It's Not About Java, So All We Had Was Java Guys

Business Rules is about taking your if/then logic out of the [java/other] programs and giving it to the business expert guys to handle, so of course we only had java guys last night. Makes sense eh? Actually it's been that way for years here, our java users' group  is so strong that when you announce stuff there, that's where you get the stuff going.

It does actually take a java programmer to get things going most of the time, because externalizing rules for the first time really is a programmer's task. After all

Like any programmer, I've been doing rules all my programming career. Every time I write an if-then statement I am writing a rule, in at least one sense of the word.

As a developer, how much time do I spend adding value, and how much time maintaining infrastructure ?

Sometimes my estimate goes like this

• Adding Value: 20% of my time
• Maintaining Infrastructure 80% of my time

Really I have no idea, but sometimes it seems like it really is lopsided.