How to convince my boss to start the new project in latest version softwares?

Question

HI, We are about to begin a new project and its quite large. We were developing our existing projects using Visual Studio 2003 and SQL Server 2000.

Currently our team decides to do our upcoming project in Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2005. But our boss still decides to stick with the older one. He is asking why we should do a migration. He is also concerned about the cost that will incur in training employees with the new versions.

In our team no one has got experience using these software's.

By listing what all features of the new system and the drawbacks of the older one we would be able to shift to the new one?

Answer 1

Show him how it will make him a load of money (eg, it will take you less time, easier to hire people, etc)

Answer 2

Your best bet is most likely an argument around support dates - both products are already out of support, so it makes sense to move to more recent versions, all things being equal.

Answer 3

There are many factors involved and both sides may well have an argument. Construct a Cost-Benefit Analysis and take into account:

1. Cost of Migrating all existing systems
2. Delay of Migrating all existing systems
3. Urgency of new Project related to above
4. Additional cost in software, training, new computers/servers etc
5. Delay in setting up new infrastructure.
6. Identify teething problems reported with new architecture that is still not resolved and likely impact.
7. List all benefits & cost savings on the short, medium and long term of moving to new software.
8. List of all disadvantages of staying on old software/systems.

You can add some more to the above. Once the picture is clear, everyone will understand the implications and will be more agreed on why and when to move to new software/architecture.

Answer 4

All business decisions are (or should be) made based on a cost/benefit analysis.

You need to show that the benefits outweigh the costs. Possible benefits are:

• More longevity in the product, due to using later tools.
• Faster development time, due to faster compiler and/or more productive tools.

Possible counter-arguments to the costs are:

• the difference between VS2k3 and VS2k8 does not warrant a lot of training, the improvement process can be gradual as more of the new features are used.

None of these arguments are delivered under oath. If you can't find data to back up your arguments, just make stuff up (without getting caught out, of course).

Guiding your management is a time-honored tradition for the successful grunt-worker :-)

Answer 5

You can also include some of the "soft" benefits:

• Increased team moral : Possible productivity gains
• Prestige

Answer 6

Here are some benefits:

• Faster development time
• Longer support of the tools
• Developers want to use the latest tools. Not using the latest tools will make retaining and hiring good developers harder. Also, unhappy developers are less productive.
• Third-party libraries and tools are actively developed with the newer technology. Using older technology means being locked into old versions.

You should also want to identify specific parts of the newer technology that will help in your upcoming development work. "Look, this version has got feature X, we will have to develop that from scratch if we don't upgrade."

Appeal to the bottom line, and show how upgrading will ultimately save money. In other words, lie :)

Answer 7

Basically It's the same tools, just upgraded a great deal. There is probably just about the same workflow and layout of the tools, so that part should not be the big deal.

I often get the feeling that the Intellisense option box gets in the way, hold down ctrl and make it semi-transparent.

There is tons of great new features, it's supported and probably have some bugs fixed. For me, upgrading is a clear win-win win :)

Convince your boss that it's the same tools that everyone already know to use but just a bit different and a lot better.

Find out what you are using, then find out if it has been improved. It would also be great if someone had the opportunity to test it before and make a brief report ( if you can't do it yourself, look at google :).

I don't know about what is different in the express editions, but you could test them to.

Answer 8

you boss may be concerned about buying new licenses for new VS and SQl server. another concern that might be raised: 1. is VS 2008 fully compatible with other libraries that your boss owned. if the libraries need to be upgraded .. will it cost more to your boss? that's what your boss concerned about.

1. is VS 2008 will increase productivity ?

2. any substantial changes between 2003 and 2008 and that changes will be used in your project? if not, your boss might not want to migrate to latest one.

3. if your team using vs 2008 then all the project should be migrated to 2008 because it wont be good to have 2 versions of VS. In my previous experience, it is painful to have 2 different versions on some projects :(

Answer 9

From personal experience and more from a technical point of view rather than a cost benefit. things to consider

1. moving to vs 2008 especially will allow programmers to use the latest technologies avaliable. c# 3.5 and all the wonderful things that come with it. however that has a cost that programmers will need to first LEARN the new technology. if you're using plain old 2.0 in 2008, there's no major difference to using 2003.

2. code coded in 2003 is exceptionally difficult to port to 2008 (and indeed 2005). or at least it wasn't straight forward to me. at some stage you will be upgrading IDES and that may have a much bigger cost later on when you might have to port your code upwards.

3. vs 2008 will increase productivity but only if programmers start implementing the new tools. especially in front end development. the idea here is from the old adage - you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or you can still drive a bugatti at 30mph (you CAN, but you're not using the latets technology to the fullest).

my point is, know where you're heading. upgrading to the latest technology may sound fancy and make everyone feel good, but if you don't put the effort and time into understanding how it improves your development, there isn't any advancement at all.