Who can tell me sth about YOUR dream?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

A friend of mine has patented a method which increases productivity and lowers errors in developing large systems. I am working with him to develop it, and my dream is that it will succeed and make the entire world more productive and better operational, effectively ending scarcity, changing the way all systems are programmed, and making me personally fucking filthy rich. We may know by the end of the year. Wish me luck.

Originally Posted by jaguar

I'm getting interested UT, can you elaborate at all?

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Sure Jag, I could talk about this all day! It's wild!

Basically, what happens when people set out to develop a complicated piece of software? Or even - something very complicated period, like an airport? They sit down and write specifications, sometimes in English with additional diagrams to map things out here and there. They may have a few tools like data flow diagrams and other kinds of flowcharts. They give all that to the programmer/developer/whatever to implement it, and since the specs suck horribly, the program/system/whatever doesn't work the way it was intended and/or doesn't work at all.

Some massive percentage of IT projects fail completely. Not just go over budget, not just go late... some major design decision that is critical to its operation is made incorrectly, or some connection is forgotten that can't simply be patched up without so much major rework that it's not worth completing.

My friend's idea ends all that. By placing certain specific logical constraints on how something is described, he's worked out how to avoid ANY missed connections, ANY missed information. And a system described in this way has special properties that make programming complicated systems almost *trivial*.

What my friend has developed is a new way of thinking about data design and process design. It expresses itself in flowchart form. It is utterly simple and yet utterly perfect in many different ways... ways you realize only when looking at it for days on end. It may in fact change *everything*! Everybody could develop this way. It could very well change how databases operate and even how most programming is done. We just don't know yet!!! It has to be pitched and licenses successfully sold to consulting houses, to give it the boost it needs so that we can continue to develop it, teach it, sell it.

What I wrote on the website:

---
The Business Architecture Method is a graphical business modeling tool.

It's a tool -- to document systems, processes, business rules... really, whatever you can think of. It kinda looks like a flowchart, but simpler.

Its basic, yet completely logical approach enforces how a system is documented. This, in turn, leads to huge advantages. The time to develop systems is reduced. An entire business can be modeled... and clarified to any detail. And its diagrams can be understood by just about anyone.

It creates new economies of scale. It details the scope of any system or project. It perfectly documents business processes. It produces ideal specifications to programmers. Anyone can be taught to read it in two minutes; anyone can be taught to write it in two days.

Its remarkable approach is U.S. Patent No. 5,418,942, 5,564,119, and 5,960,437.

Originally Posted by jaguar

2 questions:
Can we get a concrete example?
Looking for vulture capital?

Originally Posted by Undertoad

A concrete example is difficult right now only because so little has been officially published. And it requires the explanation in order to see the big picture. I could show a piece of it but you'd only say "what's the big deal?" because it takes two days of explanation to really get into why it works so well. You learn to read it, then you learn to write it, then you try putting it together yourself, then a little light comes on and bing, you realize how much better this is.

The guy is pretty resolute about not having investors. He can't see an up side, if the idea works well it will quickly become viral, he thinks. He is the sort who demands total control. Quirky, as one would need to be to think about data for long enough to come up with this.

I disagree with his approach; I think it needs to be marketed, and it would benefit from a load of money to kick it off. Marketed to the right people, but still.

Something I read somewhere else in the Cellar made this thread bubble up from the recesses of my mind.

UT, what ever happened to your friend's invention? Did he have any success with anyone over the last couple years?

[Flint]

Originally Posted by glatt

Something I read somewhere else in the Cellar made this thread bubble up from the recesses of my mind.

UT, what ever happened to your friend's invention? Did he have any success with anyone over the last couple years?

Hey, wow. I missed this the first time around. Fascinating. Am I understanding correctly that this system is designed such that new information is routed through a error-checking process before it can be assimilated? If so, that's exactly how my brain works. Did your friend diagram his brain?

Did he invent Project Management before Project Management was cool?