The staff needed to prepare themselves for contracts to create new e-commerce sites that were to be built on application servers that some of our developers had not yet used. Throwing your team into the fire and expecting them to learn as they go on a real project isn't fair to the customer or to the developers. Another strategy is to hire new people constantly, trying to grab up experts in the latest products and technologies. That can be difficult because true experts are hard to find and harder to keep. There is also the added drawback of a lack of continuity for both the team and the customers.
Some companies simply outsource all product-specific work to the product's manufacturer.
They may, for example, have consultants from IBM Corp. or BEA Systems Inc., of San Jose, Calif., handle all aspects of an e-commerce site's development that relate specifically to IBM Corp. or IBM's WebSphere or BEA's WebLogic application server. However, the more pieces of a project you assign to outside consultants, the less continuity and commitment the team has. If the people doing the work do not have a long-term relationship with the client, the project is often not successful in the long run. Representatives from the Technology Group brainstormed requirements for a training solution. They wanted a self-paced program that was flexible enough to use with different products and technologies and a way to train both new and experienced developers.