Andy Hayler writes a long post on how to evaluate software. I had 2 reactions. The software market is in churn again and it is good to see some rigor coming back to software selections. I had written last year about how structured evaluations seemed to be a dying art.
My second reaction - I feel old. I developed countless templates for PwC in the 1990-92 time frame on how to evaluate emerging client/server software. CA hired PwC (me) in 1993 to write a booklet modeled after the Tiffany classic "How to pick a diamond" - except this was on accounting systems (which CA had a few of back then). At Gartner, in 1995 we wrote about AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and its role in software and other technology evaluations. We wrote about scripted scenarios, software TCO, stuff nobody read in the world of paper reports with no URLs or links.
Another sign the software market is seeing more choices: The shootout is back. I remember when my friend Brian Sommer (and then competitor)used to run shootouts at his annual Andersen Consulting "Software Spectacular". Much to his chagrin, InformationWeek gave PwC (and me) 10+ pages to write about software evaluations and shootouts in February 1995.
Back to the Future, we go...
