MAREYAHH’S Weblog

According to chapter 7 of Getting Real many companies in the world separate the designs, development, and etc because of the thing they call specialization but the issue here is that, people who works separately just see their little world.

As much as possible, integrate your team so there’s a healthy back-and-forth dialogue throughout the process. Set up a system of checks and balances. Don’t let things get lost in translation. Have copywriters work with designers. Make sure support queries are seen by developers.

That is right! So for me hire people who could do multiple stuff so that the end result would be more harmonious.

People need uninterrupted time to get things done

Yes! I have heard that from some of my teachers in Benilde. Of course most of them are practitioners so they have encountered people like that. They said that the time when some of their project mates finishes their works assigned to them was not during their office hours but during midnights or even very early in the morning 9when they can’t be bothered or nothing has yet to get their attentions… The time when they are most comfortably doing or coding or finishing their works).. So now their enemy here is SLEEP…

Do you really need a meeting? Meetings usually arise when a concept isn’t clear enough.

So make the concept clear! Avoid meetings because meetings eat up the time when you can spend time doing real work. ;D But if it is really A MUST at least PUT a TIME in between.. This chapter also suggests that put an alarm clock… for example set the timer to 30 minutes only and if that rings then MEETING is over.. Remember Time is gold.. Some reminders:

• Set a 30 minute timer. When it rings, meeting’s over. Period.
• Invite as few people as possible.
• Never have a meeting without a clear agenda.

Release something today. This chapter suggests that you should celebrate victories as much as possible like Ask yourself “What can we do and release in 4 hours?” And then do it. It could be…

• A new simple feature
• A small enhancement to an existing feature
• Rewriting some help text to reduce the support burden
• Removing some form fields that you really don’t need

Then if you did those 4 then YOU MAY CELEBRATE because that builds motivation and signifies that you are on the right track… Relieves stress and pressure… Make something enjoyable and fun from that stressful work…

Race to Running Software… According to this chapter running software is the best way to build momentum and it should be our highest priority from day one. We should disregard all the ideas that don’t work or not essential for the project. This chapter also says that It’s okay to do less, skip details, and take shortcuts in our process if it will lead to running software faster. For me…That should be our main goal!

Don’t expect to get it right the first time. Let the application grow and speak to you.

Yes! That is right! As we go along building an application (based from my own experiences in doing some of our machine projects) at first I thought that everything was perfectly planned and scheduled but during the time when I was coding it already that was when I realized that I forgot to include this feature and that feature so basically I HAVE to REDESIGN it because my initial design wasn’t flexible or are just designed for specific features… So now… I’m applying the things I have learned from my past mistakes… Just like what this chapter said:

You don’t need to aim for perfection on the first try if you know it’s just going to be done again later anyway. Knowing that you’re going to revisit issues is a great motivator to just get ideas out there to see if they’ll fly.

Basically the phases of the creation of an application (according to this chapter) are:

• Brainstorming – where ideas come and go; What is this product going to do, features, and etc.. Basically this stage is about questions.. The BIG QUESTIONS..

• Paper Sketches – When you are starting your own app you make your ideas come to life and one way of doing it is by sketching the interface. At first it’ll be messy looking but as you go along the real deal comes to a reality.

• Create HTML screen – in this phase you are not actually programming anything yet but You are just building a mock-up in html and css. Implementation comes later.

• Code it – When the mock-up looks good and demonstrates enough of the necessary functionality, go ahead and plug in the programming code. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO MAKE YOUR APP (DESIGN AND THE CODES FLEXIBLE FOR FUTURE UPDATES)

Customers shouldn’t have to think about every nitty gritty detail — don’t put that burden on them when it should be your responsibility.

Yes! I’ll keep that in mind… I have to decide for them and that is my responsibility and I don’t have to pass it to them. Pssing it to them is not a blessing instead a burden for them.. Make simple decisions in their behalf instead because decisions are temporary so make the call. Decisions could be replaced and there would be mistakes and that is inevitable for as long as you correct them as fast as you could.

