There are certainly many ways to learn and many stories of successful people who famously did not attend or dropped out of higher education. Yet for my time and money, there is no better path to professional and intellectual growth than immersion into an environment where you are guided by industry experts through an exchangeContinue reading “The Value of the College Experience”
Monthly Archives: June 2007
Making of a Web App: Describe Users in Writing
This is the third entry in the Making of a Web App series. Key points are: Write profiles of users’ roles, responsibilities, and needs Two profiles is good, three is borderline and four profiles indicates the scope for release 1.0 is too large. User profiles are important tools for design and scope decisions. This seriesContinue reading “Making of a Web App: Describe Users in Writing”
Why a Big Budget Will Kill Your Software Project
In “Making of a Web App: Determining Scope” I said that new software projects should reduce their scope in order to simplify. Simplification being a good thing for many reasons including: increased likelyhood of success much greater end-user satisfaction much better support and maintenance at lower costs scalability Yet, on large projects with dozens ofContinue reading “Why a Big Budget Will Kill Your Software Project”
Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice
From Publishers Weekly ”Like Thoreau and the band Devo, psychology professor Schwartz provides ample evidence that we are faced with far too many choices on a daily basis, providing an illusion of a multitude of options when few honestly different ones actually exist. The conclusions Schwartz draws will be familiar to anyone who has flippedContinue reading “Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice”
Qualities of Great Software Design
What makes a great web application? From David Verba, Director of Technology, Adaptive Path: ”A successful product depends on the experience your users have and how well your product serves their needs.” ”Don’t try to be everything to everybody.” Selections from Robert Hoekman, Jr., interaction designer and usability specialist: ”It conforms to the way usersContinue reading “Qualities of Great Software Design”
Making of a Web App: Sales Team Collaboration Software
It’s difficult to talk about web application design in this Making of a Web App series without first describing the application. Other designers have hidden their plans while sharing their process by offering vague design decisions and small, blurry screenshots. The results are less than satisfactory so in this series we’ll share the details ofContinue reading “Making of a Web App: Sales Team Collaboration Software”
Web Application Design: Focus
“The focus should not be on features, the focus should be on focus. An obvious application is a focused application. It is easy to explain to other people. It makes sense to those using it because the purpose of the tool is self-evident, and nothing in it strays from that purpose. Every feature supports theContinue reading “Web Application Design: Focus”
Making of a Web App: Introduction
Synap Software is designing a web application and in the flavor of Bare Naked App, I am documenting the experience from idea through design and deployment. Starting at the point where the idea and market has been selected and the technology choices have been made, this series will follow the design and development of theContinue reading “Making of a Web App: Introduction”
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