Monday, November 14, 2005
Useful resources
We have just added new link to our website - useful resources. I know its nothing special, but it came to my mind just today when I was preparing for my BNI presentation. I will dedicate one whole blog entry to explain what is BNI so I am not gonna explain it here. So I was trying to prepare some handout for my BNI fellows that would be something useful and memorable for their businesses after my presentation and I came up with something called SME customized software purchase checklist. I know, even from my experience, that it is more troublesome to persuade SMEs to go for customized software solution at the first place, only then comes the hurdle of making sure you go for the correct solution or rather for correct vendor, but at the end of the day it does not matter if customized or standard, if NextLogic or other software vendor, but how much the system will actually help.
And that's why we did something that many software companies would not do - its simple checklist, but it covers all areas a company that doesn't have much IT experience should consider when purchasing solution or selecting IT vendor. Many software companies, unfortunately prefer not to educate their customers so they can benefit from their "IT illiteracy" let's say.
It's again very common and we all know about it. Software guy comes, throw some small initial number and company would go for it as the cheapest solution. Then they sign some overwhelming system requiremenst document and they are expecting great system to come and help their business. But at the end of the day what they get is - solution that doesn't work and changes would be too expensive, training was not included in the price and additional cost is too hight, software vendor is charging them lots of money for application maintenance and still they do not get basic things like bugs fixing (unless they pay extra) and many other troubles. I am not surprised companies do not trust software companies anymore, there are so many of us at the market that spoiled the image of the industry. Now small companies would rather go for expensive Microsoft or SAP solutions just to make sure quality will be there.
Well, even for us its definately difficult to gain the trust of people but it is still much easier than gain the trust of companies back AGAIN after they've experienced something negative. So the main objective of our checklist is a piece of help for small or not experienced companies - its a list of things to check before you go into any next relationship with software company. I am know it's sad, but it has to be done....even in 21st century and highly customer oriented BOOM many companies care more about something else than their customers. Do not forget to check also NextLogic in all areas we mentioned, you never know, I might be lying too :o)
And that's why we did something that many software companies would not do - its simple checklist, but it covers all areas a company that doesn't have much IT experience should consider when purchasing solution or selecting IT vendor. Many software companies, unfortunately prefer not to educate their customers so they can benefit from their "IT illiteracy" let's say.
It's again very common and we all know about it. Software guy comes, throw some small initial number and company would go for it as the cheapest solution. Then they sign some overwhelming system requiremenst document and they are expecting great system to come and help their business. But at the end of the day what they get is - solution that doesn't work and changes would be too expensive, training was not included in the price and additional cost is too hight, software vendor is charging them lots of money for application maintenance and still they do not get basic things like bugs fixing (unless they pay extra) and many other troubles. I am not surprised companies do not trust software companies anymore, there are so many of us at the market that spoiled the image of the industry. Now small companies would rather go for expensive Microsoft or SAP solutions just to make sure quality will be there.
Well, even for us its definately difficult to gain the trust of people but it is still much easier than gain the trust of companies back AGAIN after they've experienced something negative. So the main objective of our checklist is a piece of help for small or not experienced companies - its a list of things to check before you go into any next relationship with software company. I am know it's sad, but it has to be done....even in 21st century and highly customer oriented BOOM many companies care more about something else than their customers. Do not forget to check also NextLogic in all areas we mentioned, you never know, I might be lying too :o)
Thursday, November 03, 2005
How to make it faster, better, cheaper....
This week has been very quiet at work. Not for me and Peter but for our staff and in general. Tuesday was Deepavali and today is Hari Raya. We are quite busy though. Peter finally got his new book - "Ruby on rails" so he is studying and working on our latest project. I wanted to describe the system but realized that it is such a hybrid and so customized to our small entrepreneur for whom we are developing it, that no standard name like CRM or inventory control system would work here.
It is a system that will capture all purchases done by customers and their easy payments calendar. It enables our customer to easily monitor, which buyer owes how much and reminders will be generated on due dates. We will also add mass e-mail and mass sms fucntionality so she can inform her customers about new products she carries. Its a bit of everything, just the way she wanted it.
It is a very simple project - that kind of type we are hoping to work on more and more. Those are these real small companies we are targetting. We believe they can benefit from our customized solutions and grow their companies because they are able to handle more transactions with help of proper system (even if they are just one man show).
If anyone says customized and small and cheap doesn't go together, ask them to read this blog. I will try to explain step by step and day by day here how we do it. We do not mind competitors copying is, as we are not using anything new or just invented - all methods we apply are years old and used in many companies - pity though that not many software companies want to adopt them, because they are of course not the easiet way to go around software development. They require lots of abilities and willingness that only few most passionate people can gain through disciplined learning and deeper meaning behing doing it other than just making money. (I will touch on that topic later when explaining our vision, mission, philosophy and our values)
It took Peter about 3 days so far to develop that solution in Java, but it is not fully ready yet. He feels, that even though Java is a great and advanced programming language, it takes too much time to develop such simple solutions in it. He doesn't want to comprimise on quality though so wouldn't use PHP ...and that's the main reason why he is studying Ruby on rails now. It is supposed to be also object oriented language but many things should be easier and faster to develop in it. I am sure he would add some blog here to explain better. I am just capturing it here this way, cause those kind of problems are ones we have to deal with daily to adjust the way of doing things to make solutions better, faster, cheaper - cause all customers of course expect that.
