Stuck PLM Project and Leo Tolstoy

I read a very short post from Aras by Jennifer McCullough of Aras – Frustrated by a Stuck PLM Project?. The whole purpose of this blog is to point on the link to Stuck PLM page on Aras’ website. The Aras website is talking about license cost frustration, uncovered functionality and a problem to grow with limited budget. At the same time, it promises results.

Does it mean Aras engineers invented “Perpetuum Mobile”? No, I don’t think so. Aras engineers are making software. Aras business wizards decided to delay a painful moment of license’s fees to a later time and wrap it differently. It seems to be smart. They probably made homework in Chris Anderson’s Sunday school about the power of “FREE“. The Aras’ Stuck PLM Project story reminded my Anna Karenina roman by Leo Tolstoy. “All happy families are happy alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way“. PLM marketing wizards are telling stories about “happy PLM implementations”. These stories are all the same. I think, the real implementation stories become more popular. The most interesting PLM implementation stories are about how to use a diverse set of tools to handle product development processes. When / If we will come to these stories, we have a chance to get back and talk about what tools we need to turn these stories into PLM happy stories.

What is my conclusion? Aras’ case in PLM is interesting. The important point is a sequence of events. Aras business managers are trying to put a carriage before horses. Will it work? A good question to ask. When you keep something in your hands, you can decide to give it away for free. Can it re-build a trust of potential customers frustrated from previous PLM experience? I think, it depends on what is next. If a quality of tools is good, and you have a right “set of expectations”, you can have a decent PLM free ride. You need to make it sustainable. If I need “a commute car”, I will never take an advantage of the entertainment system in the back of my limousine. If my “commute car” stack, I don’t need entertainment neither. How to have right tools to get a job done- this is a right question to ask these days. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg