on time.
What do you think? Is it possible? If so, what other qualities do you need to possess to
be successful? If not, what makes you skeptical?
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