Quarterhorse_2 I was on a conference call with my Research Director, Mike Gilpin and colleague Charles Brett the other day discussing complex event processing and business rules when suddenly Mike and Charles starting talking about "horses for courses". Say what? We went from talking about events and rules to horses and courses? I never heard this expression before so I asked. And, for those of you who think that I am provincial, I asked several other people in our Cambridge, Massachusetts office and they were dumbfounded as well.

Horses for courses means you have to choose the right horse for the right course. For example, if the race is a quarter mile you choose a quarter horse. If the race is a barrel race, then you choose a appaloosa. Choose a trotter for a harness race. And, a destrier for a joust. This horse information is courtesy, Jeffrey Hammond, a colleague who grew up in Kentucky.

You might be wondering what this has to do with application development? Simply this: One size doesn’t fit all. And, in the future application development professionals will have more horses and more courses. So, we will have have more and tougher choices to make regarding the tools, technologies, architecture, and processes we use to develop applications.

I may never use the term "horses for courses" again, but at least I, and now you, know what it means.