Re: [xml-dev] Who would you choose to work this project?

["C. M. Sperberg-McQueen" <cmsmcq@blackmesatech.com>]

Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> writes:

> Scenario: An organization has a legacy data format that they want
> converted to XML. Specifically, an XML Schema is to be created (and
> possibly a Schematron schema and possibly an XSLT/XPath program). The
> domain is complicated. It takes years to master the domain. There are
> two candidates available to perform the task. Both candidates are
> bright and energetic. One candidate (let's call him candidate #1) is a
> master of the domain but knows nothing about XML (XML, namespaces, XML
> Schema, Schematron, XSLT/XPath, etc.). The other candidate (let's call
> him candidate #2) is a master of the XML suite of technologies but
> knows nothing about the domain.
>
> Which candidate would you choose?
>
> Are there other factors (beside knowledge of the domain and knowledge
> of the XML suite of technologies) that you would take into
> consideration when choosing a candidate? For example, would you take
> into consideration how much time is allocated to complete the project?

The first other factor that comes to my mind is:  why does the
organization want to convert the legacy data format into XML?

Are there particular problems in the existing setup that need to be
solved?  Threats to the existing data or software?  Are there particular
opportunities in the XML space the organization wants to exploit?  Or is
it just a desire for buzzword compliance?

A second factor that comes to mind is: in my experience, organizations
seldom have emotions, but people working in them often do.  Is it the
organization's management who want to move to XML?  Or the domain
experts?


> How much does domain expertise matter when converting a legacy data
> format to XML? How much does knowledge of the XML stack matter?

Some.

And some.

XML is easy enough to learn that lots of people have learned it, and
lots of those people have learned it by designing XML vocabularies and
building XML applications.  So your candidate #1 has a reasonable chance
of success.

XML is used in enough different contexts that anyone who works with XML
for a living has probably acquired a fair amount of experience learning
enough about a domain to communicate with domain experts and work with
them to design a suitable vocabulary and workflow.  So your candidate #2
also has a reasonable chance of success.

In an organization full of domain experts who don't know anything about
markup, it may be easier for an XML expert to learn the domain
sufficiently than for a domain expert to learn about XML. 

Good luck.

-- 
C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
Black Mesa Technologies LLC
http://blackmesatech.com