1. Create a list of features for the planned product version.
   • Some people call this a specification.
   • You know you can ship when the planned features are implemented and tested.
2. Get product stakeholders approval on specified features before implementation begins.
   • The agreement on specified features helps everybody (developers, testers, sales, marketing, customers) know what the product is supposed to do when it’s done.
3. Create a feature wish-list to collect suggested future features.
   • The key to avoiding feature creep is to prevent the features from sneaking into the existing product specification.
4. Implement only the features that were agreed on for a planned product version.
   • Even though it’s tempting to include little features, DON’T DO IT.
   • Once you let a feature sneak in through the back door, they’ll bring their friends.
   • Before you know it, the product will be over-time, over-budget, and out of control.
5. Add new feature suggestions to the feature wish-list.
   • The most important thing to avoid is a product mutation.
6. Ship the intended product version
   • If you stay focused, the intended product version will be released, then you can add new features
7. Evaluate the feasibility of suggested features
   • Some features might be “pie in the sky,” and might not be worth the time and effort.
   • Other feature requests are “no brainers,” everybody sees the added value, it just makes sense to make the effort.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 7

Questions:

• Does this mean that you ignore new feature requests until a product has been released?
• If a new feature is essential to the success of a product then what do you do?

Notes:

• Be very careful when considering the addition of any new features.
• Any time you are adding a feature to a planned project you should modify the product version to reflect the fact that it has been changed.
• Any change should require stakeholder approval to ensure everyone understands the updated specifications of the product.

8 Steps to avoid feature creep is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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CentOS stands for Community Enterprise Operating System.  To find a quick overview of CentOS, visit the wikipedia CentOS site.

The official CentOS website is http://www.centos.org.

My initial experience with installation and configuration was very positive. The user interface was easy to use.  I found many tutorials about CentOS installation and configuration online.  These tutorials were very helpful and had step by step directions  with useful screen-shots.

Tutorials:

• How To Forge – http://www.howtoforge.com/howtos/linux/centos
• CentOS Wiki – http://wiki.centos.org/
• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=centos

Example CentOS tutorial topics:

• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server
• Email (POP, SMTP)
• DNS
• Directory Service
• WebDAV
• FTP
• Firewall
• Squid Proxy server
• Virtualization
• ISPConfig

CentOS an inexpensive alternative to RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Sometimes we become so focused on the pursuit of a symptom of a problem that we don’t stop to ask if we are still focused on the real cause of the problem.  This happened to me recently.

During the iPhone development process you have a choice of debugging the iPhone App using the iPhone emulator or using the actual hardware.  The quickest way to test out your code is to build and debug using the emulator.

While developing an iPhone application for Podcast Stockton I used one of the iPhone Audio libraries. It never occurred to me that the emulator might not do everything the hardware does.  I was testing out the podcast playback and experienced some unacceptable behavior while using the emulator.  I spent the good part of an evening looking for the cause of the issue.  It wasn’t until after I had spent many looking over my code that I finally decided to do a sanity check.  I switched Xcode to debug using the hardware instead of the emulator;  that’s when I discovered I had been barking up the wrong tree.  The code that should have been working all along was working just fine.

When you run into an issue that should have been working, make sure to do a sanity check to see if it’s a symptom or a real issue.

In the future, when things seem a little off I plan to do a sanity check just to make sure I’m pursuing the cause and not the symptoms.

Barking up the wrong tree is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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After a little digging, I discovered that Cali has joined Revision 3 with a new show called GeekBeat.TV.

I wanted to start following the new show.  The only problem was Video on Demand didn’t have the show in the lineup.  The good news is I have a TiVo HD.  TiVo HD has the ability to subscribe to RSS video feeds.  All I had to do was manually setup an RSS feed for my show.  Here is how I did it.

Setting up an RSS feed in TiVo:

1. Go to Video on Demand Menu
2. Select Free VOD and Web Videos
3. Scroll down to the very end of the categories where you will find Custom RSS Feeds
4. Select Custom RSS Feeds
5. Select Add a new RSS Feed
6. Enter the RSS URL
7. Select Done entering URL

That’s it.  If it’s a valid Video RSS then TiVo will take care of the rest.

Video RSS feeds I’ve already setup:

• Daily App Show for iPad – http://feeds.feedburner.com/Dailyappshow-IpadEdition-AppDemos
• Geek Beat TV – http://revision3.com/geekbeattv/feed/MP4-High-Definition

TiVo RSS feeds is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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App Judgment takes a slightly different approach to demonstrating the programs.  It has the look and feel of a professional news show.  I have really enjoyed watching the AppJudgment episodes.

