Riding the Ruby on Rails*
At my foster job, we are launching a new program, which, on a good day, I'll describe as "continuously evolving." The program is overseen by a large advisory board, and its design constantly (daily, hourly) changes. The ultimate goal of the program is to provide special training to students studying scientific and technical subjects, and so the prospective participants are also at the mercy of these changes.
Apparently this process mirrors the "agile" method of software development, in which companies pound out a product even before it's ready for prime time, and then issue patches and new versions as bugs and problems are discovered (obviously this is a very dumbed-down explanation of a concept I am barely familiar with). The goal is to avoid getting hung up on perfection early on, and get the product out in the marketplace. At my job, the program development process has to be agile, since it will be rolled out before we have clarity on many key components. This means that I, as the acting coordinator, have to behave in agile ways, and this is a major growth experience for me. It also means that we need to recruit "early users" for the program: students who are pumped about being in the first class and shaping it for others, and students who are comfortable with ambiguity and some level of risk.
Working in this environment makes me question my own capacity for "early use." I don't think I am an early user or even an early adopter. While many of my friends had gmail back when you still needed an invitation, I just recently got an account, and that was mainly for blog-related reasons. I got an iPod and digital camera just last year. I don't have a Blackberry or a Palm. I don't do Facebook. I hardly ever use my cell phone.
However: I'm curious about my place on the spectrum of luddite to techno-whiz because my objection (for the most part) isn't technical. It's not that I find new technology cumbersome or scary, it's just that I usually don't find it necessary. I like writing down appointments in a paper datebook that I can easily and cheaply replace if it got lost or ruined. I like talking to people when I am present and available, and not when I'm at the grocery store or on the bus. And while having an iPod is cool and cute (and I'd never want to give mine up), I've never felt that it filled a major void in my life. I am curious about the whole idea of early adoption and how it applies to other facets of one's personality. Even outside of technology, I like things that are tried and true and recommended, and I'd rather choose something I know I'll enjoy (movie, book, music) than take a random activity or product for a spin.
If you're similarly intrigued, you can take a quiz here to find out where you fall on the technology adoption spectrum.
*Ruby on Rails is a cutting-edge programming language.
Posted by Dori at 5:17 AM
6 Comments
I’m with you. I don’t have an iPod, my phone is pretty basic, I use a paper planner. And even though everyone keeps telling me I HAVE to Twitter, I just doesn’t seem necessary. What will that do for me? I’m holding out until I actually feel like I want to use it instead of Twittering because that’s what everyone else does. But I did have gmail back in the invitation days, so there’s that…
What a treat to see your title, as I'm currently at the annual Rails conference in Portland. My understanding is that the "agile" process is there to help clients, users, and programmers confront the reality that software _is_ buggy and incomplete. Instead of waiting 1 year and dreaming of the day the software project is done and the ensuing easy life begins ;), you know right off the bat that this thing isn't gonna meet your expectations and are granted some order of influence into _how_ it will fail you.
The process does put a lot of burdens on the client to make priorities and give copious feedback ( and find eager testers capable of same ). Thanks for the writeup of how the client side feels.
As for the cell-phone thing: I find that unless you have a boyfriend or husband, you don't need a cell phone.
(If you do, you want to be in touch, make instantaneous plans, call to whisper sweet nothings, etc.)
Oh Dori, I hear you! Where I work, everyone loves to say, "We're building a plane in flight," as if this is *exciting* and *inspirational* instead of inefficient and dangerous, given that we could have adopted a tested and pre-assembled plane ...
-K
I think for me, it's more the expense and uncertainty of any new technology. Why spent a ton of money on something that may or may not take off? Then if I do buy it early and it becomes popular, inevitably a better working and cheaper version becomes available not much longer. And if it doesn't, well, I'm now the owner of the equivalent of a betamax.
Of course I'm also pretty lame when it comes to technology. I temped at a law firm about five summers ago and the partners kept saying to me, 'if anything comes in while I'm gone, I have my blackberry.' I'd just be like, ok! It was another year before I even knew what I a blackberry WAS. Didn't want to look stupid in front of the partners.
Ooh fun survey! I turned out to be "connected but hassled," which is frighteningly accurate.
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