How would we be able to know if something is wrong with our app? I have learned from this chapter that WE HAVE TO TEST IT in the real world and let others experience it then later on get their feedbacks or views about their experiences while playing or manipulating it.

Last september 23, 2008 in our IS-EBIZ class we are tasked to report scriptaculous a javascript library developed by Thomas Fuchs who happens to be one of the pioneers of Ajax (wow di ko alam dati yun! hehe Naninibago ako.. eheh)… Find out more about this cool javascript library through this site dude script.aculo.us (click it for more info) .. Well if you want to put life to your boring sites then here is the simplest way that you could use to lighten up that dull site of yours..

Also because of of is-ebiz class who introduced us to 280 slides (a place where you could put your presentations online) NO HASSEL diba? It’s like slideshare (also a sight where you could put presentations)…. So now pagnakalimutan ko usb ko no worries.. The most convenient way of avoiding that from happening is to store my presentations in 280 slides… Click this if you want to know more about 280 slides and if you want to make your lives much better dear! 280 SLIDES

Sir said to copy a design from zengarden and place it in our site90.com site so I have chosen that design (the punk style) because it’s really something I would want my site to be.. Something unique… I find that zen sample really COOL and eye-catching… I’m so in-love with that design.. i wish I could make mine… By Oct. 2 which is a Thursday we are tasked to put our self-made design in our site90.com site..ILL be blogging about it as soon as I have finished making it (actually I’m half-way done) YIPPEE ..

maria85joaquin.site90.com

For me chapter 5 is more like chapter 1. It talks about WHAT REALY NEEDS to be IN THE PROJECT or in your APPLICATION and not the things that really would just serve as an added weight to the project… more like the WANTS. According to this chapter Stick to what’s truly ESSENTIAL. Good ideas can be tabled. Take whatever you think your product should be and cut it in half. Pare features down until you’re left with only the most essential ones.

Learn to say NO! When somebody proposes another feature to be added in the product (and obviously it is NOT ESSENTIAL) then SAY NO! Each and every time you say YES to a WANTED feature means AN EXTRA LOAD to your project. Once you say yes, you ARE STUCK WITH IT. The book said And what do you say to people who complain when you won’t adopt their feature idea? Remind them why they like the app in the first place. “You like it because we say no. You like it because it doesn’t do 100 other things. You like it because it doesn’t try to please everyone all the time.”

Whatever feature you approved for the project… Make sure you know AND REVEAL ITS COST so that you have an idea of how much the cost of the project would be (the total cost for all the features). BUILD SOMETHING YOU CAN MANAGE! If the cost would be too high then give it away… Remember Build products and offer services you can manage. It’s easy to make promises. It’s much harder to keep them. Make sure whatever it is that you’re doing is something you can actually sustain — organizationally, strategically, and financially .

When your customers flood you with FEATURE REQUESTS and found that not all of that are essential or is out of the scope of the project then certainly ENLIGHTEN them! Tell them that it’s just an extra load for them.. Will they be able to manage the features, sustain it? It doesn’t mean that 10 out of the 10 customers WANT THE FEATURE to be added in the project, analyze and think about if its really essential and if it is not STICK WITH YOUR VISION AND SAY NO!

What I have learned from this chapter is that before you start coding, you SHOULD know first WHAT the APPLICATION you are actually working on IS ALL ABOUT. You should get first the basic gist or idea of the project. Knowing that so, will keep you from taking one path or focused on one thing. YOU SHOULD HAVE A VISION. A VISION WOULD KEEP YOU INTACT. According to the book Getting Real, Your vision should be brief too. A sentence should be enough to get the idea across. Remember, Getting Real is all about making things less massive (if my memory serves right I have read it from chapter 1 of the book).

THINK BIG! In making applications, make sure that it IS NOT LIKE ANY OTHER application already out in the market. You should make sure that the app that you are working on has UNIQUE features. Of course, if you want to attract pool of customers DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF in copying others works. STANDOUT from the crowd dude! That’s what PROGRAMMERS ARE FOR!

