HL Arledge

Put your Bugs where your Mouth is

Last month, Decade Software released EnvisionConnect 4.0—and what a proud day it was.

The new version is the previous version on steroids, and were constantly making strides to improve performance and make the product easier before version 4.1—always focusing on making the application faster for users to get in and out and still feel good about having got the job done.

My Development Team prides itself in maintaining a zero defect average. Every 30 days—during Sprint planning—we commit to closing every open defect in addition to delivering any new features we committed to providing.

Speaking to software shops across the nation, I have not found one who has been able to come anywhere near our zero defect average. (If you know of any, please let me know. I would love to glorify them in this blog!)

I recapped all of the above so that you understand my dismay at hearing someone say this week…

“One of our clients says he doesn’t like the Page Layout Editor”—Yes, we do allow users to redesign forms and pages—”because the user says the tool is buggy.”

Immediately, I searched the defect tracking system and consulted my Quality Assurance team. I wanted to find out how many bugs constituted “buggy” and why we had not eradicated those bugs.

I found no bugs related to the feature in question, aside from a couple we had fixed but not yet released.

Then I knew our problems lay somewhere else.

Is the problem related to the definition: What is a defect?

Not likely. At Decade Software, We have the most lax description in the industry: If the client is “bugged” by something, that’s logged as a defect. Ultimately, we may fix it as a defect in code, or by adding a new feature, or by changing a design, or by providing training for the user—but no defect is ever ignored with the words…

“…that’s just the way it is.”

So, if the code is not the problem, and the definition is not the problem, then there’s only one thing it can be. Someone found a defect and did not report it.

Even the best software teams cannot fix bugs no one has found. It is the responsibility of user—internally and externally—to report any problem found.

Software shops can’t make you happy, unless they know what is making you sad.

Hands-on Workshop at Decade User Training Conference

The Decade Software Training Conference 2009 will be one for the record books.

In addition to providing training based on a user-prioritized list, we'll host a hands-on lab throughout the conference—no appointment necessary. If you have questions or just want to test a part of EnvisionConnect you've never used before, this open lab is the place for you. What's more, if you have questions the lab team can't answer, you're not likely to hear, "We'll get back to you on that." or "Can you call tech support after the conference?" Instead, a Conference Concierge will be on call to track down whomever on our staff has the answers you need.

There will also be sneak peeks at the future of EnvisionConnect and the Environmental Health industry from a technology perspective. We'll be presenting awards for best user-authored reports, page layouts, and SQL scripts, and we'll be introducing you to our online and interactive support tools. Our goal in the year ahead is to ensure that you never have to ask why and if you ask how, you'll get answers ASAP.

Want to know more? Join us at the Decade Software 2009 Training Conference, October 19th and 20th.

EnvisionConnect Batch Processing Faster than Envision

Customers and conference attendees have told us time and time again that financial batch processing in Envision was the fastest in the industry. EnvisionConnect, they also reported, is much easier to use, but not very fast compared to its predecessor. Decade's Development Team took that as a challenge, and early trials have everyone buzzing.

Smart Client Technology—the key to working on the web without giving up a powerful user interface—provides that all is processed client-side, including batches. Envision's advantage in the batch realm was its good old-fashioned client-server technology. Batches processed on the server run fast. The challenge in EnvisionConnect was to move the batch processing back to the server side without sacrificing the intuitive interface EnvisionConnect customers have grown accustomed to.

Through exhaustive research, careful prototyping, and much discussion with EnvisionConnect users, the Development Team provided a solution to a problem.

Perform Aging and Penalization and Perform Permit Billing are, by far, the most powerful of Decade's batch processes. From day one, EnvisionConnect was developed with a "hard things first" mentality.

Developers stayed the course with the batches, converting these two batches to server-side processing before all others, and in side by side trials—same data, same configuration, same hardware—these two EnvisionConnect batches now smoke the Envision batches, and they run in a fraction of the time it took the client-side batches to run.

In fact, Perform Permit Billing now processes half a million records in under one hour!

Want to know more? Join us at the Decade Software 2009 Training Conference, October 19th and 20th.

EnvisionConnect Speaks SWIS-DIP

California's Solid Waste Information System's Digital Inspection Project (SWIS-DIP) is described this way...

The Solid Waste Information System Digital Inspections Program (SWIS-DIP) provides an easy, electronic way to submit statutorily mandated inspection reports. Using SWISDIP reduces waste and paperwork and improves the accuracy and consistency of your reports. Inspections may be submitted using the SWIS-DIP fill-in web form or with XML web services.

That sounds as close to an "Easy" button as you can get, but Decade Software has been working with the state to provide an Easy button on steroids. This fall, EnvisionConnect provides round trip data integration with SWIS-DIP.

Want to know more? Join us at the Decade Software 2009 Training Conference, October 19th and 20th.

Hiking to Success at Decade Software

My wife and I took a few vacation days and hiked to the Hollywood Sign, but even the hot sun and aching muscles couldn’t keep my mind off the office.

We’ve got so much going on: business is booming, our biggest release ever is just around the conference, we’re hiring in every department, and our training conference is two months away. Decade Software is truly a company on the brink of jumping from good to great.

That said, I ask myself how we got here.

We got here, the same way a middle-aged overweight man made it to the top of the Hollywood Sign. We navigated the obstacles, the heat, the pitfalls with pure adrenalin and a little something called teamwork.

