kerndter.net

I support the Manifesto for Agile Software Development

cbkerndter — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:32:06 +0000

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

We follow these principles:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

If you feel that you could adopt these principles, you can sign the manifesto here, too.

Google Wave to Be Discontinued

Google Shared Items — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:15:56 +0000

Google's blog announced that Google Wave, the innovative communication platform released last year, will be discontinued.

"Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave's innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began."

Google Wave has a lot of interesting features, but the interface is confusing and difficult to use. While many thought that Google Wave will reinvent email, Google's service combined an online document editor with an instant messenger. Google Wave allows you to create "live" documents that are edited collaboratively in real-time, but it's more than a conversational version of Google Docs. It's based on an open protocol, so you can edit a wave using multiple services. It's extensible, so you can build gadgets and robots that add new functionality.

Google Wave had a lot of potential, but Google didn't manage to build a compelling user experience and define some use cases for the application. Instead of building a general-purpose interface for Google Wave, Google could've used the platform to create multiple applications with clearly-defined goals: a new version of Google Chat, a new version of Google Docs, a brainstorming app etc.

Now that Google Wave is discontinued, some of its feature will be added to other Google services (Gmail, Google Docs), but the platform will vanish. It's clear that Google doesn't want to invest in niche services, which is a big opportunity for startups. "We want to do things that matter to a large number of people at scale," said Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, in an interview.

Drag and drop attachments to save them to your desktop

Google Shared Items — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:48:58 +0000

Posted by Adam de Boor, Software EngineerDragging and dropping files is an easy way to save time in Gmail. We’ve previously blogged about dragging files to upload as attachments and dragging images into new messages. Now, if you're using Google Chrome, you can also drag attachments out of messages you receive to save them to your computer.Let’s say you have an email open containing an attachment. Hover your mouse over the attachment’s “Download” link or its file icon and a tooltip appears that says: “Click to view OR drag to your desktop to save." Simply click and hold, then drag your cursor to anywhere in your file system that you want to save the file. Release the mouse button, and voilà! Your attachment is saved (for large files, you may see a progress dialog).

Google Multiple Sign-in, Now Available

Google Shared Items — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:48:22 +0000

Google is rolling out a feature I mentioned in a previous post: signing in to multiple Google accounts simultaneously from the same browser. When you go to the Google accounts page, you might see a new option: "multiple sign-in". If you don't see the new feature, it will probably be enabled soon. After clicking on the "change" link, Google informs that this is an advanced feature and that it will only work for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, Google Reader, Google Voice, App Engine and Google Code. When multiple sign-in is enabled, a drop-down is displayed next to your email address at the top of the page, so you can quickly switch to a new account."If you use multiple sign-in, the first account you sign in to will be your default account. If you visit other Google products that don't support multiple accounts after you've signed in, you will automatically sign in to your default account for that product. If you sign out of any Google product while signed in to any account, you will be signed out of all your Google Accounts at once." (Google help center) When you enable this feature, the most significant change is that you'll see a new drop-down next to your email address in Gmail and other supported Google products. Click on the drop-down and you can sign in to a new Google Account without signing out from the previous account.Another change is that Google's URLs include a different number for each account: http://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/, http://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/, etc. Google's help center explains that Google's services didn't allow you to sign it to multiple accounts at the same time using the same browser because Google uses sign-in cookies that only let you sign in with one account at a time. Obviously, you can use multiple browsers, Chrome's incognito mode, IE8's "new session" feature, multiple profiles, but the new Google feature makes things easier. Now you can read your messages from two or more Gmail accounts by opening Gmail in multiple tabs.There are some known issues related to multiple sign-in: this feature is not available on mobile devices, Google Calendar's gadget doesn't work properly in Gmail, you can no longer use offline Gmail and offline Google Calendar and the "note in Reader" bookmarklet only works for the default account.{ Thank you, Stefan and Max. }

No One Nos: Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas

Google Shared Items — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:47:34 +0000

You can't create what clients need when you're too busy saying yes to everything they want. As a user experience designer, it's your job to say no to bad ideas and pointless practices. But getting to no is never easy. Proven techniques that can turn vocal negatives into positive experiences for you, the client, and most importantly, the end-user include citing best practices and simple but powerful business cases; proving your point with numbers; shifting focus from what to who; using the "positive no"; and, when necessary, pricing yourself out.