Don’t focus on the details TOO EARLY (like the spacing, font color, etc) in the process . Instead of doing that so, WHY NOT JUST FOCUS ON the does my code work part. According to this chapter,

Details reveal themselves as you use what you’re building. You’ll see what needs more attention. You’ll feel what’s missing. You’ll know which potholes to pave over because you’ll keep hitting them. That’s when you need to pay attention, not sooner.

Also don’t worry on the things YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY YET! The book said that we have to make decisions just in time, when we have access to the real information we need. And that really makes sense for me! Why? MAKE DECISIONS JUST IN TIME makes us more efficient in what we are doing therefore affects all other aspects of our projects (that we are working on) as well. If we’re just trying to finish up a project even though it’s impossible to do that so just for the purpose of beating up the deadline the customer imposed to you, well dude THAT’S BAD! Explain to your customer WITH all honesty the things that hindered you from doing finishing it.

Speaking of the customers, make sure that you get the right ones! Yes you see that right… YOU GET THE RIGHT ONES because you can’t please all customers so get the,most likely, customers that would evangelize (as the book termed it) your product. According to the book that if they don’t like your vision there are plenty of other visions out there for people. Don’t go chasing people you’ll never make happy.

Chapter 3 implies that the lesser the load of your project would be the easier for you to maintain or even update and edit it. Doing this so, you must not (again) consider EVERYTHING but rather focus on the most NEEDED and IMPORTANT details your customer must have. That lessens the mass or the load of the project and hey, IT MAKES SENSE! It’s not just a crap but a very mind-opening note. This is best too when it comes to dealing with CHANGE. The lesser the mass and the simpler the code of your software is the easier, the faster and the flexible it is to be changed… Always remember that you should be 10x faster in changing or adopting to new trends and technologies out in the market than your competitor/s or else they’ll eat you alive. Also the heavier the mass of your project would be, the more it gets expensive to change.
IN DOING OUR FIRST APP, they said that it is advisable if we’d at least be 3 persons in our group. Those would be the developer, the designer, and the sweeper (someone who can roam between both worlds).They also advised its readers to at least make the group in making their first version small and tight. Having a small group makes a lot of room for maximizing our time to the fullest so that we’d be more focused and forced to deal with a lot of issues all by ourselves unlike when you have this big group the tendency is that there would be more people to solve a certain problem, let us say, and the challenge of solving it is not as intense when you’re just in this small group. Being in a small group lets you think more and excert more effort because you know that you’d only rely to fewer people. It also makes you communicate with lesser people regarding the approval of the project. The more communication path there’ll be, the more chaos, misunderstandings, conflicts, debates may come along the way.
CONSTRAINTS? Don’t hate them instead embrace them! YEAH! That’s SMART! Why would I worry about it? Instead, I should always aticipate those constraints to lessen its impact onto my project.

SMALL COMPANIES VS. BIG COMPANIES? Of course this chapter is all about the importance of keeping things less massive or in short SMALL so of course I have to pick the SMALL COMPANY. But I agree to that, Why? Because the bigger the company is the difficult it is to be closer to their clients. Why? Yeah it is a fact that they could provide their services to a lot of customers but hey nothing beats this INTIMATE relationship with your customers. Small companies of course tend to have this closer interaction or relationship with their customers. A good relationship actually makes your customers patronize your products even more than just finding your products reliable and durable. The relationship is really important. GIVE THEM THE BEST customer service they deserve.

oohh lala come visit maria85joaquin.myshopify.com and see some of the pendants im currently selling. Pendants made of clay, very chick,stylish,and very NOW..

Getting Real and MORE

I’m glad that there is such a team like 37signals that creates simple software. They had admitted that their products do less than their competitors and they did that intentionally to make their customers more like AT HOME, make their software more easy to use, allows them to work smarter, and to do thing their way. I’ve read the summary of some of their products and I’ve noticed that most of those are about organizing, managing, or even integrating business works with NOW… WITH TECHNOLOGY… IT stuff dude…

 I also read that the best way to know what your app should be is to know what it shouldn’t be… It’s like figuring out the weaknesses of your software. Determine which area would most probably hit you rock bottom and try to solve it yourself… Know the edge of your software as well. This would give you more competitive edge against your opponents…