it's All Around

NIH (Not Invented Here syndrome)

In some recent research into forming an Open Source initiative, I came across 'Not Invented Here syndrome' . This was one of those cases where it turns out that there's a widely adopted idea encapsulating a thought process and pit-of-the-stomach feeling that I'd been having for years. It was a nice 'yes! I"m not alone,' moment to be sure.

I do recognize that NIH can be a problem, but incorrect diagnosis can be dangerous as well. If you or someone you love develops a self-conscious problem and needs some reassurance that building in-house is ok, I recommend reading this article by Joel before any further self-scrutiny. (I also recomend regularly reading other stuff from Joel and participating in the business of software discussions that he kindly hosts.)

When engaging a new project, we've almost always brazenly struck forth into the fray crafting and chasing our vision for what the project could be. In the end this has lead to some truly interesting and original sites that have wowed our clients but also a number of projects running over budget (the excess of which we absorbed almost without fail.) There's little doubt that we could have delivered a number of our projects more efficiently if we had relied more heavily on more of the open source (and other) options out there. On not a few occasions, well into extended development cycles, we've realized that we're probably reinventing enough wheels to build a tractor trailer truck. It's hard to objectively quantify at this point how these minuses have balanced out with the benefits of crafting a vision from the ground up, where the only compromise is your own skill and energy. Sometimes I've suffered it. Other times I've benefited from it. I'll abstain from any overarching self-conscious values based reflections that I may or may not have.