Kick Ass Kickoff Meetings

Google Shared Items — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:47:21 +0000

Too many kickoff meetings squander the busiest, most expensive people's time reiterating what everyone already knows. If every meeting is an opportunity, why waste your first one? By asking stakeholders tough questions before the kick-off, and using the meeting itself to explore ideas and build relationships, you can turn a room of mutually suspicious turf battlers into an energetic team with shared ownership of the end-product and the kind of bond that can sustain the group through the challenges ahead.

What is the value of a facebook fan?

cbkerndter — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:02:54 +0000

I believe that this is a question that many businesses who have facebook pages are asking. Is it worth all the trouble of maybe even employing somebody to manage a facebook community?

Engaging in communication with a loyal customer base and especially new customers is probably the most important aspect of a business. Whatever business it is! If you do not communicate, you will have no business.

So what is the value?

Syncapse has carried out an empirical survey/review, in which they examined the six leading contributors to facebook fan value

Product Spending, which is “The ability to understand the methodology of increasing product spending.”
Brand Loyalty: “The ability to understand the available means to influence and promote brand loyalty within a target audience.”
Propensity to Recommend: “Probability and propensity for word-of-mouth recommendations leading to sales.”
Brand Affinity: “The impact on brand perception and recall.”
Earned Media Value: “Efficiencies of earned reach and frequency via the Facebook platform.”
Acquisition Costs: “Efficiency of Fans in enticing others to participate and drive organic membership.”

The summary of key findings of the survey were as follows:

On average, fans spend an extra $71.84 on products for which they are fans compared to those who are not fans.
Fans are 28% more likely to continue using a brand, than non-fans.
Fans are 41% more likely to recommend a fanned product to their friends, than non-fans.

Of course these are statistical values that are based 4000 fans of about 20 brands, who were questioned.

So the average value of a facebook fan is 136,38$ or about 104,50€. Of course, this is a rather theoretical value and, considering the list of companies taking part in the survey, the figures will certainly be different for SMEs.

BUT there can be no doubt, that a fan has a value through different factors. So even if you put the value to only 20% of these 105€, a value of 21€ per fan remains.

Another Company called sysomos, in November 2009 analysed nearly 600,000 Facebook Pages to investigate usage patterns. They fund that 80% of “pages” would have about 80 fans. Which means, that the majority of pages would have a pessimistic value of about 1600€

Furthermore considering that looking after your Facebook community can grow it by about 3-5 per week. You will add a monthly value of about 360€ to your page. Over the first year this gives you an extra average value of another 2000€ and would sum up to a total of 3600€ in the first year.

Not bad considering that the initial amount of work you have to put into this should not exceed about 1 hour per week.

If you want to build a Facebook community, talk to us, we can help with advice and hands-on help.

Read how journalism works today in the “Internet Manifesto”

cbkerndter — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:15:10 +0000

1. The Internet is different.

It produces different public spheres, different terms of trade and different cultural skills. The media must adapt their work methods to today’s technological reality instead of ignoring or challenging it. It is their duty to develop the best possible form of journalism based on the available technology. This includes new journalistic products and methods.

2. The Internet is a pocket-sized media empire.

The web rearranges existing media structures by transcending their former boundaries and oligopolies. The publication and dissemination of media contents are no longer tied to heavy investments. Journalism’s self-conception is—fortunately—being cured of its gatekeeping function. All that remains is the journalistic quality through which journalism distinguishes itself from mere publication.

3. The Internet is our society is the Internet.

Web-based platforms like social networks, Wikipedia or YouTube have become a part of everyday life for the majority of people in the western world. They are as accessible as the telephone or television. If media companies want to continue to exist, they must understand the lifeworld of today’s users and embrace their forms of communication. This includes basic forms of social communication: listening and responding, also known as dialog.

4. The freedom of the Internet is inviolable.

The Internet’s open architecture constitutes the basic IT law of a society which communicates digitally and, consequently, of journalism. It may not be modified for the sake of protecting the special commercial or political interests often hidden behind the pretense of public interest. Regardless of how it is done, blocking access to the Internet endangers the free flow of information and corrupts our fundamental right to a self-determined level of information.

