Making The Transition to OO

Source: comp.object
Date: 17-Feb-2000

Problem: How do you make the transition to object oriented technologies? How can you justify the transition to management? How long does it take?

Jens Coldewey wrote:

The timeframe depends on the people you try to move. Even for the best people I have worked with by now, the complete transition in their minds took them about one year. Some others never got the glimpse.

Management justification is hard if you say "we want to do something sexy and we decided that OO is the right thing." After all OO is a solution and it's better to find an appropriate problem first. Start with a pilot. Look for a project where OO has clear benefits. Some business systems that are often good candidates:

E-Commerce systems with complex UIs
Product definition systems
Planning systems

etc.

If the management buys into the business vision and strategic opportunities they are much more willing to set on "new" technology than if they hear "well, this system works but we'd rather write it in Java...".

Take into account that OO is more than just deploying a new programming language. It is a different way in analyzing, design and programming - and many experts (including me) will also argue that it is connected with a switch to light-weighted processes. If you don't have staff that is experienced in these topics and able to coach the team, hire a coach from outside.

Don't make elaborate transition plans if you don't have the basis for the plan: Experience how the shift is accepted in your own organization. It would be like "lets make a plan to explore the west" 200 years ago.

More Info:

Alistair Cockburn, Surviving Object-Oriented Projects

Meilir Page-Jones, Object Orientation - Making the Transition