tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88845561624636173712024-03-05T05:05:55.962-05:00AcceleWeb BlogAcceleWeb BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-29186831177148269302017-01-22T12:40:00.002-05:002017-01-22T13:02:43.159-05:00What does AcceleWeb have in store for 2017?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although we did not have a goals update for 2016, I can safely say it was a transitioning year for AcceleWeb, Inc in many ways. We have built a consulting division, http://www.rubyonrailsconsultants.com, and are starting a big product migration.<br />
<br />
For 2017, our goals are to:<br />
<br />
1) Increase the client base for Ruby On Rails Consultants<br />
<br />
2) Complete the migration of our product in 2017. As part of this migration, we are redoing our products (www.getmethe.com , www.flywithcupid.com , www.allvineyards.com , www.fileapartment.com) and our approach in a big way, one that will set us up for for a stronger user experience, better functionality, efficient engineering, differentiated in many ways, with quality delivery. After this transition is completed, we expect our ability to deliver new products within AcceleWeb at least 300% more per year then historical. Stay tuned ...<br />
<br />
For further interest in any of the above two, please reach out at info@acceleweb.com<br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-45886777689417069462015-02-16T19:36:00.004-05:002015-02-16T20:56:30.815-05:00There are only 5 jobs in this world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As someone who has worked from everything to start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations in leadership roles, I have learned that anyone can do anyone's job for the most part.<br />
<br />
Some positions that require specialized licensing such as medicine or law may be limited just by those limitations. Barring that, almost any job can be done by anyone and can be learned in 2 years.<br />
<br />
There are only 5 real jobs in the modern business world:<br />
<br />
1) Building - Build processes, technology, gadgets, machines, policies, medicinal drugs, or service offerings<br />
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2) Selling - The ability to sell the items built.<br />
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3) Operations - Running the day-to-day businesses of those items built, whether it be legal or HR.<br />
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4) Managing money - Accounting and planning of monies that are acquired, distributed, and/or repurposed.<br />
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5) Support - Supporting the specialized product or service offering, whether it be customer service, marketing, advertising management, and/or fixing issues.<br />
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Those that start their careers over time find a place where they want to be in one of the categories above. This is where they stay and grow their careers, for the most part. Sometimes, mid-career, individuals transition to other core functions.<br />
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As we go higher in our careers, even though we specialize in one specific function, we also learn to navigate the other functions due to needs to understand those functions for effective management.<br />
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Those that can open their minds to understanding and playing a part in multiple functions will generally be able to grow into a larger role.<br />
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There are exceptions to these based on a person's personality, such as if they are introverted (support, managing money, or building) or extrovert (selling or operations). It does not mean they will not be successful, it just takes some folks a little longer to navigate into other roles then others.<br />
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As someone who started in engineering and is generally an introvert, and now running his own company, it is as important for me to pursue my core interest (building) as it is to put my shoes on for the other roles. <br />
<br />
So, if you have a perception of importance or do not have the confidence, don't worry. No one is important and everyone is going through the same experiences.<br />
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None of this is a hard and fast rule, but a conceptualized view of today's world.<br />
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Where do you want to be? Feel free to comment below.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-87982572942019362042015-01-04T00:18:00.003-05:002015-01-04T00:19:49.351-05:00Happy 2015-updates and goals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Happy New Year.<br />
<br />
Every year, we at <a href="http://acceleweb.com/">acceleweb.com</a> put updates on product and engineering goals and measure our organization against them.<br />
<br />
In the beginning of 2014, we stated goals for the year. Let's see how we did.<br />
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- Redesign of File Apartment (<a href="http://www.fileapartment.com)" target="_blank">http://www.fileapartment.com)</a> that will encompass a stronger foothold in the filesharing space providing features and functionality that will increase the tracking, storage, and sharing of files with accounts and plans. (Don't worry, we will still provide our a-la-carte option for those who want to just simply upload and share.) - <b>Done.</b> <i>(We decided to not offer the la-carte option after rethinking to prevent brand dilution).</i><br />
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- Feature enhancements for <a href="http://getmethe.com/">GetMeThe.com</a> to support attributes and sub categories.- <b>80% done</b> - The basic system is completed. We have to fill out the actual attributes.<br />
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- A new classifieds site based on the <a href="http://getmethe.com/">GetMeThe.com</a> classifieds engine/system. - <b> Postponed in favor of another project.</b><br />
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- Refresh of the All Vineyards app. - <b>Not prioritized</b><br />
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- A potential new utility app for Android. - <b>Postponed in favor of another project</b><br />
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Overall, we ended up not doing bad, however, due to other priorities, some items were reprioritized. The biggest project, redesign of <a href="http://www.fileapartment.com/">www.fileapartment.com</a> has been completed and launched. The other projects completed in 2014 include:<br />
<br />
1) Build out of a new network and servers.<br />
