The Three Stages of Development Tool Acceptance
In my career, I have had to use several different game engines, software development tools, programming languages, and APIs. Sometimes they were forced upon me by someone up the chain who was convinced by some marketer that this tool would be a silver bullet that would shoot all our development woes in the head. More often than not, said development woes were replaced by even worse ones.

I've noticed that if the tool is any good at all, people go through three phases as they come to grips with the system. I've gone through this with Torque, with QuArK, with Blender, with Python, with .NET, with our in-house game engines with my employers, and I'm anticipating going through it with Microsoft's new Silverlight. If you find yourself working with a new tool, new programming language, or whatever, it may help you to recognize what phase you are in, to anticipate progression to the third stage, and to actively try to progress as quickly as possible to stage three.

Stage 1: The Honeymoon
The tool is wonderful. When you use it the way the tutorials or instruction recommends you use it, it is just freaking amazing. Everything comes together so quickly. It's like the angels themselves delivered the tool to your desktop. You marvel at the features, and you can easily imagine a new era of productivity. The tool just makes so many things so much easier.

Stage 2: Betrayal
Sooner or later, however, you discover the limitations of the package. Sure, it does all of these things wonderfully well... but when you start departing from the tried-and-true path of the step-by-step tutorials, you find that doing some things which you consider basic or even trivial in your previous way of doing things is difficult or downright impossible. A feeling of betrayal sets in, and you start wondering if its too late to get your money back. You wonder if its possible to function within these horrendous limitations.

Unfortunately, there are some tools I've worked with in the past where I was unable to ever get past this stage. Some of which cost my company a LOT of money, I might add.

Stage 3: Acceptance
Eventually, you learn work-arounds or how to fix the problems of the tool. Maybe there are alternate means of accomplishing the same objectives that aren't as bad as you thought. Maybe you find that you aren't so dependent upon a missing feature as you thought. Or maybe you end up bypassing the limitation of the tool entirely with a supplemental system of your own. Eventually, if the tool is a good one, you can adapt and change to take the best advantage of the tool. You come to accept its limitations and work around them, and become as productive as you can.

Labels: programming

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:44 AM (Permalink)