Archivo mensual de Marzo, 2008

Share information with Google Docs

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Cargando ... Cargando ...

Communications is the key of the success for any project. How you communicate the most valuable asset is a key factor to success. Information is the treasure of these days, our projects need it, used it and deliver it.

How you share your information will give you an advantage. Keep your team, and your stakeholders up to date will make your life easier and your projects formal. Some time ago, and still in many companies, the email is the key of the communication. Unfortunately, when teams grow the amount of emails becomes unmanageable, at the point that you probably will spend more time reading emails than working.

Innovative companies are step further using documentation management systems or even more specific to PM software tools. My sad case, we are using a fancy but nasty software of a well know software company. I don’t want to say names because I feel afraid of the power of one of the richest men in the whole world -if you know what I meant :-).

But, what if you don’t want to spend a lot of money in a software tool. What if you are starting your project and want to access the best of breath. Easy, Google Docs jump in into the scene to give us all a great tool.

Why Google Docs?

First time I used it I said “simple but powerful”. But know I’m sure I save a lot of time sending and reading documents just by publishing them using Google Docs.

Google Docs will give you immediate and secure access to your documents, and it will provide you great tools like Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation tools. And if you want to address the notification issue and avoid the email rush, voilà it is done: Google Docs has a built-in news feed that will inform at the time you are publishing. And even more, are you afraid about offline periods of time? the you should try Offline Google Docs.

Share without restrictions, make your project communications plan simple with Google Docs.

The interactive agencies that develop software

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Cargando ... Cargando ...

From creative to coders

Do you believe that the cold war has end? If yes, it is because you don’t work in an interactive agency (a creative agency that produce a kind of interactive software) or in a web development company (a software development company that delivers creative content via Web).

Agencies are internally informal companies -but serious companies of course. Agencies fight with their PMs to keep their projects running without concern but are permissive with their creative teams because they know about the free-sense of the design process. I’m pretty sure no body told God that he has to end the world by the seventh day EOD (end of day). Creation/Creative is related to the feelings and passion, and we all know they cannot be scheduled. However this doesn’t mean that creative process could take whatever it takes, it means you need trained team members to understand the business model.

Developers are the creative nemesis. They are probably persons that will want to have their life planned, or at least under control. Reduce the risk and be a step ahead of the opportunities and treats. Why the don’t like designers? it is easy as this sentence, designers -for interactive agencies/web development companies will not deploy their deliverables to the client. Developers has to takeover the designers outcomes and create the real application/product. So, at the end how will carry the whole pressure? Who will have to understand the client needs, the designer approach and deliver the expected result?

So, what happen when you came into a company where developers and creative are working together. A lot of things could happen, but the most probably will be a formal and tangible separation of the teams. The cold war has begun and the PM will have to deal as double agent.

I will bring some tips for those who has to deal with this.

  • Designers are not coders / Coders are not designers. Are you or your senior management considering this option? Are you crazy? Designers are guys with an open mind -they have to. They should bring light when nobody else can give you a little spark. On the other hand Coders are those guys that do not create a square but resolve your needs with success. One thing is about create from scratch, other thing is to use the tools to deploy solutions -languages, frameworks, and formal products. Keep it as it is. Do not reduce costs using a CODEsigner, a coder that knows how to use Paint IS NOT A DESIGNER. There are few Titans that will walk between these two worlds, if you have them, lucky you!
  • Define with the senior management the business model. It could be whatever it be, that address your company needs. However, take a look to the ones I present below
    • One team, one soul. Bring developers and designers to work together. Push them as a unit, make them feel as all are involved. Most of the time, agencies give creative designers flexibility that will cost long nights for developers, while Software companies will reduce more than needed the importance of their work resulting in motivation issues and poor creative design quality. As PM you can get involve and takeover those team members (I don’t want to use the word resources) avoiding those situations. Get time to know the creative process, push them since the beginning -the most part of the creative guys will be lazy at that phase. Measure their time, keep the whole team under constant medium pressure to avoid relax/stress situations. Once the team get used to it, the pressure will not exists more than in their own minds and desire for deliver.
    • Providing code development. Developers can be providers for creative. Offshore teams will work great with this approach. You will reduce the risk at development side. However you probably will have to spend more with your team leaders. If those guys are not like the Musketeers -all for one and one for all- you are lost. Provider model will give you some freedom within the teams but during integration process you will need real experts to avoid technical/creative issue or change.
    • Providing creative assets. This one is my favorite. Let creative do their work -whatever it is, they do it and developers will not be involved. Set unmovable dates for delivery and let your coding team use those assets. Be formal during the assets’ specs definition. Do not let creative set the dates, be a extra formal PM. With some time you will get the enough experience to understand why creative ask for a lot of time and do their work in a quarter of that.
    • Limited creative. The most amazing hit from coders was to create the templates. Templates are great!, they give the designers enough freedom to make their changes, but not too much to screw everything. Templating if possible is the greatest solution. Your coders will have time to do their work and will share with the designers the integration responsibility. -Of course, this is not the case for the most of the agencies, they will feel your are cutting out their freedom and they will say: “Our strength is our creative freedom“, so you will have to sell this idea.

