The consensus on this issue was refreshingly crisp and down to earth: ``You can take the horse to the water but ...'' The common denominator of all successful experiences is pull. Successful TT takes place when there is a pull from the receiving users. This factor dominates all other factors.
Based on this observation, Reuse TT approaches should first:
Only then, attempt to transfer the technology.
To identify pull requires first identifing who the users are. (We distinguish between Users--those who will ultimately apply the reuse technology-- and Customers--those who pay for it.) These distinction helps account for critical difference in perceptions and interesting politics. Most successful transfer cases appear to be driven by grass roots efforts. To identify and encourage such movements is a powerful means to facilitate the introduction of reuse technology. Participative software process improvement programs offer a good framework for creating and identifying opportunities.
Pull can be stimulated by using techniques such as TQM, the SEI Capability Maturity Model, ISO 9000 certification process, or the Malcom Baldrige Award. Interestingly, we do not seem to be exploiting one of the most common techniques used to generate pull in our economy: marketing. The marketing community has developed a number of analysis tools and communication tools to:
These are key aspects of TT. There is a wealth of experience and techniques used by the marketing community that we have not even started to exploit for the transfer of technology.
A first lesson that we can learn from marketing, is that marketing does not come for free. It is quite expensive. Many TT projects fail precisely because they did not identify the extent of the investment needed to make TT work. Schemes for funding marketing projects can also be applied to TT projects.