5. The Internet is the victory of information.

Due to inadequate technology, media companies, research centers, public institutions and other organizations compiled and classified the world’s information up to now. Today every citizen can set up her own personal news filter while search engines tap into wealths of information of a magnitude never before known. Individuals can now inform themselves better than ever.

6. The Internet changes improves journalism.

Through the Internet, journalism can fulfill its social-educational role in a new way. This includes presenting information as an ever-changing, continual process; the forfeiture of print media’s inalterability is a benefit. Those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential.

7. The net requires networking.

Links are connections. We know each other through links. Those who do not use them exclude themselves from social discourse. This also holds for the websites of traditional media companies.

8. Links reward, citations adorn.

Search engines and aggregators facilitate quality journalism: they boost the findability of outstanding content over a long-term basis and are thus an integral part of the new, networked public sphere. References through links and citations—especially including those made without any consent or even remuneration of the originator—make the very culture of networked social discourse possible in the first place. They are by all means worthy of protection.

9. The Internet is the new venue for political discourse.

Democracy thrives on participation and freedom of information. Transferring the political discussion from traditional media to the Internet and expanding on this discussion by involving the active participation of the public is one of journalism’s new tasks.

10. Today’s freedom of the press means freedom of opinion.

Article 5 of the German Constitution does not comprise protective rights for professions or technically traditional business models. The Internet overrides the technological boundaries between the amateur and professional. This is why the privilege of freedom of the press must hold for anyone who can contribute to the fulfillment of journalistic duties. Qualitatively speaking, no differentiation should be made between paid and unpaid journalism, but rather, between good and poor journalism.

11. More is more – there is no such thing as too much information.

Once upon a time, institutions such as the church prioritized power over personal awareness and warned of an unsifted flood of information when the letterpress was invented. On the other hand were the pamphleteers, encyclopaedists and journalists who proved that more information leads to more freedom, both for the individual as well as society as a whole. To this day, nothing has changed in this respect.

12. Tradition is not a business model.

Money can be made on the Internet with journalistic content. There are many examples of this today already. Yet because the Internet is fiercely competitive, business models have to be adapted to the structure of the net. No one should try to abscond from this essential adaptation through policy-making geared to preserving the status quo. Journalism needs open competition for the best refinancing solutions on the net, along with the courage to invest in the multifaceted implementation of these solutions.

13. Copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet.

Copyright is a cornerstone of information organization on the Internet. Originators’ rights to decide on the type and scope of dissemination of their contents are also valid on the net. At the same time, copyright may not be abused as a lever to safeguard obsolete supply mechanisms and shut out new distribution models or license schemes. Ownership entails obligations.

14. The Internet has many currencies.

Journalistic online services financed through adverts offer content in exchange for a pull effect. A reader’s, viewer’s or listener’s time is valuable. In the industry of journalism, this correlation has always been one of the fundamental tenets of financing. Other forms of refinancing which are journalistically justifiable need to be forged and tested.

15. What’s on the net stays on the net.

The Internet is lifting journalism to a new qualitative level. Online, text, sound and images no longer have to be transient. They remain retrievable, thus building an archive of contemporary history. Journalism must take the development of information, its interpretation and errors into account, i.e., it must admit its mistakes and correct them in a transparent manner.

16. Quality remains the most important quality.

The Internet debunks homogenous bulk goods. Only those who are outstanding, credible and exceptional will gain a steady following in the long run. Users’ demands have increased. Journalism must fulfill them and abide by its own frequently formulated principles.

17. All for all.

The web constitutes an infrastructure for social exchange superior to that of 20th century mass media: When in doubt, the “generation Wikipedia” is capable of appraising the credibility of a source, tracking news back to its original source, researching it, checking it and assessing it—alone or as part of a group effort. Journalists who snub this and are unwilling to respect these skills are not taken seriously by these Internet users. Rightly so. The Internet makes it possible to communicate directly with those once known as recipients—readers, listeners and viewers—and to take advantage of their knowledge. Not the journalists who know it all are in demand, but those who communicate and investigate.

