Database application

The Half-Life of New Technology

The concept of half-life has always intrigued me, particularly so when I was introduced to the idea of the half-life of material possessions.  Wikipedia states “The half-life of a quantity whose value decreases with time is the interval required for the quantity to decay to half of its original value.”  In terms of technology I find it particularly interesting to follow the latest “gadgets” that seem to become “must-have”, and within a very short time span are found to be arriving at their half-life within a month or two, soon to be replaced with the newest “must-have”.

Perusing the latest issue of Entrepreneur magazine in their “Looks that Thrill” section I noted the “candy-bar” style phone by Motorola (ROKR E8), and wondered what the half-life of this device will be for its users.  The device combines phone, music player and camera in a very elegant design - but what is its real value?  Is it a device which will gain value as time goes on, or will it end up with a short half-life?  An idea that “…seemed like a good idea at the time…”, but doesn’t pass the test of time.

Applications can have a short half-life also — and when an application is put together and implemented, only to be used minimally for a short period of time, and decreases in value as time goes on — it is a sign of poor planning for the project.  Perhaps the project was one that was done because a “cool” technology could be used for it, but just because technology enables an ability doesn’t always mean that it “should” be used.  In other words, the value doesn’t really exist.  It is my belief that an application being created should increase exponentially in value as it gets used, and yes, certainly at some point it does begin to decrease in value, but beware of the short half-life application, chances are there was little value to be provided by the project right from the start.

The Buy, Build or Ignore Decision

A recent visit to a doctor’s office this week channeled my thinking once again toward the simple applications that can save time in any environment.  As I was checking in at the registration desk, it was noted that they did not have the latest copy of my insurance card.  I gave the receptionist my card, and card in hand she walked to the back of the office to the copier, where she leisurely made a paper copy of first one side and then the other.  She then walked back to the front of the office and passed my card back to me, adding the two 8-1/2X11 mostly blank sheets of paper to my file.

This was one of those times when I wished I had a stopwatch in my pocket.  Yes, it has become just a part of her daily routine.  It seems like nothing, but this is a very busy office, and the receptionist figures she makes that trip at least 20 times per day.  I know that this journey of hers took approximately 1 minute, and used two sheets of paper.  Anyone care to estimate the cost of doing this on a yearly basis?  Monthly? Daily?  It certainly adds up!

Now, what might it take to create a simple application to scan and electronically store this information?  Recently the most requested functionality I’ve been adding to my custom programs have involved scanning application integration.  One can get as complicated or as simple as desired — and a high level of integration can be costly.  However, a simple database coupled with a scanner can be a powerful addition - even if only a temporary one.  It wouldn’t take much time before the cost of such a simple solution paid for itself.

Anyone else see inefficiencies easily and cost effectively addressed (even if incompletely)?  I see them all around me — but maybe I’m the only one :-)  I suspect not however.  I commonly hear from clients that they’ve tried the idea of scanning “…but it was too complicated…”.  It needn’t be, but scanning applications like so many others have fallen prey to the “bloat” we have unfortunately become accustomed to.

Spending the Day with Microsoft

Last week I had the opportunity to spend the day with Microsoft at their Heroes happen {here} Microsoft 2008 Launch Wave in Boston.  Evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to virtualization were plentiful.  Many of the demonstrations they provided, clearly were accessing virtualized machines.  Application virtualization was not quite as prominently noticeable however I understand one session which I did not attend, their session on virtualization in your infrastructure, did show application virtualization on Windows Server 2008.

I chose to follow the presentations provided in the “developers track” — surprise, surprise?  Microsoft managed to provide information sessions, for the most part, rather than vailed sales pitches — I commend them on that.  Of course, the greatest percentage of sessions and information provided were really geared toward the larger enterprise customers.

It’s always difficult to know after shows like this just what value I have gained from the time spent.  It probably will be a while before I truly understand the value to me, however, having the opportunity to work with the provided Not for Resale software — Server 2008, SQL 2000 and Visual Studio 2008 — I’m sure will provide value to me in the coming months.

Measuring Application Value - Step 2

In my previous post on measuring application value, I stated that the first place to look in establishing application value, is to complete application requirements definition.  Once you have clearly defined what the application is to consist of, and what value you expect the application to provide — you understand the business process that the application addresses and understand the value of having that business process improved.