Decade Software has conquered it’s Hollywood Sign. Now, we’re ready to tackle El Capitan.

Customer design or Too Many Cooks Sink Ships

When designers attempt to please everyone, someone always ends up angry. The key to good design is bringing all interested parties together in order to balance interests and find solutions that work for everyone.

In the early days of EnvisionConnect, customer advocates on staff shouted:

“Our users know what they need better than anyone else. Let them design the software and force the developers to deliver exactly as they define.”

Who could argue with that philosophy? The customer knows best, right?

Let’s return to the mixed metaphor of “Too many cooks sink ships,” and let me tell you a story…

There once was a shipbuilder who hired the best engineers, but he sold ships to the government and was forced by contract to design the ship according to specs put together by a government committee.

The shipbuilder ordered the designers to build every gadget and widget the government committee could dream up, and the ship that evolved from the process was beautiful!

On this ship, you didn’t have to take the stairs to go from deck to deck. Everything in the ship was put on one easily accessible deck. And all of the gadgets, widgets, bells, and whistles glistened. It was the most spectacular-looking ship the government committee had ever seen.

When war broke, the government ordered the ship launched. It would sail to the other side of the globe and squash the evil doers.

Unfortunately, the ship was too heavy. It moved too slow. By the time the ship reached the enemy, the war was over. That’s not all that bad really. If every country followed this design model, the world would be a more peaceful place.

The moral of the story is that all interested parties have to be involved in design.

Luckily for us, the world of Agile software design doesn’t work like ship building.

We do insist that users of the software design by committee on the first pass (in industry jargon, the first iteration) but then it’s up to the engineers to weigh the needs of the many against the wants of the few and refine (industry jargon again, refactor) the product into that happy medium that makes everyone happy.

This year, our customers will notice that we’re changing the way we collect customer feedback—finding ways to extract information faster without wasting customer time, and our developers are defining “the how” and restricting customers to defining “the what”. And when some “what” is ultimately detrimental to a more important “what”, it’s our job to help customers understand the trade-off they are asking to make.

Now, you know why it’s taking a while to christen EnvisionConnect 4.0.

EnvisionConnect 4.0 as she stands today is the most beautiful and the most powerful ship in the fleet, but Envision outruns her. As goals go, our next BIG target is making EnvisionConnect faster, even if it means dropping a few bells and whistles overboard.

Watch this space to see how we do.

Did you miss me?

With all of this tweeting and twittering going on, you would think blogging would be losing popularity, but seldom does a week go by that someone doesn’t ask about my blog.

That said, I’m committing to blogging at least three days a week from now on.

…but I owe you an explanation, as to why I haven’t been doing so.

Because of the wild success of EnvisionConnect—due largely to the success of my own team—we’re really, really busy these days.

Presently, I am assisting with the launch of an all-new Decade Software user community, planning our 2009 training conference, and governing the launch of EnvisionConnect 4.0—our most anticipated release ever.

We’ll look at the details as the weeks progress, but in the meantime, I’m begging for your patience. I’m a really busy guy.

Another secret operation in progress

Last week, I was the guest speaker at one of our “global user group meetings”.

I’ve forgotten what the official title is these days, but basically it is a virtual meeting that allows customers to review and discuss new design proposals.

These little webinars were launched in the early days of EnvisionConnect, and they continue to serve us and our customers quite well.

You may recall that EnvisionConnect is the 21st Century reincarnation of Envision for Windows.

Over time, new wings and windows were added, until Envision grew into the most in depth tool available for regulating Environmental Health—but like all mansions that outgrow their original design, Envision became easy to get lost in.

Enter Envision Connect…

EnvisionConnect was designed from the ground-up to have all of the comforts of the old mansion, but with easier passages to move around in.

The new design was developed in those Thursday meetings.

So, why did I attend last week?

I’m building another kind of house to replace our web home page, and for all of the same reasons, I needed our customers to assist in the redesign.

What we came up with will amaze you…

…but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more.

Where do Obama and McCain stand on Environmental Health?

I don't like to get into politics in a company blog, but this one is a safe bet.

On the subject of Environmental Health, both candidates are in total agreement.

According to the group Science Debate 2008, both candidates support:

• Offshore drilling
• Refining clean coal
• Using nuclear power
• Adopting alternative fuels
• Exploring renewable energy, such as wind and solar

Both candidates tout plans to use emission trading to roll back the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to below 1990 levels before the year 2050. These plans differ only in the degrees set as goals. Barack Obama is targeting a 80% reduction, whereas John McCain is shooting for a 60% rollback.

I don't really see this as any difference at all. With any goals, we may come close, or we may overshoot the mark. With these two goals, either effort should get us in the same ballpark.

Either measure may require Environmental Health regulators to track GHG levels, making the next four years a period of growth for EnvisionConnect.

BIG things will be happening in September!

Did you ever have a secret that you were dyeing to tell, but no one would let you?

What if you had dozens of those secrets just aching to get out?

That is the way I feel about the 2008 User Training and Conference sessions.

EnvisionConnect is more powerful than ever before, and we have wonders to show our customers.

Additionally, the conference itself—September 29th and 30th, here in Fresno at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center—is undergoing changes, changes that guarantee to make it our most polished to date.

Watch this space for more details!