Internet, 07.09.2009

Translated from the German by Jenna L. Brinning

Passing The Holy Milestone: How To Meet Deadlines

Google Shared Items — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:27:17 +0000

For too many projects, there comes a time when every action taken, every decision and sacrifice made, is spurred on by pressure to finish. Tempers seem to shrink along with the available days, talk about “high standards” gives way to “good enough,” and people realize that deadlines are aptly named. During the last-minute crunch, someone may well wonder, how did it come to this? Could it have been prevented?Every Web project has deadlines. But not every designer or developer deals with them the same way.[By the way, did you know we have a brand new free Smashing Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks on Tuesdays!]

What Causes A Deadline To Break?

Because a deadline marks the end of a project, everyone involved in the project must understand the deadline’s role. Most projects follow a schedule or have an estimated date by which they must be completed. The concept is simple then: when the work takes longer than expected, deadlines get missed. A deadline is the end point of a time estimate, making it a known quantity. But how long will the work actually take to get done?Of course, projects can be more complicated in their details. Unexpected technical problems and unanticipated changes will affect the amount of work required. Sometimes other tasks take priority. Sometimes the time estimate wasn’t considered carefully enough.Whatever the cause, too much work needs to be done in the available time. That’s the problem, but not the challenge.

Rate Deadlines By Severity Of Consequences

The hardest deadlines are tied to events that cannot be moved, such as a date promised to the public, an upcoming trade show or a date stipulated in a contract. Retailers know that their holiday sales must end at Christmas, and theater owners can expect movie-goers to be upset if a 1:00 pm showing doesn’t start until 2:00. Likewise, if a website is tied to a time-sensitive event, its relevance is lost once the event has passed. Hard deadlines have clear consequences when missed. Deadlines exist for a reason. The severity of the trouble caused by missing them increases dramatically after they have passed.Deadlines tied to less public events are no less real, but a project will soldier on if the deadline slips. Company-imposed target dates, for example, rely less on public demand than on the temperament of managers. Meetings routinely start 10 minutes late because “something came up.”The softest deadlines lack teeth or are set at some vague point in the future. That’s not always bad: not every missed deadline will cause a life-or-death crisis. But the same methods of solving the crisis apply. There are many strategies for handling a last-minute crisis. Most involve planning, setting priorities and knowing one’s limits.

Strategies For Preventing Deadline Crises

The beginning of a project is a great time to prevent problems later on.The first solution is both obvious and difficult: do not take on a project that cannot be completed in the given time. Declining paid work requires discipline and confidence, but if the deadline is impossible, then the project may not be worth the money. Money cannot replace time.Because deadlines with consequences are taken more seriously, keep a written list of definitive reasons why certain tasks must be completed by a given date. Losing money, customers and other assets create real incentives to work.Schedule deadlines as specific tasks, not the ends of phases. Rather than “Content will be completed by 4 April 2010,” state “Review the content over lunch on 4 April 2010.” This ties the deadline to an event at which results must be shown. Mini-deadlines tied to specific events are more powerful than general statements. Making up for minor time discrepancies during the course of a project is easier than facing a big shortfall when no time is left.

Plan For Unpleasant Surprises

Incentive may not be the problem, though. Unexpected problems cause many people to break deadlines. Their unpredictability make these problems hard to plan for, and good intentions don’t help you see the future. The key is to recognize that, whatever their nature, problems will likely occur.If everything seems accounted for in the project plan, then invent a problem. Keep it realistic: “reshoot staff photos” is more likely than “spontaneous server combustion,” but it doesn’t really matter. The point is to create extra time to allow for a deadline crisis. One rule of thumb is to add between half and all of a project’s expected duration. That is, increase the full time that has been budgeted by between 50 to 100% to allow for surprises.A plan of time estimates for major tasks in a project could look something like this:

Task:	Time allotted:
Content audit	15 hours
Develop content strategy	15 hours
Make WordPress theme changes	20 hours
Import data from old website	15 hours
Test on multiple browsers	5 hours
Total	70 hours

Being conservative, let’s take half of 70, which is 35. Now we invent a problem: say, having to retype all content from print-outs. Is 35 hours for that ridiculous? Perhaps. But obstacles are unexpected by nature, and they always steal time from an otherwise ideal budget. Scheduling for unknowns is hard, but acknowledging that extra time is required will better align estimates with reality.A line item needs to be added to the budget. It could be “Time to make changes” or “Allowance for unknowns.” The description isn’t as important as the fact that you have planned for surprises.Is half of the original budget too much? It may drive cheaper clients away, but overestimating and finishing under the deadline is better than the alternative.

