Expaining programming standars to none tech people. How?

Question

I am sorry if this is not the right forum. My apologies.
Here is my problem. Our company is an international one with sites in different places. At each sites they develop their stuff and sometimes bring in some consultant or buying some software product. This is such a big mess everybody has their own databases, websites, internal systems ect... and nobody is willing to work with others without feeling threatened and feel they want to be taken over or dictated by others...
What I wanted to explain to my boss was that if there is some standard set in place then everyone can work independently but at the same time share the things that are in common and of course there are a lot of things. Obviously I have my personal views as to what the standard should be. In short what I believe is simple things like its not good to build 2 tier fat clients or OO is a better design then structured or open source is better in many way ect... But how can I explain a standard without this being my personal opinion so that others don't get pissed at me. My intention is not to dictate a standard but at the same time I don't want some sales person let say from SAP to say that they set the standard.
Anyway I guess what I want is some valid documents maybe research papers or other unbiased facts that I can use to show that we do need to follow a standard and what it should be. Then perhaps we can hire some senior programmers hopefully java :) and I can get back to doing the client side code...
Anyway I am sorry if I can not explain my problem too well. Perhaps that�s my paradox? :)
Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

I am sorry if this is not the right forum. My
apologies.
Here is my problem. Our company is an international
one with sites in different places. At each sites they
develop their stuff and sometimes bring in some
consultant or buying some software product. This is
such a big mess everybody has their own databases,
websites, internal systems ect... and nobody is
willing to work with others without feeling threatened
and feel they want to be taken over or dictated by
others...
What I wanted to explain to my boss was that if there
is some standard set in place then everyone can work
independently but at the same time share the things
that are in common and of course there are a lot of
things. Obviously I have my personal views as to what
the standard should be. In short what I believe is
simple things like its not good to build 2 tier fat
clients or OO is a better design then structured or
open source is better in many way ect... But how can I
explain a standard without this being my personal
opinion so that others don't get pissed at me. My
intention is not to dictate a standard but at the same
time I don't want some sales person let say from SAP
to say that they set the standard.
Anyway I guess what I want is some valid documents
maybe research papers or other unbiased facts that I
can use to show that we do need to follow a standard
and what it should be. Then perhaps we can hire some
senior programmers hopefully java :) and I can get
back to doing the client side code...
The topics that you suggested for 'standards' are very broad.
For example there are very good reasons why a corporation can not use open source software - the licenses on some open software makes it clear that the corporation must distribute the source code of anything built upon it. (And making the decisions like that usually require a lawyer well versed in software law, and in your case international software law, as well as management agreement.)
And buying software often is the best choice. If you were to try to replicate the offering from SAP it would take years and millions if not billions to develop it. There are always trade offs that are relevant concerning technology versus business issues.
And the basic issues in the corporation indicate that any standards solution based on technology, no matter how well supported, require management support.
I would suggest that if you wish to implement controls in your organization that you start with a small scope - does your present location or even department have any process control in place? Do you have formal requirements, designs, project plans, system tests? And are you actively reviewing all of this? Do you have the process control documents that specify how each of those steps work? Do you have the process control documents that specify the overall process control process?
Do you have an enterprise architecture? Do you have an enterprise architect? Do you have a written security policy and security audits?
Is your department run as a cost center? If your department is effective and the other departments are not (which is more easily shown as a cost center) then management is more likely to allow you to impose process standards on other departments.