2) Migrating all our existing applications to the latest version of Rails. Up until recently, our applications were still on Rails 2.1. Now we are on Rails 4.2. This includes <a href="http://allvineyards.com/">allvineyards.com</a>, <a href="http://fileapartment.com/">fileapartment.com</a>, <a href="http://getmethe.com/">getmethe.com</a>, <a href="http://acceleweb.com/">acceleweb.com</a>, and stroke.acceleweb.com (our ad engine><br />
3) Advertising and marketing initiatives to help increase our sales.<br />
4) Addition of promotions and events sections on allvineyards.com<br />
5) Product planning for a dating site<br />
<br />
These activities have resulted in the following:<br />
1) Faster site load times, which helps with SEO and user engagement.<br />
2) Increasing revenue through <a href="http://fileapartment.com/">fileapartment.com</a><br />
3) Higher awareness of <a href="http://getmethe.com/">getmethe.com</a> and <a href="http://fileapartment.com/">fileapartment.com</a><br />
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<i><b>In the spirit of continuous transparency and improvements, we commit to the following for 2015:</b></i><br />
<br />
1) Release of a dating site<br />
2) New classifieds site based on <a href="http://getmethe.com/">GetMeThe.com</a> classifieds engine/system<br />
3) Complete enhancements for <a href="http://getmethe.com/">GetMeThe.com</a> to support attributes and subcategories<br />
4) Continue increasing marketing/advertising initiatives for awareness<br />
5) Android and iOS app launchers for <a href="http://fileapartment.com/">fileapartment.com</a> and dating site<br />
6) Enhancement of wine details page on <a href="http://allvineyards.com/">allvineyards.com</a><br />
7) Enhancements for <a href="http://fileapartment.com/">fileapartment.com</a><br />
8) A new analytics tool that is not currently available which we will use internally and may launch publicly.<br />
9) Our stretch goal is a new online chat concept, however it is very early to tell if this is feasible in 2015.<br />
<br />
Yes, this seems aggressive, but given some positive internal organizational changes, we believe we are in a position to be more nimble and faster then ever before. We will keep ourselves committed to not only product excellence, but execution as well.<br />
<br />
Regards,<br />
<br />
Manish M. Shah<br />
President<br />
AcceleWeb, Inc.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-28305620729166498982014-11-14T08:39:00.000-05:002014-11-17T00:17:09.604-05:00New File Apartment launched<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">Since 2008, </span><a href="https://www.fileapartment.com/?utm_source=AcceleWeb+users&utm_campaign=7201862588-File_Apartment_Intro11_13_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4132cc8189-7201862588-" style="color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">File Apartment</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"> has been a leader in file sharing services. Due to the increasing demand for security, rich features and functionality, seamless mobile/web transition, and simplicity, File Apartment has been redesigned from the bottom up, with brand new servers, software and systems.</span><br />
<br style="color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">We are proud to announce that the new </span><a href="https://www.fileapartment.com/?utm_source=AcceleWeb+users&utm_campaign=7201862588-File_Apartment_Intro11_13_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4132cc8189-7201862588-" style="color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">File Apartment</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"> is now live and ready to be used.</span><br />
<br style="color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">The site is feature rich with collaboration, versioning, permissions, speed and premium customer support. Best of all, File Apartment provides </span><strong style="color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"><em>unlimited storage </em></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">starting at the low price of </span><strong style="color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"><em>$3.99/mo</em></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">. All new users get a 30-day free trial without obligation.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-40021038109196203232014-10-24T10:35:00.000-04:002014-10-24T10:53:34.120-04:002015 Internship openings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
AcceleWeb, Inc. has openings for our highly coveted web (Ruby on Rails, Javascript, HTML/CSS, database), developer (iOS and Android), and QA internships for 2015.<br />
<br />
Given we are a start-up, we cannot compensate, but you will work on interesting, real-world problems and gain tremendous experience about technology and product development. Positions are limited and demand is high, so apply as soon as you can.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, if you in a university program that supports it, the positions qualify for credit.<br />
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The company is based in New York, but the position is remote and can be worked from anywhere.<br />
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If interested, please send resumes to resume@acceleweb.com<br />
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-72292591837965170842014-10-10T18:50:00.000-04:002014-10-11T10:17:30.401-04:00AcceleWeb growing up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After 9 years of running AcceleWeb, Inc from the couch, laying on the bed, sitting at my little desk at home, and coffee shops on a part-time basis, I'm happy to announce that we have acquired a space in Manhattan, near West Village.<br />
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The space is in a beautiful office owned by a realtor ( thank you, <a href="http://www.urbandwellersnyc.com/" target="_blank">Urban Dwellers NYC</a>) with plenty of natural light and a comfortable setting. This will allow us to work on our initiatives on a full-time basis and accelerate delivery of amazing new web and mobile products.<br />
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Pictures are attached to this post. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-68718372746248979542014-10-05T23:17:00.002-04:002014-10-05T23:18:05.568-04:00Disrupt, pivot, stealth - What?!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In my career, I have heard many terms used to basically define the same thing over and over. The terms do not really line up with what it is, and there is usually a more exact, simpler way of saying it. Unfortunately, verbiage is caught on and spreads life wildfire, and the core meaning of what that term is, is lost.<br />
<br />
These days, the terms that are predominant are - disrupt, pivot, stealth. In a given week, I encounter these terms at least 6-12 times, and that is if I am lucky. To be clear, these terms are relevant in the right context, unfortunately, they are not stated as such.<br />
<br />
