in reply to Re^2: IT decisions are driven by business needs
in thread IT decisions are driven by business needs

Think about this: a business is in the business of making money. It produces products and/or services in the support of that goal. If you think otherwise, you're fooling yourself.
Now what fallacy is this one? Post hoc ergo propter hoc? A business in the business is making money, that's how business generally works today: making money is a necessity for business. Which doesn't mean this business is in business because its primary goal, its raison d'être is making money. Think of NASA, again.

--shmem 

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}
  • Comment on Re^3: IT decisions are driven by business needs

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Re^4: IT decisions are driven by business needs
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 14, 2007 at 19:45 UTC
    Just because NASA doesn't sell products or services for money doesn't mean it isn't in the business of making money. It has to, every year, go forth and convince the US government to give it money in the form of a budget. It's the exact same model used by charities. Thus, the same principles of having to meet the demands of your customers apply. Your customers just happen to be different from those receiving your products/services.
    My criteria for good software:
    1. Does it work?
    2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
[reply]
      But making money is none of NASA's business! Put bluntly, if you are busy making money to buy the world, you are the (private) Federal Reserve. Making money (or better, getting US taxpayers money) is something NASA has to do in order to be able to carry on with its business.

      --shmem 

      _($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}
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Re^4: IT decisions are driven by business needs
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Apr 14, 2007 at 19:46 UTC

    Is NASA a business? I thought it was a government funded organisation. Ie. US tax-payer funded.

    To my way of thinking that makes NASA the very antithesis of a business, and so a very poor counter-example.

    Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
    "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
    In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]
      In the sense of a business being some establishment of an enterprise - commercial, social, whatever - NASA is business; but the idea-driven enterprise comes first; its accommodation into monetary cycles comes next, and is necessary for the enterprise to survive: it has to be of some value to society, commonly expressed through money.

      Which makes NASA a good example, for the form of ownership, organisation or ways to get at the money needed for the enterprise are irrelevant in this context.

      --shmem 

      _($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}
[reply]
        It has to be of some value to society, commonly expressed through money.

        I think that it is very difficult to put a monetary value on pure research, and a huge amount of what NASA does is pure research. It is valuable. And in the long term, it can create wealth. But that research is usually spun off to private companies to develop and market. It is they rather than NASA that earns the wealth, as well as bearing some risk.

        Take Mars Global Explorer. $247m, for 240,000 pictures. A cool $1m a pop. Is that good value? Will they ever pay for themselves? Human error and a faulty software upgrade prevented it from operating for another 2 or 5 or 10 years? Another 25,000 or 50,000 or quarter of a million more pictures. Would that have made the pictures value for money?

        The rewards of NASA discoveries and developments, as value to the US economy over 40 odd years, is probably huge. But is it calculable? Did they make a profit?

        Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
        "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
        In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]

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