As a former IS development manager, the most sucessful thing I did with programmers is actually put them in the end users location. It forced interaction with the end user, made it easier to find out specifics about work processes and data interaction, and greatly sped development because of the interaction with the user/operator. The programmer could just turn and ask anyone in the group how they wanted the GUI or flow of forms to be (ie input to match an actual form they use but never thought to show you), report formats, etc. Saved me a lot of time testing and revamping. My .02


>Hiya JVP ---
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>>Those points are well taken. Alpha/Beta Testing should uncover those flaws - provided the end-users are involved. Many times however, developers blow that entire aspect of App Dev entirely.
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>Exactly. Just the general category of professional standards, eh? Engineers don't build bridges without blueprints and an idea of the traffic flow -- how we (as a group not us individually :-)) can continue to operate as gunslingers with inadequate planning is beyond me.