So, what does one mean when they say "We are a disruptive organization that is pivoting in stealth mode?" To me, it sounds like a business with no focus or direction, somewhat like a car lost in a desert with no GPS.<br />
<br />
Now, if I were to redefine that statement into more simpler terms, I would say "We are trying a new business model." This makes more sense to me. Everything else is just fluff.<br />
<br />
Here's how I came to that conclusion:<br />
<br />
1) Disruptive - Any organization that "claims" to be disruptive is not. Disruption happens, it is not stated that it will happen. Some examples of these organizations today are Tesla Motors, Amazon, Apple, and Google. None of these organizations began with a bold statement saying "We will be disruptive." Instead, they built fantastic products and services that the market caught on to, and then claim what is disruptive about it. In my opinion, building products or services that are differentiated in certain ways to gain market share is a core tenement of business. I do not see how it is "disruptive" to do what you are supposed to do.<br />
<br />
2) Pivot - Pivot is nothing more then trying new things. Any organization should always try and experiment with different ideas to see what works and what does not. If a certain path is not working, try a new one, even if means doing a 180. Trying new things is nothing new and has been done for centuries.<br />
<br />
3) Stealth - This is generally looked at as fast as you can go to market. Firstly, all organizations, especially when starting up, should try to get to market as fast as possible. Secondly, this is somewhat of a dangerous term gives a certain visual of speed that is not accurate. An example, stealth does not mean killing your staff to get something out by having them work unbalanced hours. This is actually contradictory to stealth since the organization will still have longer-term issues trying to fix quality issues from speed of the current efforts and employee morale. <br />
<br />
I would be weary of any company that uses these terms. To me, that signals a yellow flag of a company that is all sizzle and no steak.<br />
<br />
Finally, these terms are used very cavalierly in general conversation. They do have truer meanings then their usage today, and should not be used so lightly.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-56180584548380528122014-09-18T16:13:00.001-04:002014-10-05T22:57:36.239-04:00Unprofessionalism in a professional world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the course of a professional career, there are a certain set
of expectations from individuals or parties that you interact with. Whether at the
office, with customers, or meeting vendors, we expect they work with you in a way you would want
to work with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However ideal this is, it is not reality. The reality is
there are situations with individuals or parties that are unprofessional. They
tend to be poor in following up, not clear in communications, or, in some
cases, just screaming like a child. Whatever the core motivation around this
behavior, fear, lack of ability to understand, or poor attention to details, it is
a behavior that was learned and, probably engrained, since childhood to “get
their way”. The ethical dilemma is how do you deal with those who do not speak
the same professional language that you do, but instead are bullies?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When having to deal with these situations, it’s good to step
back, evaluate and determine if you want to be a part of it or not. There are
certain situations that you do not have this option and there are certain
situations that you do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The times you do not have to deal with are situations are if
you are dependent on an employee, customer/vendor for your business or require
some level of funding to continue. If this is the case, it’s a risk assessment
to continue or not until the status quo has changed. For the status quo to
change, that change has to come from you – switch vendors, change customer or
customer’s agent, or find alternative forms of funding, replace employees.
However, it has to be in a way that risk is managed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other situations, you do not have to deal with this. You
can try to fix it or work with the party, but if it is not getting better, you
have a few options:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ignore the person. No contact is sometimes the
best way to get them to stop communicating.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Continue to calmly and clearly set your
boundaries. It is not unfair to say statements such as “Your email is
unprofessional and unless it becomes more professional, I have a right to not
respond.” Or “Your communications is unprofessional and not acceptable.”</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Quit/walk away/remove yourself. Although there
may be a tendency to feel a certain sense of failure if you quit, there may be
situations where this is the only option you have to get away from certain
negative behaviors or time-wasting situations. Walking away should not be
considered a sign of failure on yourself, but the party you are dealing with. Finally,
it sends an unsaid signal of</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">strength to
others.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The world of business is not just marketing, finance, tech,
product, or sales. These are categories created by humans, but business existed
before these categories existed. The world of business is dealing with
different types of people that have different priorities, values, approaches,
and options. Your best option is to use your knowledge and instinct to act upon
those you interact with. Finally, learn as much as you can about the situations
you are dealing with. Knowledge is power. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-70828101495307914122014-08-19T23:56:00.001-04:002014-08-20T00:02:40.482-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Since April, we have been polishing off the buildout of the new File Apartment.<br />
<br />
The new File Apartment will have more functionality, but with the same great ease-of-use you are used to.<br />
<br />
