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The Dow’s down 192 points at the moment, and it’s reasonable to expect that businesses will be playing things cheap and cautious for quite some time. Just the same, at least one XML professional thinks companies’ XML-related plans can and should move ahead even now.
Jim Earley, who works for Flatirons Solutions, stresses that embracing XML is not going to require sending a company’s entire IT department back to school and then restarting the business from scratch. Instead, the process might be as simple as doing some reading on different forums for a couple of hours.
Earley writes, “We often consult our clients to use a standard directly out of the box (or with very little customization) until they have a good ‘feel’ of how well it works in their environment before digging into the real customization work. Given that funding for XML projects is likely to be reduced, this is the perfect opportunity to begin integrating one of these standards into your environment, try it on for size while the economy is slow, and when the economy improves, then consider how to customize your XML content to fit your environment.”
Sounds smart, right? The first part of his plan is a little like renting a certain car so you know the right trim level, options packages, and aftermarket gear to order when actually purchasing one. The second part is perhaps like making the rental when you’re not busy ferrying friends and family members around all the time.
This careful approach is worth suggesting to even the most risk-averse and tightfisted boss. Maybe be delicate, though, because the Dow dropped another 98 points (it’s now down 290) in the time it took to put together this short piece.
Topics: Programming, Web Development, XML
