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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Here's a little insight into what makes us tick, and where we believe we fit in working with your organization. We will add to this list over time - if you have any other burning questions, feel free to contact us.

• What does Clarrus do (our Elevator Pitch)?
• What problem is Clarrus solving?
• What makes Clarrus different from the others?
• We already have people with process strengths - where does Clarrus fit in?
• Why do you have so many products?
• Why aren't you focused on the CMMI or other standards?
• What are the people at Clarrus up to these days?
• Where is Clarrus headed (what's the Vision)?
• What is behind the Clarrus name and logo?

What does Clarrus do (our Elevator Pitch)?

Clarrus supports the BC software development community.

We develop long-term relationships with senior executives of growing small to mid-sized technology firms, providing practical approaches for reducing development pains and improving business effectiveness. [top]

What problem is Clarrus solving?

While on the surface the problem appears to be the challenge of business effectiveness in client organizations, Clarrus takes this a step further.

The problem we are working to solve is that while most companies tackle improvement and some even make gains, few companies remain at that higher level of effectiveness after a period of time. We are working to build solutions that will improve your effectiveness and make those improvements stick.

It is a tough problem, but we believe it is a solvable one for most organizations. [top]

What makes Clarrus different from the others?

Initially, not much. We're strong in an understanding of industry best-practices and how to transfer that understanding to the client in a prioritized fashion. We have a great breadth of experience.

Since we started, though, we have been building an infrastructure that strengthens us in several ways.

First, it allows us to provide a consistent product to you, our client. While many organizations leverage the individual strengths of the people they hire, we recognize that this makes it difficult to scale up their solution. With our approach, we gain the flexibility of building up with people that have complementary expertise, providing you with a more well-rounded solution.

Second, and more important to you, this infrastructure allows us to provide greater value to you, at a lower cost (while still allowing us to remain a viable business). Rather than spending thousands of dollars on assessments and best-practices training that does nothing for your bottom line, we drive to the value-added phases more quickly. You will see a strong return quickly, which in turn sustains even further improvements later.

Our success is not simply measured on our bottom line - it is measured on the improvements to your bottom line. If we cannot add value, we will disengage. [top]

We already have people with process strengths - where does Clarrus fit in?

Many organizations have key people with a strong focus on the development lifecycle, with roles in Quality Assurance, as Development Managers, or at the CTO/COO level. They bring a critical understanding of the company's products, approach, and culture, and along with everyone else, an awareness of the challenges facing the group.

Clarrus supports this knowledge with an external, objective perspective, and a core competence not only in best practices, but how they are appropriately applied across a wide range of different organizations. We recognize that it is not a one-size-fits-all world. On top of that, we have developed a structured and disciplined approach for improvement that allows you to focus on what is important - your organization.

Together, we make an unbeatable team. [top]

Why do you have so many products?

Actually, we have one product: an approach and supporting skills to help your organization improve quickly and dramatically.

We list a large number of services because we recognize that there is not a single collection of activities that will work in all situations. We would never deploy all these services in an organization, the culture shock would set the company further back than when it started.

While we can provide these items individually to companies that are interested, such as a single training session or a lunch & learn topic, we recommend that you start out with the diagnostic to better understand where you would reap the greatest reward from your interaction with us. [top]

Why aren't you focused on the CMMI or other standards?

While there is a great deal of useful information in the plethora of standards, methodologies and approaches, we believe that focus on one or more of these as a corporate goal will distract you from the real challenge, which is improving your business' bottom line. These are a means to an end, not the end in itself.

If you are developing software for the aerospace industry and need to be a CMM Level 3 shop, or working to get into Europe with ISO certification, by all means go for it - we'll be glad to get you on your way and point you to others that can support your goals.

For most development groups, though, grand initiatives often cause more harm than good. Focus on the few critical elements reduces culture shock, speeds the returns, and costs a lot less.

While we carry a knowledge of the encyclopedic standards, our focus is on practical reduction of everyday pain for small to mid-sized development groups. [top]

What are the people at Clarrus up to these days?

After devoting much of the last 2 years in building an infrastructure to support our clients, we're starting to move forward to get the word out that we are around. Part of that is clarifying our message, so you can expect to see our website evolve as we better understand what resonates with you.

With presentations for the BCTIA, VanQ and others, published papers in distinguished journals and a recent article in Business in Vancouver, Clarrus is working to build exposure.

Our Clarrus Compendium is constantly growing in readership, and we often expand on topics offline with our readers.

We're having fun in working to help our clients drastically improve. [top]

Where is Clarrus headed?

Over the short term, our goal is to establish a presence as an effective support group for businesses with a software development component, primarily in the Vancouver area.

While we have already shown to be effective, our mid-term goal is to increase that effectiveness through the deeper integration of all the elements that we believe are key for a comprehensive solution to the challenge of change management for business effectiveness.

We will continue to build up our infrastructure based on our experience and our growing expertise, and continue to engage our clients to provide the best solution possible. [top]

What is behind the Clarrus name and logo?

We decided even before we started that branding was not one of our core competencies, so we brought in OnDesign Creative Resources for help with the naming and image. What we got was an interesting perspective.

While we initially toyed with doodles that we thought would be cool logos, OnDesign demonstrated a disciplined approach to identifying these elements systematically, and did so with a great deal of creativity (disciplined creativity is something that many in software claim cannot be done). A key element of their approach was the exploration of a huge number of alternatives, then successive refinement of an approach that met our original defined goals.

Clarrus is derived from the family of Latin words that include clarus, clara and clarum which mean to clarify or bring to light. Of course, being able to purchase an available web domain played a role as well.

Our logo translates this into visual elements in a crisp, distinctive style that provides an abstract representation of clarity, suggesting insight, perception, and understanding. [top]

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