For a sneak peak, here are some screenshots:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Your apartment:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7QsKoQXOpV-iuc82v3lUGJeNzpVduXe_Re6AjxEiEKmd4QVz8FNRJm4DNQ9lzoeTJVKknbSk1HpXK91_59SP7aNFOPEfOWOfTvoaMXJKp43tn5EkbcVwYTzjFHMGnnY0GKBMbq_MDEiW/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.47.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7QsKoQXOpV-iuc82v3lUGJeNzpVduXe_Re6AjxEiEKmd4QVz8FNRJm4DNQ9lzoeTJVKknbSk1HpXK91_59SP7aNFOPEfOWOfTvoaMXJKp43tn5EkbcVwYTzjFHMGnnY0GKBMbq_MDEiW/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.47.25+PM.png" height="222" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Invite others to collaborate:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJf4_6KJnAMjY-ySuouqgAckwy_Es1pYrXO1qL5dIv2HOdzXOoIoi5WvuTuenEauHQEaGK1Qn0h3TnuGZ3qx2gmmj54_ERvQx6hOL-uimVUXzvkKAZZpnvv0m_oQRIQgw3o2fwB_navUx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.57.55+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJf4_6KJnAMjY-ySuouqgAckwy_Es1pYrXO1qL5dIv2HOdzXOoIoi5WvuTuenEauHQEaGK1Qn0h3TnuGZ3qx2gmmj54_ERvQx6hOL-uimVUXzvkKAZZpnvv0m_oQRIQgw3o2fwB_navUx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.57.55+PM.png" height="221" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>File details window:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZx-SRlJ4ThwrOwSJcBJFy9HMr9tiRt6qqodhMbneCsY5WJ4MPrZiMsM0DZj94xw5mil-aWIHxNVygYK5JU2HcZFc6bsfWSZR8CXuNUWX_6Xg0ghgOvVYIS3HiDYNT7echDr2cx-REmlb7/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.58.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZx-SRlJ4ThwrOwSJcBJFy9HMr9tiRt6qqodhMbneCsY5WJ4MPrZiMsM0DZj94xw5mil-aWIHxNVygYK5JU2HcZFc6bsfWSZR8CXuNUWX_6Xg0ghgOvVYIS3HiDYNT7echDr2cx-REmlb7/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.58.02+PM.png" height="222" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Create a new room:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDXXV8VjrFeb3T8CTIiFxwocBKD_FCWpBZg84GQWQZEojUQUCsFY86NCqxz-6ahGLSN5iCOiQS93_hnYB5CP5UABS2pTOpIgZf1k-IwHQT2cb1zu8eF7VS-cCQPqh9fYtMCLU24Kx1XQY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.57.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDXXV8VjrFeb3T8CTIiFxwocBKD_FCWpBZg84GQWQZEojUQUCsFY86NCqxz-6ahGLSN5iCOiQS93_hnYB5CP5UABS2pTOpIgZf1k-IwHQT2cb1zu8eF7VS-cCQPqh9fYtMCLU24Kx1XQY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-19+at+11.57.45+PM.png" height="221" width="400" /></a><i></i></div>
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As you can see, it's a clean, but easy to use intuitive interface. With File Apartment, you can now create multiple rooms and invite multiple users to the rooms you create where your files are stored. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-27406693981053756912014-03-29T14:42:00.000-04:002014-03-29T14:42:29.111-04:00Big minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, small minds talk about people<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of my favorite sayings of late is:<br />
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"Big minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, small minds talk about people"<br />
- Eleanor Roosevelt<br />
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This one line statement can be interpreted many ways, from the loosest to the strictest sense.<br />
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The way I look at it is not each of the three pieces are exclusive, but generally, people lean towards one of the three pieces. You cannot exclusively talk about one without the other two in most cases.<br />
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There's also a bit of your background on where you fall into these categories, i.e. your upbringing and environment that you were brought up in.<br />
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But ultimately, human society runs on ideas and the execution of ideas. Talking about ideas fosters more ideas and more creativity that can be executed on. It also helps the mind feel alive and interested.<br />
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Discussing events, and more so, people, are a result of talking about happenings around us vs ideas to make the happenings around us better.<br />
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Only with ideas, can the world improve and move forward. <br />
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So, as you go to school, work, hang with friends, or relatives, keep in mind that the guiding the discussions towards ideas is more enjoyable then what's happening when or who's doing what, and do not expect anything less.<br />
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What do you think about this saying?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-78547474387454300462014-02-09T19:18:00.002-05:002014-02-09T19:18:38.380-05:00Runway needed for new products to come to fruition in the marketplace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
These days, there are more software start-ups being funded faster then ever before.<br />
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From incubators such as YCombinator to full-service firms such as Kleiner Perkins providing funding. Also, the tools to get products out quick through cloud computing, such as AWS and Rackspace, and programming languages, such as PHP, Python, and Ruby on Rails, we are seeing a factory of minimal viable products come to market at an accelerated pace.<br />
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However, once a minimal viable product is released, there is an injection of marketing, quick iterations through customer feedback and adding new features, potential legal complexities, and selling to the marketplace to gain marketshare and customers as quickly as possible. This is where the company truly needs to prove itself.<br />
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The challenge is not getting version 1 out, the challenge is getting to version 2 - where there's a need for a hockey stick growth of customers and proving the viability of the company and the idea.<br />
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The sad truth is 99% of the companies do not make it to version 2, which is where series A funding generally kicks in.<br />
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So, if you are going to do a start-up, from my experiences, it is important to consider the ratio of product development to marketplace acceptance is about 3-1. What does this mean?<br />
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Simply, if a product takes 3 months to make, expect an additional 9 months to determine market viability and maturity, or 1 year in total. If it takes 1 year to make a product, expect an additional 3 years, or 4 years in total.<br />
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The reason this calculation works is a direct correlation of the features, complexity, and competitiveness of the product itself against how much time will be needed to allow the product to infiltrate in the marketplace. <br />
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As a result, it is my recommendation, if you are going to do a start-up and want to succeed with subsequent fundings, growth, it's important to calculate the 3-1 ratio before embarking on a boiler room adventure.<br />
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Finally, it is hard to predict if the product will take off in the marketplace, before getting it out. However, it's good to think through the different permutations of the product early, so that there are potential areas to quickly pivot if needed based on the marketplace responsiveness.<br />