With the requirements clearly defined, the next step is to establish, as a minimum, some key milestones that need to be met in order to accomplish the task at hand.  A project management tool can help in this endeavor.  One can get as detailed or general as required by the specific project, but with these milestones in place it provides a basis for creating a timeframe within which each task can be accomplished.

Once the timeframe has been created, it is a relatively easy task to then assign a dollar value for the time given an estimate of the individuals to be working on the project.  This approach can work as well for a large project as for a small.

Your work is not done however, because a thorough examination of your milestones will be required in order to determine the proper approach to completing the project.  That proper approach may take into account the particular development tools to be utilized, the pool of talent available for the development, or perhaps also require you to re-evaluate the steps to be taken as the project progresses.  Establishing a clear approach to the problem will go a long way toward establishing and measuring the application’s value.

How to Measure Application Value - Step 1

Since my living is earned through providing organizations with software application value this topic is one of great interest to me.  I’ve also stated regularly in this blog that I normally am dealing with small business.  In many cases when it comes to establishing the value of an application my clients are relying heavily on my skills in establishing application value for them.  They in most instances have recognized that there is some business process of theirs that is just not working.  This is the starting point for establishing value of an application project. Continued »

How to Measure Application Value - Part 1

When it comes to applications and the buy, build or ignore decision, one of the first considerations must be to find an answer to the question of what value the application is expected to bring forth.  That sounds simple enough, but how exactly does one measure the multiple values which any given application may be expected to provide.  On top of that, many applications once implemented can produce results which were totally unexpected.   Then of course there is always the challenge of putting A monetary value to the benefits.  All of these present challenges for both the developer organization and end customer.  So - where does one begin.

 I certainly don’t pretend to have the “answer”.  In fact, I believe, there really is no one answer for any organization, and the answers and methods used to evaluate “value” will vary from project to project.  My experience would show that sometimes the applications that prove of greatest value weren’t on anybodys radar, but were championed by someone within the organization with enough “clout” to say simply “do it!”

To set the record straight, I’m not saying here to “build it and they will come”, but I am saying that with proper consciousness to the business processes it is possible to hit a home run with an application that if analyzed early on with a “cost / benefit” analysis would fail miserably.  In following posts I intend to bring forth some of the perhaps “odd” methods I’ve been familiar with.

In the mean time, If you have anything you think should be addressed about application value — please post.

Applications, the Business and the Processes

Reading Bob Lewis’s most recent article in KJR set my head spinning with thoughts of a commoditized IT similar to that of an electric company.  What Bob Lewis refers to in his article is a recent book entitled The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (W. W. Norton, 2008), and written by Nicholas Carr.  The very concept of IT as a commodity makes my stomach churn, as I’m sure it does with many of my associates.  Continued »

Development Humor as Thought Provoking Material

While reading through one of the Visual Dataflex newsgroup posts last week I stumbled upon an exchange where some developers were talking about their preference to keep their machines “clean”, as in not installing programs which are not going to be used, but for one reason or another get “added” — something like the various shortcuts that appear after loading just about any commercial program these days –  tax software for instance:>)

Anyway, the following excerpt was just too good to not pass along. Continued »

Software Development Using Multiple Environments

I have used the Basic, ASP, Java, Progress 4GL and DataFlex languages to some degree within the past week.  (…as well as operating system specific programs which are another form of programming).  Each of these were used with different tools for different applications.  For Each (…there I go looping again) there are syntaxes which are very similar to identical, and at least for this brain, easily confused.  Thankfully, many of the tools provided for development today shield the programmer from the intricacies of the language. Continued »

Web 2.0 Applications - Ending Desktop Clients?

There is much in the tech press today about Web 2.0 applications, and although the term is used very loosely, and seems to be loosely defined, there are those who seem to think that the days of the desktop client are numbered!  My question is — what number?  My answer to the question would have to be roughly equivalent to the number of days that it has taken Cobol to die (remember Cobol, the language of business years ago?  and still around today?).

Well, Web applications have in fact come a long way from their start, and certainly they have made significant advances in their ability to handle the tasks of ordering on-line and related tasks.  However, while I read about all the wonderful Web 2.0 applications being created I find myself wondering at what point will these web applications be ready for the moment-to-moment database data entry tasks of a well-developed desktop application — or will they ever be — or if so, what about cost effectiveness?  Is there really a desire to have an ERP system for example with only a browser interface? Continued »