Archive for June, 2008


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The Hard Button

June 30th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Software Development | No Comments »

So, Staples made millions on the “Easy Button” idea.  Just push a button and it’s done.  Easy.  Sort of like my favorite UI line, where the users just want a big button in the middle of the screen that says “Do it”.

I think Toys R Us watched those Staples commercials and thought “you know, I think they’re on to something there.  We should do the exact opposite.”

I went to Toys R Us to buy my daughter a tot-friendly camera.  I found the Fisher Price Kid-Tough Waterproof Camera, grabbed it, and went to check out.  Here’s the conversation (no exaggeration at all):

Clerk: May I have your phone number?

Me: I’d rather not.

Clerk: Sure, no problem.  That’s $52.49.

Clerk: We offer a replacement plan for only $4.99, where we’ll replace it if…

Me: No, I’m all set, thank you.

Clerk: OK, no problem.  We have a special on AAA batteries.  Would you like to buy a 12 pack…

Me: No, I’m all set, thank you.

Clerk. OK, no problem.  Would you like to get 10% off by opening our credit card…

Me: No, I’m all set, thank you.

Really - that’s how long it took to get out of the store.  The clerk was very nice, don’t get me wrong.  And he wasn’t pushy or rude.  But talk about the anti-easy button.  I think the corporate office needs to seriously rethink its checkout procedure.

Sadly, I’m sure I’ve designed and written software that behaves just as poorly.  We’ve all used bad software, and the problem is that unlike my once-a-year trip to Toys R Us, poorly designed software gets in our way dozens of times a day, over and over and over.

It’s a great camera, by the way.  The batteries don’t last very long and the display is a little slow to render, but she loves it.

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Essential Applications for Business Users, Part I

June 26th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »

If you had to set up your new computer right now, which apps are you going to install first?  Which applications are your mission-critical, must-have apps?  Besides Microsoft Office, here’s my list of the must-have applications for any business user:

MindMapper 2008 Professional Edition

If you haven’t used a mind mapping tool, Google “mind mapping” right now.  Aside from the cheesy name, it really is a very intuitive and productive way to jot down your ideas.  We downloaded a half dozen tools and found MindMapper 2008 to be the best of the bunch.  MindMapper had the most polished UI and was the only option that allowed us to quickly create mind maps without needing the mouse.

Axure

It’s not easy to mock up your ideas into something visual.  I have seen clients create mockups in Powerpoint, Excel, Word, HTML, Visio, Paintshop Pro, and just about any other tool imaginable.  We stumbled on Axure and absolutely love it.  It’s the first one we’ve used that actually enabled you to quickly create mockups without a steep learning curve or fighting the tool.

GoToMeeting

Conference call, share your screen, draw on your screen, make any attendee the presenter.  All with a 2MB download and $50/month.  Perfect.  We have several licenses and spend hours a day on GoToMeeting.  It does exactly what you need it to do, and nothing more.  GoToMeeting knows what it’s designed for and it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t.  If you collaborate with colleagues in several locations, GoToMeeting is an absolute must. 

CaseComplete

OK, nobody likes use cases, but if you’re trying to create business requirements for an application they’re really a very good way to organize and communicate your goals.  But they’re not fun to create.  And sorry, they’re still not fun to create - even with CaseComplete.  But they’re a whole lot easier and more intuitive.  All you have to do is type in outline format.  It will help you build a dictionary of definitions, actors and requirements.  It’ll output the results into one of many Word templates (which you can customize) and the latest version will create diagrams for you.

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New Project: National Fitness Company

June 21st, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Stature Projects | Comments Off

We’re excited to be starting a new project in June for a national sports/fitness company.  The project consists of a lot of web services, SQL Server 2005, C#, and AJAX code, so it’s right up our alley.

This project is a little different in that we’re working with a web design company, so we don’t need to work on the wireframes, user interface, graphics, and things like that.  We just need to code the nuts and bolts, which is fine by me.  Could be a match made in heaven.

Thanks Allister for choosing Stature!

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Keep Your Great Developers Happy

June 13th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Developers, Small Business | 1 Comment »

I have a trick for keeping our top developers at Stature, and it’s not money or incentives (although they help, don’t get me wrong).  It goes right to the core of what every great developer wants: a challenge.

All new projects at Stature are kicked off by our best developers.  Great developers don’t want to be bogged down for 6 months writing reports, suffering through code maintenance boredom.  They want to work on the new stuff.  They want to design and be creative.  Some of them want to lead a team of developers and be in charge.

Our method of managing developers works.  Perfectly.  A new project comes in and we’ll take one of our best developers to start the design and planning.  A junior developer will move up in the existing product team to fill the void.  In time, when he or she is ready, that junior developer will become the lead developer for the existing product and possibly lead a new product in the future.

The cycle need not be long.  Sometimes we find a prodigy developer who can lead a project within months.  But more often than not, lead developers happen because of experience and maturity, not skill alone.

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New Project: Search Engine Management

June 9th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Stature Projects | Comments Off

After working on six concurrent projects at one of our biggest clients (it was a very stressful Jan-Apr), we’re about to focus our energy on just a single new project for the next few months.  Ahhhh.  This project will keep a few of our developers busy through September.

Matt & Todd, thanks for trusting Stature with more business.

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