More news, reviews for iPhone and Android is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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1. You are part of the herd.  There are a lot of other people that are competing for that job opening.
2. Your weaknesses will help employers thin out the herd.  Your weaknesses might make you stand out in the crowd; this is a bad thing and will get you eliminated from the herd.
3. Most of your strengths help you join the status quo.  It’s important to keep up with the herd.  Your survival depends on it.
4. Identify your talents that set you apart from the crowd.
5. Help the employer visualize how your talents will benefit them in the present and future.
6. Keep your skills current.  Nobody likes stale food.  It tastes bad and is pretty much worthless.  If you’ve been employed for a long period of time,  your skills might have become a little stale.  You might want to have your skills evaluated.  Maybe take some refresher courses to sharpen those skills you haven’t used in awhile.  Are you up on the latest technology or will the younger competition make your weaknesses visible to the employer?  You want employers to view you as quick and agile; someone who adapts to challenges and overcomes adversity.
7. Believe in yourself.  If you are not convinced that you are capable of doing the job, then how will you convince someone else that you can do it
8. Communication is one of your greatest tools.  You might be the greatest thing next to sliced bread, but if you cannot communicate your value, then how will the employer know?  Spend some time polishing your “Elevator Speech” or 60 second me.  Keep it relevant and don’t ramble.

Who stands out? You or Them is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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I have had the good fortune of having several excellent father figures in my life.  Each have left a lasting impression on my character.

A few things my Dad taught me:

• Be a good provider for your family
• Always give 100% effort in whatever you do
• Never give-up, if it doesn’t work one way, maybe there’s another solution
• How to love others
• Be disciplined
• Loyalty no matter what

A few things my Dad’s Dad taught me:

• Have a hobby you can escape to
• Important things take time
• Be patient, good things come to those who wait
• Enjoy your garden

A few things my Mom’s Dad taught me:

• Always keep your mind active
• Never stop learning
• Vision can become reality
• If you try you can do it

As a father and scout leader, I frequently consider what advice to shared with my kids and other youth.

A few things I have taught my kids:

• Love God
• Love Others
• Love Yourself
• Treat everyone with respect
• Be patient
• Take responsibility for your actions.  Don’t blame other people for your problems.
• You need a vision, know your destination before you start.
• Finish what you start

Maybe you have a father figure in your life who has been an inspiration.  Share with us here.

Things fathers teach us is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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More rewards from the journey

While taking an idea from concept to reality is a very rewarding part of the journey, it is not quite over yet.  There are still many tasks that must be completed in order to finish the project.  The software must pass Quality Assurance to verify that it meets or exceeds the product requirements and specifications.

Then the software must survive real world use.

The final test is when the software is released into the wild. 

The greatest reward for a software developer is when people use it, recommend it to others and it survives the test of time.

NOTE: I have had the good fortune of developing software and firmware for several products that are still in production and actively being sold on the market today.

Developing software is rewarding is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Fixing a rotated picture

For obvious reasons, people don’t like rotating their heads to view a picture on their computer monitors.  You need to rotate the picture for easier viewing.  You can do this by doing the following:

Picture that needs rotating

1. Launch Office Picture Manager. Look under Programs => Microsoft Office => Microsoft Office Tools => Office Picture Manager. 2. Click on the icon that shows 2 triangles. One virticle, the other rotated. You choose Rotate Left or Rotate Right.  In this image, I have show the Rotate Right button highlighted. 3. Once you have rotated the image, you would click on the Save button

Reducing a high definition picture

If you are preparing a picture for viewing on the internet, you don’t need to have the same resolution. All Social Networks want a small picture that is quickly loadable. The High Definition pictures don’t fit these requirements, so you need to reduce the resolution.

Change picture resolution	1. Launch Microsoft Office Picture Manger. Look under Programs => Microsoft Office => Microsoft Office Tools => Office Picture Manager. 2. Click on Edit Pictures.
Editing Picture	3. Click on Compress Pictures Link.
Reduce resolution	4. Click on Compress for Documents. 5. Select File 6. Select Save As 7. Use different name, so you don’t over-write your original file.NOTE: The file size was reduced from the Original 2.53MB to 273KB. Most Social Networking websites will accept files this small.

Resizing and Cropping on the web

Once your picture that has been compressed into a usable size, there are websites that will help you to resize and crop your image for a specific Social Network’s image size requirements.  I would recommend reading my article “Resizing your image for social network profile” for more information about how to do it.

Tutorial: Convert Hi-Def photo for Social Network is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Here’s what I learn with each show:

1. It shows off the main features of each App.
2. I can see what is being charged for these features.
3. I helps me make an informed decision about the usefulness of an App without purchasing it.

To see what they have available you can visit their website at http://dailyappshow.com/

At the time of this post, it appears they are posting videos for iPhone, iPad, and Android Apps.

iPhone App reviews is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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