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That said, go forward and have fun.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-17822567866315762952014-01-04T17:46:00.004-05:002014-01-04T17:46:47.160-05:00Happy 2014-updates and goals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Happy New Year 2014!<br />
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Every year, I put updates on goals for the year.<br />
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Our last year was fantastic in terms of marketing, traffic traction, and updating our back-end systems.<br />
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We also picked up a few partners along the way for licensing some of our back-end systems that drive our own web sites.<br />
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Also, for the first time since we started the company, we are profitable. Not immensely, but enough for to get a 1 TB SSD Macbook Pro 15" retina and cover our administration costs.<br />
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As we roll into 2014, we have a renewed focus on moving forward on our products. Some things to look forward to:<br />
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- Redesign of File Apartment (http://www.fileapartment.com) that will encompass a stronger foothold in the filesharing space providing features and functionality that will increase the tracking, storage, and sharing of files with accounts and plans. (Don't worry, we will still provide our a-la-carte option for those who want to just simply upload and share.)<br />
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- Feature enhancements for GetMeThe.com to support attributes and sub categories.<br />
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- A new classifieds site based on the GetMeThe.com classifieds engine/system.<br />
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- Refresh of the All Vineyards app.<br />
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- A potential new utility app for Android.<br />
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- More exciting/interesting stuff.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-17522344149422078642013-12-29T14:59:00.003-05:002013-12-29T21:44:41.135-05:00Software low barrier to entry not necessarily good<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Generally, in the technology industry, the mantra is that barrier to entry for software is low. There are multiple reasons for this, but the primary reason is that software requires very little physical pieces to get started with and there is a lot of documentation out there. This is unlike other industries such as :<br />
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Hardware - which requires hardware components, physical goods, durable materials. Examples: Computers, phones, appliances</div>
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Retail - which requires having expensive physical stores built-out to attract customers</div>
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Hospitality - which requires having attractive, physical spaces to allow individuals to be entertained/housed at, such as hotels, resorts, and/or cruises.</div>
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Because of this belief, generally, it is believed software is a great industry to get into. However, after being in industry for close to three decades (I started when I was 10), I argue that having a low barrier-to-entry is more of a hindrance than advantageous for the software industry. </div>
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In the early days of software, before distribution was easy to do over the internet, there was a premium to buying a physical good, i.e., a software package, for hundreds, sometimes, thousands of dollars, to build out applications on desktop computers. Alongside knowledge and documentation was sparse and hard to find except only in the hands of industry professionals through bookstores and the companies that built the packages. Examples of this include Borland's development tools, Microsoft development tools, middle-wares such as CORBA or EBS, or PowerBuilder. There was no such thing as try before you buy in those days. </div>
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These days, software packages and documentation are easier to acquire across the spectrum, from low quality to higher quality, for free to mere hundreds of dollars to get started. If there's enough interest, intellect, and momentum, almost anyone can pick up a software package and develop software for desktop, web, mobile, or embedded systems.</div>
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However, due to the high investment of higher barrier-to-entry industries, there is an incentive to create something that is different, competitive, appealing, and interesting for the consumer.</div>
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With lower-barrier-to-entry, as we are now seeing, the level of quality of resources and deliverables in the industry have gotten lower and lower over time. An example is software development tools are not as good as they used to be and, as a result, the software itself has suffered. Games industry is another industry that have become highly fragmented. Very few companies have done a good job in keeping up with the concept of premium and quality, which are those that have a high investment. The companies that do not are the ones that anyone is picking up and using pure short-cuts and non-thoroughness to build what I call crudware. From what I've experienced and seen in the past and today, there is a lot of crudware out there today.</div>
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One may argue that low-barrier is better because this empowers those who may not have been able to participate if it was high-barrier. I would say these individuals also do not think through as clearly what they are building which results in lower quality products that beg the question why it was even built in the first place. A lot has to go into quality software, such as UI experience, requirements, understanding what the customer wants, graphical and font elements, and finally consideration of multiple screens (web/mobile,etc).</div>
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Finally, we have gotten into a position of "ready, fire, aim", which costs a lot more in terms of time and people resources to get a quality piece of software out that is usable and makes sense on why one would use it in the long term. Most companies get to "Ready, fire" (which are seed/a-round investments", but aim fizzles way. Which in turn, results in consistent low quality and, frankly, as we are seeing, low ROI and waste for 99% of the software technology companies out there. This in turn does not help the investors.</div>
