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Persuading Management on Green-Lighting In-House Software?
Raisin Bread asks: "Maybe I'm fighting a losing battle - but has anyone out there encountered an administrative resistance when it comes to giving approval to make in-house solutions for problems? I'm at a university, and we want to build a tracking system that will accommodate our needs perfectly (and can do it), but the boss wants the easy way out by contracting out to a remotely-hosted and managed solution. Sure, they are commercially supported, but the fix is only mediocre. What arguments have been used to sway the boss to use the super-cool home grown solution?"
The boss will always have the idea "These guys CAN'T be any good. They work HERE!" also for the consultants "These guys are GOOD. They cost a FORTUNE."
On such concepts are huge outside consulting practices built. If you want to do the job, go work for a big consulting company; come back to your boss and be amazed on how you're suddenly a genius and he likes your ideas.
Scott Adams had a Dilbert where Wally got canned and came back the following week as a consultant on the same project and recommended exactly the same solution. As a consultant he was listened to.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
Do a Cost/Benefit analysis and figure out if you can compete with the vendor. Remeber, you're not only competing on features and stabillity. You're also competing on budget issues.
90% of the problems that I've faced in this area can be resolved simply by coming up with a realistic apples to apples comparison. A lot of the time I've done the comparison and thought to myself... gawd! My manager WAS right!!
This isn't always the case, but managers aren't as stupid/stubborn/ignorant as we would first think.
Step into their budget constrained shoes for a while and see if you still dissagree with them.
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