Business-focused custom software

• Thanks for not listening!

  By Avonelle Lovhaug

  Publication Date: 4/1/2008 5:00:00 PM

  

  I should have known better.

  I recently received an email from a government website that I have used for purchasing savings bonds for my nieces and nephews. I guess I should say I used it once. After that first time, I realized it wasn't worth the hassle.Let me tell you why:

  • Instead of using an user name that I could choose, it assigned me a 10 digit letter/number account #.
  • The password had to be quite lengthy and include both numbers and letters.
  • I can't type the password into the site. Instead, I have to use a virtual keyboard which ...

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• Reason #534 to Not Bill Hourly

  By Avonelle Lovhaug

  Publication Date: 3/27/2008 5:00:00 PM

  Noted author Steve McConnell discusses the various studies that show huge variations (10:1 or more) in the productivity of different programmers with the same levels of experience. Many of us in the industry have experienced this first hand - watching the destruction of a project budget by an individual who burned hours at an alarming rate with little to show for it.

  But doesn't billing on an hourly basis just compound this problem? We are rewarding the individual who is least productive by paying him the most. It certainly gives the developer no incentive to work efficiently.

  Most clients haven't heard ...

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• How to get your developer to fix bugs

  By Avonelle Lovhaug

  Publication Date: 3/21/2008 5:00:00 PM

  "When I used the software today, I got an error. Can you fix it?"

  This is the exact text of the email I received. No specifics on what she was doing when she got the error. No information about the error message itself.

  Even worse, this particular user helps other users setup their software. So I can't even try to log-in as her - frankly she could have been using any number of accounts.

  If you have ever felt that a software developer wasn't being responsive to a bug you have encountered in the software, stop and think for a ...

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• Project Management Tips

  By Avonelle Lovhaug

  Publication Date: 3/16/2008 5:00:00 PM

  I spoke at the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals group last Friday. The topic was Project Management, which is definitely something of interest to me. I focused on 3 key areas:

  • Up-front planning and estimating. Check out my estimating article here - this is mostly what I covered.
  • Compare your efforts against your plan and adjust as necessary. Be honest with yourself about how you are acutally doing. Don't convince yourself you can "catch up" if it isn't really true.
  • Communicate regularly with your team. Some good project collaboration software includes Basecamp, GoPlan, ...

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• Finding the Right User Interface Features

  By Avonelle Lovhaug

  Publication Date: 3/7/2008 4:00:00 PM

  I recently worked on a design where we struggled with finding the best approach for a particular requirement. In the end, we came up with a great approach that is a big improvement over the current one. Here’s how our design approach evolved.

  The Problem

  The application is a search tool that helps people find affordable housing in Minnesota. The current system allows for several search criteria, including geographic location. The current implementation uses 4 list boxes – two for cities and two for counties. The first list box in each group shows a list of all the cities, the ...

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