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A good metric for that is to look at companies that were mentioned in publications such as TechCrunch, Business Insider, or Gizmodo a year ago, and look now. You will notice most of these companies are not in existence anymore. Lower barrier entry results in lower quality industry.</div>
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My suggestion is if you were going to go into software development, instead of seeing what is the minimal you would need for seed, first start with what you would do if you had $2 million investment. And then break it down into iterations of the company. This will put more thought into how you would recoup the $2 million investment over a 3-5 year timeframe. And as VCs, this is what I would recommend looking at. This is what has to be done in high barrier-to-entry industries. If we treat software as a high barrier-to-entry industry, we will get high barrier-to-entry industry quality.<br />
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You can not do it all in one iteration, plan what you release and when you release.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-68826065091880248062013-12-04T12:08:00.004-05:002013-12-04T12:54:55.368-05:007 layer burrito architectures and it's drawbacks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As I talk to different companies, there are places that exhibit what I have dubbed the "7-layer burrito" architecture. Of course, this name comes from the 7-layer burrito that Taco Bell sells.<br />
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As a food item, it's delicious. As an infrastructure or software architecture, it's not advantageous for an organization.<br />
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A 7-layer burrito architecture is an infrastructure architecture that has added layer upon layer of systems because:<br />
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1) There was not time to refactor or refactoring was not done completely.<br />
2) There's a new technology that is "cool", so they must have it.<br />
3) A belief that more layers are better - "bigger is better".<br />
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7-layer burrito architectures, of course, does not mean exactly 7-layers. But, if any organization goes to 7-layers, it should rethink what they're doing and focus on minimizing.<br />
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Personally, I like simple. The lesser the number of layers:<br />
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1) The less time spent maintaining and up keeping of each layer as new versions come out. Including testing, debugging, and fixing integrations.<br />
2) More time is available from the team to work on value-added items.<br />
3) The speed to debug and fix production issues is faster because there are less layers to roll through to find the root cause.<br />
4) The speed to process and deliver information is faster.<br />
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If any organization does have a 7-layer burrito architecture, they do need to rethink why it is there and find ways to minimize it. Else, the organization can become bloated and slow down throughput tremendously.<br />
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At AcceleWeb, our architectures are simple. We have no more then 3 layers of infrastructure to support our sites, and believe that these days, very few organizations need more then 5. As the number of layers increase beyond 5, the architecture gets derailed by complexities in handling each addiitonal layer.<br />
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I would love to hear from others their thoughts.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-50515851687251141702013-11-21T05:37:00.002-05:002013-12-03T12:58:50.753-05:00Technology teams are stakeholders, not cost centers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The definition of a stakeholder is: a person with an interest or concern in something, esp. a business.<br />
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Currently, technology teams are looked at as cost centers. With the definition above, I argue that technology teams are stakeholders, not cost centers, and should be viewed that way by the business and the technology leadership.<br />
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The reason I say this is because there is a symbiotic relationship. Given the scenario a business is dependent on a technology team, technology teams cannot be present without support of the business.<br />
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As a result, technology teams should view themselves as stakeholders, in which they are providing value back to the business, which would hopefully grow through technology product and operational efforts ( see <a href="http://acceleweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/product-oriented-technologists-vs.html">http://acceleweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/product-oriented-technologists-vs.html</a>). From there, investments occur back into the technology team in terms of employment, growth, higher budgets, increased compensation/incentives, and business knowledge/understanding. This allows for an increased demand for technologists at the organization level, and in turn, at the industry level, which raises the value of technologists as a whole.<br />
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As a result, I view technology teams as stakeholders, not a cost center. With this lens, the way a technology team member views themselves individually changes dramatically, which I would hope increases productivity and ROI from the technology teams out there. If the teams understand that they are providing value back to the business, instead of just a cost center that bleeds dollars, I think there would be higher motivation from the team itself to do better.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-41018346943411691692013-11-05T10:58:00.001-05:002013-11-05T10:58:23.089-05:00People scaling in technology teams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In technology, we discuss scaling up technology to support traffic and growth. What is not mentioned, however, is a concept called people scaling.<br />
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People are the most expensive part of any tech organization. They are compensated for their thoughts and ideas to build and maintain systems and software for the business. So, when it comes to technology scaling, there is an upward dependency on people scaling.<br />
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What exactly is people scaling? <br />
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People scaling is :<br />
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1) Freeing up time from your most valuable people to open up capabilities from them to increase innovation and operational efficiencies.<br />