Mitigate A Deadline’s Threat By Adding Other Deadlines

Implement mini-deadlines within a project’s timeline. Mini-deadlines minimize last-minute problems by serving as checkpoints to gauge how far off track the schedule is, if at all, at certain phases.

Start While the project is fresh in everyone’s mind, a schedule for the other phases should be set.
First quarter Everyone involved should have a sense of whether they can work together. Work begins, and the pristine project on paper comes up against the sticky details of reality.
Halfway point The bulk of the work happens here. If you doubled your estimate to account for surprises, you would actually be aiming to launch the project right now.
Third quarter If everyone pushed to launch by the halfway point, then almost everything should be done by now. But it rarely is.
Deadline Launch the project.
Review Win or lose, everyone should ask what should have happened at each phase of the project? What should have been done to meet each mini-deadline along the way?

Notice that mini-deadlines are based on time, not task. Tasks have a way of expanding, of taking up more time than planned, which mini-deadlines should prevent. Think of a mini-deadline as a chance to review the project’s timeline. While this approach may not entirely stave off a deadline crisis, it gives you opportunities to catch and correct problems along the way.

Plan Sacrifices In Advance

Every project has absolute requirements, which are essentially the reasons the project exists at all or the problems it is designed to solve. But many also have supplemental requirements. If a project requires A, B and C, then by all means include D, E and F, but only with the understanding that they might have to wait.For example, a newsletter is an important marketing tool for an e-commerce website, but less important than an easy-to-use cart and secure log-in page. Likewise, the top priority for a photo gallery should be to present photos. If the deadline is looming and the AJAX is buggy, then perhaps the blog should wait.Marking certain features as secondary provides relief when things go wrong. These features don’t need to be cut, but their deadlines should be later than those of the core project.

Practice

Measure the rate at which you work by timing how long you take to perform various tasks. You want to figure out how much time you need to comfortably perform each task, not how fast you can get it done.For example, the schedule might allow for 30 minutes to create a favicon. But in reality, it consumes 8 hours.Wait a minute. Eight hours for a measly 16×16-pixel graphic? Isn’t that… excessive?That’s not the point. You’re not learning the rate at which you work so that you can gasp in embarrassment at the result. Workflow efficiency can be improved later. The question is, how much time are you comfortable with right now? In this case, it’s 8 hours.Deadlines aren’t the problem. Problems arise when the work outweighs the allotted time. Learning how long you take to accomplish certain tasks is the best way to set a realistic schedule.

Conclusion

Not every deadline drama can be prevented, but even the worst can be dealt with professionally. Prepare for surprises, break up large tasks into manageable segments and prioritize. It’s a matter of respect: deadlines mean business. Do you?How do you prevent deadline emergencies? What’s the worst problem you’ve faced under time pressure? What’s your greatest solution? Share your story in the comments below.(al)

Indexing and Searching PDFs with WordPress is now possible

cbkerndter — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:00:59 +0000

Indexing PDFs is now possible for WordPress. Download the Index PDFs Plugin ( zip, 7.55 kB) here (Sorry, I did not have the time to upload it to WordPress)

The function was a requirement for a project and as i did not find any plugin for it John Blackbourn was so nice to develop it.

It hooks into the media upload and will index the PDFs as they are uploaded. There is also a possibility of indexing already uploaded PDFs, if the plugin is installed later. The PDFs will then be searchable by the site search. There are a few configuration settings available, e.g. link to the pdf or link to the post that has the pdf attached.

Unfortunately this plugin does not yet search pdfs uploaded through the WP Download Monitor Plugin, but we are working on it.

We would love to hear what you think about this plugin, so that we can improve it.