The OSS Ferrari analogy

A friend and colleague has recently been talking about a Ferrari analogy on a security project we’ve been contributing to.

The end customers have decided they want a Ferrari solution, a shiny new, super-specified new toy (or in this case toys!). There’s just one problem though. The customer has a general understanding of what it is to drive, but doesn’t have driving experience or a driver’s license yet (ie they have a general understanding of what they want but haven’t described what they plan to do with the shiny toys operationally once the keys are handed over).

To take a step further back, since the project hasn’t articulated exactly where the customers want to go with the solution, we’re asking whether a Ferrari is even the right type of vehicle to take them there. As amazing as Ferraris are, might it actually make more sense to buy a 4WD vehicle?

As indicated in yesterday’s post, sometimes the requirements gathering process identifies the goal-based expectations (ie the business requirements – where the customer wants to go), but can often just identify a set of product features (ie the functional requirements such as a turbo-charged V8 engine, mid-mount engine, flappy-paddle gear change, etc, etc). The latter leads to buying a Ferrari. The former is more likely to lead to buying the vehicle best-suited to getting to the desired destination.

The OSS Ferrari sounds nice, but…