[OT] source for business domain knowledge

[tom fredriksen]

Hi

I know this is quite off topic, but since I haven't found any groups or
places that talks about domain knowledge for specific domains, I though
asking programmers directly is a good idea.

What I am looking for, if it exists, is some sources which summarises or
contains introductions to computing for different business domains.
Examples are for example for banking, finance, insurance, health, telco
etc.

I have mostly been working in the telco industry, so I have some insight
into how that domain works and thinks. At the moment I might be
venturing into another domain, specifically banking/insurance, and I
realise I know nothing about that industry, how they think about things,
which solutions the usually go for, what their challenges are etc.

My current strategy is to look at web pages of companies, it or service,
that are in the business, google for the words, try to find any
literature list for the domain. I find this to be a very tedious
approach, as there aren't that much valuable information to read that
way. I would like to find some in-depth information, that can be of
value in meetings, during design etc.

Does anybody know of f.ex a website that contains such information?
Can anybody suggest another strategy for finding the information?
Are people entering a new domain doomed to go the experience road and
wait at least a couple of years before producing anything of significant
value?

/tom

 

[Rhino]

Hi

I know this is quite off topic, but since I haven't found any groups or
places that talks about domain knowledge for specific domains, I though
asking programmers directly is a good idea.

What I am looking for, if it exists, is some sources which summarises or
contains introductions to computing for different business domains.
Examples are for example for banking, finance, insurance, health, telco
etc.

I have mostly been working in the telco industry, so I have some insight
into how that domain works and thinks. At the moment I might be venturing
into another domain, specifically banking/insurance, and I realise I know
nothing about that industry, how they think about things, which solutions
the usually go for, what their challenges are etc.

My current strategy is to look at web pages of companies, it or service,
that are in the business, google for the words, try to find any literature
list for the domain. I find this to be a very tedious approach, as there
aren't that much valuable information to read that way. I would like to
find some in-depth information, that can be of value in meetings, during
design etc.

Does anybody know of f.ex a website that contains such information?
Can anybody suggest another strategy for finding the information?
Are people entering a new domain doomed to go the experience road and wait
at least a couple of years before producing anything of significant value?

/tom

You have posed an interesting question; frankly, I think this is the first
time I've heard of anyone looking for something like this. I think it's a
perfectly valid question too.

Unfortunately, I can't recall ever having seen anything like what you want.
I spent five years in the insurance industry, early in my career, and I
don't recall any effort on the part of my employer to collaborate with other
insurance companies to discuss, let alone codify, any insights into the
domain of the insurance industry. Nor have I seen or heard of any effort to
do so in other industries.

I suspect that the main reason is that companies in the same industry see
themselves as competitors and doing anything which might be of advantage to
a competitor would be seen as a bad thing. If Company A figures out a
better/cheaper way to do X, they tend to keep it to themselves because it
confers a competitive advantage on them. Telling their competitors how to do
X takes the advantage away from Company A. Their better way to do X helps
save Company A money or time or helps retain customers when they are the
only one to do it but they lose the advantage when every other company knows
how to do X the better way.

[Of course, I'm writing from the point of view of a capitalist economy. I
was going to suggest that Marxist economies might do things differently with
respect to joint solutions of common problems but, of course, Marxist
economies typically don't have competing companies: there is only one
telephone company or airline or bank for the whole country. So maybe the
question might be: did the USSR and China (when it was still fundamentally a
Marxist country) share information on the best methods each had found in
industries that they had in common? I don't know the answer to that myself
but it might be interesting to study.]

However, I wouldn't say that it is always the case that competiting
companies have no common ground. In one sense, they do share common ground
and solutions to common problems. I'm thinking of software that are widely
used within a given industry or even across industries. For instance, I
understand that SAP is used in many different industries. I've never used it
and I don't pretend to know what it does but it appears to be used quite
widely so, in a sense, it has a demonstrated expertise in a several business
domains. But SAP is a company itself and survives by offering solutions that
you buy from them.

I suspect that you are looking for something more like collaborations
between businesses in the same industry, trying to discuss and maybe solve
common problems. I'm really not sure what to suggest if that's what you
want.

Clearly, common problems are being solved all the time. For example,
millions of businesses had the issue of verifying that a given credit card
is valid and has sufficient funds available to make a given purchase. But
problems like these aren't typically being solved by a wide collaboration of
all of the players in a given business domain; in the example of credit card
validations, there was probably a collaboration of major banks and credit
card companies to devise he systems we use today but they certainly didn't
involve every small and medium business in the world or country to devise
this solution; the banks and credit card companies basically presented it as
a fait accompli to everyone else. Or maybe not; I haven't had much to do
with the banking industry so I'm just guessing on most of this.

Basically, I think you are right: people entering a new domain don't have
many resources to consult to help ease the transition. But the good news is
there is a lot of commonality between businesses in general. Every company:
- takes in money
- spends money
- hires employees or contractors
- provides some product or service
- etc. etc.
I think you'll find that there is a lot of commonality between telcos and
insurance companies, despite their obvious differences. A payroll system for
one will probably not be too dramatically different for one than for the
other, for example. So I don't think you'll need to worry about not having
anything useful to contribute for months or years after you change
industries. You'll obviously have to learn _something_ but I think you'll
find you know more than you think when you get to your new industry.

 

[Chris Uppal]

What I am looking for, if it exists, is some sources which summarises or
contains introductions to computing for different business domains.
Examples are for example for banking, finance, insurance, health, telco
etc.

It's difficult. Sometimes there are standards for interoperability within an
industry and looking at material oriented around that standard might help.
Not the standard itself (unlike to be comprehensible), but tools, training,
software, etc.

If you are in a position to get it, your customers are a magnificent source of
information. Talking to them (and taking notes) is a fast-track way to
knowledge. People love talking about the stuff they know well, and are usually
patient too. (The main reason for impatience is if the person they are talking
to should know the stuff already -- and that, since you are an outsider, does
not apply to you (provided you listen and remember)).

One way of getting into an existing operation's head-space is to sign up for
any roughly entry-level training that exists. That's to say the training that
the customer's own employees would get if they were starting out in that
business. You aren't looking to learn how to do <X>, <Y>, or <Z> but you /do/
want to know that <X>, <Y>, and <Z> are important operations, what they are,
and what they mean in user- and business-centric terms.

Similarly you could try reading the sort of books that would be recommended to
a trainee in the business. "Options Trading for Dummies", so to speak. (As
far as I know there is no such book, the real things are both dryer and more
expensive :-(

In one sense there is no reason why you should hope to get up to speed on a
domain faster than the customers own people do. After all, they practise all
day, every day, whereas you have other things to do.

OTOH, you are (as a programmer, presumably) better than average at getting your
head around abstract systems, and complexes of interrelated ideas (but note
that the customers may /also/ be better than average at this). Also you are
not required to hold onto every little detail (except the details that you will
be embodying in code). Another, big but rather subtle, advantage you may have
is that you may get to talk to their experts at a level of detail (without
yourself being expected to have previously mastered that detail) which most of
the customer's less experienced employees would not hope (or wish !) to do.

-- chris