IT Organizations around the country are facing a common problem: “How can we handle the pressing burden of maintaining our legacy Java applications while we also push forward with new software initiatives?” This is a difficult question. The perspectives on this are diverse.

Some have tried a balancing act of keeping the most difficult or brittle applications in-house while exploring the use of offshore development for new applications. This approach leads to disgruntled developers and skeptical business leaders. Some have found that the overall costs of ownership actually increases with the complexity of communicating requirements and maintaining the resulting code.

Some have tried to keep all development in house: Maintenance and New Development. This works, but it is expensive and forces the business to accept a very small number of new applications each year. Although used by most, this approach is not working well as most organization allocate 75% of the budget to just keep existing applications running.

What if there was a way to reduce the costs of maintenance while increasing the confidence in the integrity and longevity of applications over time? We think we have the answer.

There are a few driving business issues that prevent the maintenance of critical applications from ever “leaving” the close supervision of a few key IT people:The business/IT leaders don’t trust others to maintain the integrity of the application.

. The code lacks proper tests – code coverage is very low
. The code is very brittle
. All the business expertise is wrapped into the minds of a few IT people
. Applications considered too risky to outsource
. Government or Trade restrictions
. Response times by distant offshore companies can be very poor
. Localized support options do not exist – until now

In response to these issues, Pillar is offering the following services:

Localized Development Centers to provide support of complex .NET and J2EE applications
Verde Characterization Testing can guarantee the integrity of an application over time. This is the key. Business Leaders want to know that their key applications continue to work even if less experienced resources are maintaining the code.
Guaranteed response times as needed
Outsource Insurance Plan – we can enable your application with the appropriate check points to allow for outsourcing as needed.

The benefits of leveraging the Pillar Development Centers are numerous:

Each application is wrapped with Verde Characterization Tests that are used as an audit tool. Each week, the tests are run to demonstrate the ongoing integrity of an application. No other outsource solutions are offering this service.
The overall Total Costs of Ownership is reduced as Pillar leverages a model that allows entry level developers to pair with experts.
Language and distance issues are resolved as development centers are strategically located within easy reach of the customers.
Business leaders trust the support of applications as they review the Verde Characterization Tests Results each week.
The most valuable resources are allocated to focus on building new applications.

I find the current state of IT very interesting. I must first confess that I have perspective. My perspective covers over 30 years of IT development. I welcome the challenge of an argument, but my perspective is simply this: The Approach to Software Development Must Change!

When I first started my coding career (late 70’s), relational databases were beginning to emerge as a growing trend. VSAM and flat files would soon be eliminated – any day now. Cobol would soon be replaced by emerging 4GL languages and life would be good as applications would fall into production with ease. The days of debugging Cobol would soon come to an end. Tongue in cheek for sure, but we believed it at the time.

Fast forward to 1983. Recession hits the nation. IT would begin to explore ways to reduce the costs related to IT development. The beginning of Offshore development took place. All of our problems would now be solved with cheaper labor.

IT Management was convinced that the Water Fall Approach to software development was the answer. They were equally convinced that the real issues were simply related to the expensive staff of American programmers – the evil developers would have to pay a price or else! The battle for cost savings had begun.

Fast forward to 1995. A few of the faithful IT thought leaders were convinced that the real savings opportunities could be secured by fixing the root problem – Change the Approach! They believed that a new EXTREME approach to writing software was the answer. Ron Jeffries and others would begin to define a new approach to capturing requirements and writing software. The birth of agile (XP) had taken place. I was a witness to this, but not smart enough to realize what was happening.

The first Agile project failed – mostly due to political reasons.

The Agile Movement was motivated by this failure and refused to stand down from the challenge. The Agile Manifesto was signed – no turning back.

Years of fighting between bean counters and enlightened developers have ensued. Some have awakened to the truth: The traditional water fall approach to software development does not work. Even in the midst of these hard times, there are many advocates of simply sending requirements to distant shores and hoping for costs savings. Good luck with that.

Enough already!

The truth is out. Agile wins. Always has and always will.

Pillar has led a march against the established traditions for years. Over the past 10 years we have waged the war to find the perfect approach to software development. We have failed on occasion, but we have shouted victory with passion as well. Speed-to-Value (S2V) is the result of a lot of blood, sweet, and tears. But it has been worth it!

Those who cling to the past, have dug a hole of despair as they cling to the empty hope of costs savings by lowering labor costs. This trend has led to the the demise of numerous organizations. The american auto sector may never recover because of the short sighted approach of the leaders involved.

In the face of despair, we stand with the emerging Agile Community and offer hope. We have discovered a better way. We have challenged each other and we have improved on the process. We are bridging the gap between the business community and the IT community.

Change is hard, but it is possible. As small as we are, Pillar is making a difference in the world. We are no longer supporting failed strategies of the past. We now choose to wave our hands in the air and offer hope to others on this journey.

Let’s make a difference today.

Gary Gentry
Founder/CEO

www.pillartechnology.com