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January 25, 2008
SPIN-Farming, Franchising, and the Future of Software Frameworks
Ever thought about buying a franchise? Like the idea of running your own business but don't want the risk of trying it all alone? How about farming? Attracted by the notion of growing all your own food, and connecting with nature? How about both — franchised farming? Sounds unlikely, but that's essentially what SPIN farming is.
The core of SPIN farming is, well, farming, but not on the scale that most people associate with modern farming techniques. SPIN farmers typically work plots less than an acre in area, and achieve good returns by concentrating on the most profitable crops, and utilising crop rotation to increase yield. The best description I've found is here, though it isn't very detailed.
In itself the farming techniques aren't that radical. I remember learning in high school that crop rotation was one of the key innovations of the agrarian revoluation, and that was some time ago (both high school, and the agrarian revolution). What is novel is the way the SPIN farming business is run, and that's what causes me to call it a franchise. Contained in the guide books (the complete set can all be purchased online) is everything you'd expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardising the product and creating a reproducible process it really isn't any different from McDonalds. Now SPIN farming isn't a true franchise — you don't buy the right to use the name, and there isn't any ongoing fee. And there's no equivalent to Hamburger University either. At least not yet. It is still an interesting business model and one that I think has great potential, though perhaps not for the financial gain of the founders.
The franchise idea, believe it or not, has great relevance to computing. What is convention over configuration if not the computing equivalent of the franchise's reproducable process? Perhaps by regarding frameworks as franchises we can shift the emphasis from technical development to supporting the developer in every way they need to succeed. This seems to me a better goal for both framework developers and users.
Posted by Noel at January 25, 2008 11:26 AM
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