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2) Removing dependency on one core individual to be the brain of the whole team and dissipating that responsibility through the tech organization. Not only will this allow the team to grow, but it will also allow more thought-leadership to come from the core individual and provide mentorship/growth to the rest of the team.<br />
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3) Opening up time for the team to solidify existing systems so that there's no angst or lack of sleep in the organization from downtimes or slowdowns.<br />
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4) Increasing time for technologists to think through new and innovative ideas, do proof of concepts, and present these ideas to business. I believe for organizations that have a strong technology presence to succeed, it's important to have new ideas to not only come from product or business teams, but also from technology. For this to happen, the technology team needs to have time to work on these ideas to determine if they are feasible. This work should not be done outside of the work hours in their personal time, but during work hours, where they can collaborate with other technologists and not take their own personal time to do company work.<br />
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5) Keeping the team consistent. For an organization to stay competitive, the team must be as stable and consistent as possible. A team that has been there a long time understands the business, the technology, has history, and formed relationships with key business partners and with their own team members. Any change in the team has an exponential ripple effect the takes time away for training, expectations management, and ramp-up.<br />
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Instead of organizations properly people scaling technology teams, usually it's just hire more contractors or consultants. Contractors and consultants are good to add to the team for support, but they should not be added until the organization has properly scaled up its own people to be able to provide more time back to the organization without asking the team to work unreasonable hours.<br />
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At <a href="http://www.acceleweb.com/" target="_blank">AcceleWeb, Inc </a>, we understand this and maximize our people effectively to be able to do more with less.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-12272671701114333432013-09-13T14:32:00.002-04:002013-09-13T15:08:09.501-04:00Product-oriented technologists vs operations-oriented technologists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the tech world, there are two types of technologists: Product-oriented and Operations-oriented. In this case, when I mean operations-oriented, I do not mean sysops or devops, but as a higher-level categorization.<br />
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Product-oriented technologists work closer on revenue generating and efficiency-improvement initiatives, such as media-based systems with CMS, learning systems, ecommerce, cloud computing, big data and/or mobile. They generally have a better understanding of the business, know how to narrow the gap between business and tech, participate in roadmaps, and can provide product-level value add to the business to help support and grow with the application and back-end systems. They also work on making sure the servers are set up correctly and configured to support the product with speed, functionality, and performance.<br />
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Operations-oriented technologists work closer on keeping the lights on, making sure patches are up-to-date, bugs are fixed, and minor enhancements and features are completed. They generally need direction on initiatives from product-oriented technologists to help keep things moving forward at an accelerated pace so that the gap between business and tech can be as narrow as possible.<br />
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In the tech world, both types of roles are needed. Organizations in growth mode tend to lean towards product-oriented technologists while organizations in sustainability mode tend to lean towards operations-oriented technologists.<br />
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Product oriented technologists generally can veer towards play the role of an operations-oriented technologists. However, product-oriented technologists are not as interested in being operations-oriented for a long term. As a result, many end up leaving once a company goes from growth to sustainability mode.<br />
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On the other hand, operations-oriented technologists tend to stay at organizations for much longer, as their value is to sustain the business and are not as interested in product level initiatives.<br />
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Finally, industry-wide, there is more of a demand for operations-oriented technologists due to many organizations tending to move to sustainability mode and in need of a larger pool of technologists as the organization grows the business on the backs of the products that have been built.<br />
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At <a href="http://www.acceleweb.com/" target="_blank">AcceleWeb</a>, we are proud to be a product-oriented organization with product-oriented technologists. We are consistently creating and improving our applications and systems to be able to provide the best-in-class services to our customers.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-67418760308452541842013-08-14T12:50:00.001-04:002013-08-14T13:23:08.697-04:00Don't hire a "technical architect" without understanding what you want.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In my opinion, positions that need to be hired, with folks you have not worked with, into an "architect" title that has no clear roles/responsibilities is asinine. Ask 100 different people what an architect's roles/responsibilities are, you will get a 100 different answers.<br />
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I continuously get requests for a company looking for an architect. When asked what are the roles/responsibilities, some say "it's a management role", others say "heres a list of technical items you should know" with no clear understanding of the position itself. My favorite is "you do everything technical" <== I don't understand this. Does that mean product development? Managing tech projects/people? Development? Infrastructure? Building out systems? Doing drawings all day?<br />
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If the roles/responsibilities are unknown, then it's a failure on management to understand what the need is and what the expectations of commitment is from the individual.<br />
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Finally, hiring an architect that is an unknown without clear expectations puts the individual in a detrimental position, because they do not know the systems, the apps, or the business well enough to effectively do their job.<br />