Why Mobile? Why not?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Cargando ... Cargando ...

The most amazing transformation that we are living these days is about the Mobile world. Have you ever seen a teenager using his mobile phone / cell phone? Are you able to follow their fingers? I can’t. The mobile world is changing the world, is giving us a whole new experience and ways of interactions.

Mobile is more than the phone, mobile is the return to our nomadic way of life. Is about spend more time in the real life than sit in front of a desktop filling forms, using the computer or using the desktop phone.

All business have or will be transformed somehow to adapt the new society, the mobile one. It is not about make call, is about to deal with worldwide teams, people moving around the world, working from home -from the kitchen, from the TV studio. Mobile is giving us the opportunity to do more and spend less time.

Now we are able to read, write, talk, share information from our hand without stopping our lives. Business are aware of that, it is about time and cost. If you can do more within the same time, then your value is higher and your cost lower. Keep that in mind.

My contribution to the mobile world? none, but, are you able to read this from your mobile? Take a look if you don’t. BTW, what are you waiting for? get up from your desk!!! :-)

Screenshot from iPhone

If you don’t believe me, why you don’t read this article @ Silicon Alley Insider about the iPhone and how the mobile industry is living its metamorphosis. BTW thanks to Iván Sosa for that great article.

Modeling business needs for software projects

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Cargando ... Cargando ...

One of the most complicated things in the whole word is to get the business needs that will drive a software project to address or support a company strategy. This whole science has been supported by a new company role named Business Analyst. This person could be the hero or the villain, depending on how happy is the client and how clear are the requirements gathered.

First, you have a nice client -keep in mind you should be starting a project and everybody is happy; you as a provider, are a kind of new toy :-)-. Most of the times clients are confused about their needs or have a lot of needs that are not properly presented to the provider -this could be extremely dangerous. On the other hand you should have as designer/business analyst a team waiting for your directions. So how you deal with this pressure and ensure a good project start? I present you five points that could be helpful.

  1. Customer is always right! NO, NO, NO, NO. Have you ever seen a woman with a lot of money in a new useless/stuffy store? A little boy in a candy store with 100 dollars? Ok, first of all, bring your expertise and experience, be the mentor of the client, give them what they want but take your time understanding the root causes of those needs. Pay attention to the client, how he/she/they communicate the needs.
  2. Spend time with your client to know their needs. This is a common item, if you want to know your client needs, you must spend time with them, not in meetings but good quality time -I hate the meetingitis syndrome.
  3. Bring help. At this point you should be thinking “I’m the man” and your boss should be thinking the same -probably because they don’t want to pay more. However, any doubt during the business needs gathering process will mean hundreds or thousands of hours wasted because that little misconception. There is a lot of ways to bring help, thought expert consultants, through team empowerment -from client and vendor teams- and my favorite: from the community (geek Internet knowledge community -they are not always right but probably will have a lot of help and feedback for free!.
  4. Share with all (the Wiki model). As certified PMP I know that the key of the leadership is communication. An effective way to delivery quality design documentation -for example, business use cases, use cases, interaction diagrams or even the hated wireframes (a horrible invention of something that is not similar to reality but should represent it… in some how!) - is to involve the team since the beginning. My personal recommendation, use a Wiki software to share with all in a simple way -Does Wikipedia the biggest online dictionary sounds familiar? Do you know you can participate too and improve or add your own definitions?
  5. Be formal. The previous point was about to share, but you cannot post a letter or send an email every time you have an idea or new requirement defined. Be smart, be formal, keep in mind your work is not only about define needs, is about defined the correct needs in a clear way. So my suggestion is: do not reinvent use templates, spend time customizing your owns or check in the company records. Let the team participate but keep the power and control. TIP: good templates can be found at ReadySET for free.

There is a lot of knowledge that you can use, share and improve. Projects are not always the same, clients are not always the same, success not only depends on how good/excellent you do your work but for sure, you are reducing the risk and increasing the chances to be a hero.