Peter was just showing me what he learned from first 8 lessons he completed already from his new book, so far it looks great. Looks like Ruby on rails works faster....but psst as its still too early to make conclusions. I will add update on that later.
It is a system that will capture all purchases done by customers and their easy payments calendar. It enables our customer to easily monitor, which buyer owes how much and reminders will be generated on due dates. We will also add mass e-mail and mass sms fucntionality so she can inform her customers about new products she carries. Its a bit of everything, just the way she wanted it.
It is a very simple project - that kind of type we are hoping to work on more and more. Those are these real small companies we are targetting. We believe they can benefit from our customized solutions and grow their companies because they are able to handle more transactions with help of proper system (even if they are just one man show).
If anyone says customized and small and cheap doesn't go together, ask them to read this blog. I will try to explain step by step and day by day here how we do it. We do not mind competitors copying is, as we are not using anything new or just invented - all methods we apply are years old and used in many companies - pity though that not many software companies want to adopt them, because they are of course not the easiet way to go around software development. They require lots of abilities and willingness that only few most passionate people can gain through disciplined learning and deeper meaning behing doing it other than just making money. (I will touch on that topic later when explaining our vision, mission, philosophy and our values)
It took Peter about 3 days so far to develop that solution in Java, but it is not fully ready yet. He feels, that even though Java is a great and advanced programming language, it takes too much time to develop such simple solutions in it. He doesn't want to comprimise on quality though so wouldn't use PHP ...and that's the main reason why he is studying Ruby on rails now. It is supposed to be also object oriented language but many things should be easier and faster to develop in it. I am sure he would add some blog here to explain better. I am just capturing it here this way, cause those kind of problems are ones we have to deal with daily to adjust the way of doing things to make solutions better, faster, cheaper - cause all customers of course expect that.
Peter was just showing me what he learned from first 8 lessons he completed already from his new book, so far it looks great. Looks like Ruby on rails works faster....but psst as its still too early to make conclusions. I will add update on that later.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
This is Peter - founder and CEO of NextLogic. Peter is "only" 27 years old but with almost 10 years of active experience in IT field and last 5 years mainly in software solutions development. I never seen anybody in my life learning faster new programming languages than Peter (I don't doubt that there are many, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to meet them). Just within last 2 years he mastered Java, Hibernate, Spring, Ruby and Ajax. He wouldn't use VB.net, C++ or PHP anymore due to their limitations I do not even want to understand (but I do a bit :o)).
I admire Peter for his eagerness to always learn more and do things better and for his unconditional persistency. Working with him is rather challenging. He usually discovers something new and better in the middle of one project and wants to improve the solution immediately. I know its great, because all he has in mind is the quality of the output and the actual value of the solution he and his team creates for customer, but its rather difficult to run our small business profitably this way :o).
However, bottom line, no matter how I might disagree with some of his tactics in these battles of our "business war", I know they are all for the best of our customers and that's "all" I as Marketing Manager care about.
Peter is an amazing person too (not just as IT guy, business partner ...and boyfriend:o)), he also posseses all complimentary personality traits and characteristics to me - he is very patient (he understands that Rome wasn't built in a night), he is emotionally intelligent, he is a good listner, good cook :o) and always always finds appropriate example to explain things which I just cannot comprehend. I have learned a lot from him and I believe we are a great combination. I also hope it will help us in our business.
I also have to mention here what happened to us yesterday (or rather to Peter). It is a great reflection of WHO Peter is and HOW he thinks.
As usual Peter wanted to buy some new book from his favourite online publisher Pragmatic Programmer but he faced some problems with online ordering. He wrote immediately to the helpdesk asking for help as he didn't want to wait. He wanted to start reading and learning that same night.
Within minutes some Dave Thomas replied back (now for me Dave Thomas is someone I don't know, but for Peter Dave Thomas is SOMEONE). He was so excited from getting an email from an author of his favourite books about latest improvements in software development that he couldn't sleep and wanted me to help him organize a conference in Singapore. Why? Because he also wants to be able to experience those great IT conferences that are currently held mainly in USA. I bet, we will organize that conference soon :o).
I guess we all have our idols - professionally for Peter it is definately Martin Fowler , Dave Thomas and other "fathers" of agile software development, object oriented programming and other latest technology improvements pioneers. Those are people whose ideas and beliefs are shaping NextLogic's decisions and strategies too, so I just though I mention them here.
This is me Dasha. I am 26 years old and I have tried many jobs in my life. Negative person would say I am a job hopper, positive one would say I gained lots of diverse exprience, which I can benefit from now when running my own company with Peter. Due to the fact that at the moment I still classify myself as rather negative person (but with lots of optimism) I also use my work history as an excuse to run away from more jobs like that and started my own business. Suffering for the bad you are responsible for and you can change is still much better than just suffering, right?
So that's how we started - me dissapointed from my previous jobs but still with lots of ideas and energy I am not going to "sell" that easy anymore and Peter - brain & soul of our company with lots of knowledge, experience, competence and passion for software solutions development. Perfect combination to start small software company. So we did.
So that's how we started - me dissapointed from my previous jobs but still with lots of ideas and energy I am not going to "sell" that easy anymore and Peter - brain & soul of our company with lots of knowledge, experience, competence and passion for software solutions development. Perfect combination to start small software company. So we did.