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So, the organization is better off doing one of the following :<br />
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1) Hiring a senior developer that has the potential of being promoted over time to architect.<br />
<br />
2) Make it a tech manager position, if that is the intention, and allow them to effectively manage.<br />
<br />
3) If the hiring manager and the architect candidate that needs to be hired in have worked together before (either in a full time or a consultancy capacity), then it's an option to bring that individual in, as there are clear expectations from both sides on the role and, more then likely, the manager is in a similar industry/work environment as before to allow the architect to do his job effectively.<br />
<br />
4) Hire an "architect" that is proven in industry through blogs, books, or speeches so that the manager understands their capabilities/expectations.<br />
<br />
5) Be very clear on the roles/responsibilities of the individual coming in and stick to them, do not continuously re-prioritize.<br />
<br />
However, don't ever make an "architect" role and hire someone in that's unknown without clear expectations. It will not work or will be excruciatingly difficult.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-19105951501565113192013-08-09T09:01:00.001-04:002013-08-09T16:11:04.258-04:00 CTO/VP at small companies/startups… really?! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
I’ve been getting a lot of calls for “CTO” or “VP” technology positions for start-ups.<br />
<br />
Come on guys, a 2-5 person company where one person is the CEO does
not make the tech partner a CTO >OR< VP. Put it as how it really
is, they’re a senior engineer. Especially, since the senior engineer
will be busy coding up your little website or mobile app, setting up
servers, figuring out hosting providers, collecting requirements,
working on designs, and trying to appease the CEO.<br />
<br />
Trying to market a senior engineering role as a CTO or VP is detrimental to the employee and the company. What happens is in 2 years, >if< the company
does gain any momentum, that individual who is a CTO or VP will be
replaced by another more senior CTO or VP. Suddenly, the senior engineer
exits the company out of the weirdocity of it all and the company loses someone
that has knowledge and experience.<br />
<br />
Giving equity and a piddly salary does not help the morale of the employee or the sustainability of the organization.<br />
<br />
Why not instead just give that person a senior engineer title and let nature takes it course? It will make it less comfortable for both
parties and, honestly, at the end, probably put the company in a better
position.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-30851746831350176582013-08-09T09:00:00.003-04:002013-08-09T09:00:30.709-04:00 The problem Google Goggles is trying to solve <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
A lot of people I talk to in industry and articles talk about the
problems with Google Googles and associated issues. Also, many mention
why anyone would use it?<br />
<br />
Well, it’s actually trying to solve a problem. When I was out
yesterday walking the streets of Manhattan, I saw a lot of people head
down looking at maps/head up looking to see where they’re going, rinse,
repeat to get to their location.<br />
<br />
So how can you view maps and see where you’re going at the same time? That’s the problem Goggles’ is trying to solve.<br />
<br />
I don’t have an opinion until all the kinks and legalities are worked
out, and I have had a chance to try it<br />
– but at least Google’s trying
to solve the problem of the kinked neck.<br />
<br />
The other solution is to set up GPS voice navigation to an earbud,
but my experience with voice navigation is it’s flaky, so there is an
element of distrust in it, imo.<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-13656072648066182872013-08-09T08:59:00.004-04:002013-08-09T08:59:52.315-04:00 Separation of functionality and data <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Today’s structures for software development is basically two distinct
separate pieces. This is true for any software that is developed:<br />
<br />
1) Features/functionality/framework to let users munge, CRUD, maintain data.<br />
<br />
2) Data storage and retrieval systems.<br />
<br />
It got me thinking this approach has not changed in over 30 years in
software development. That said, this is the same approach that has been
used even before software development became an industry.<br />
<br />
Examples:
Televisions are features/functionality/framework, television shows are
the data that is exposed. Movies are same with movie theaters and
movies. Even you can, with a small leap of faith, claim that real estate
has apartments, office buildings, etc as
features/functionality/frameworks and the “data” are the tenants using
it.<br />
<br />
As humans, we’ve evolved into two piaces of products we make in
general –<br />
Features/functionality/frame work and data to utilize it.<br />
<br />
It makes me wonder if this is how we’ll continue, or if we need to
restructure to come to a different type structure for us to move to a
new level of optimization. I am not sure what this would be, but it is
an interesting paradigm we’re in.<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884556162463617371.post-62234611863369630242013-08-09T08:58:00.002-04:002013-08-09T08:58:59.040-04:00 Mobile vs Web usabilities <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
I have a laptop and a mobile phone. Why is it that some features are
better on mobile and are not easily replicable on the desktop versions?
It seems like things that should be simple to do on a desktop is just
not there, but it’s simpler on mobile, that I have to go between the
two.<br />
<br />
A few examples are:<br />
<br />
- Google Places – GREAT feature on Google Maps to find contextual
places near an address. However, to do a similar feature on desktop,
there’s no Google places button. You actually have to search and find
near by.<br />
<br />
- Newsreaders on desktops are a pain. On mobile, it’s easier to
digest and view news. I use Pulse, and Pulse on the desktop is just
awful. It’s slow, harder to navigate, and painful to use.<br />
<br />
- Linkedin on mobile’s great, especially these days. The desktop
version is a plethora of items that’s difficult to navigate and focus on
what you want. The mobile version, on the other hand, is elegant, and
easy to navigate to information that you want.<br />
<br />
- Most of the major email clients on mobile are great. The desktop versions also have the same issue of navigation.<br />
<br />
Now, I get this push for mobile, but sacrificing the desktop version
for mobile is a bad idea. After all, more people still use desktop
versions of these web applications then on mobile.<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0