So the project looked as follows:

1. Review codebase
2. Review problems with mail delivery
3. Suggest improvements, scope and people needed to bring the project in under budget
4. Do interviews for technical people (ended up interviewing 6 people in a day for 2 roles)
5. Get all code under control, install code revision and management, get developers working on new version of project
6. Implement email fixes to get email into Inboxes
7. Project manage for weekly updates to client

One of the things that made the project manageable from my perspective was hiring the right people from the beginning, so that my work was limited to communication and prioritisation, which is how it should be. My general point of view is that if a product or project manager is spending more than 20% to 30% of their time on any one project, then something is wrong. Maybe 40% on the outside is acceptable for a really technical project, or one heavy in stakeholder communication, but then that’s really becoming an account director or similiar.

So, once the tech people were bedded down and we’d established the priorities for the project, we moved into a nice agile routine which got the project done well under time, making the client happy. Principle lesson and take away – hire the right people from the beginning, and life is easy. Do the opposite, and projects can be hell

So deliverables for this short project were as follows:

1. Review systems and infrastructure
2. Review current search engine optimisation
3. Review site usability and user journeys
4. Deliver document which outlined improvements on all of the above, as well as wireframes for primary layout and pages

The good news is that the client team has been slowly chipping away at the list of suggestions, and they’re starting to make real progress and get search engine results, which is awesome! Take home for me was: persistent, consistent effort is often the only way things get done “in house” as there are often so many competing priorities that the only way to move forward is with a little sculptors hammer – it takes a long time, but you eventually get your masterpiece!

Not doing #agile is like walking thru molasses with your hands behind your back, with blindfolds on, covered in treacle

Note they’re not all the same thing:
Robust is code that doesn’t break, is easily tested, scales well, and where collaboration is easy.
Fast is what it says on the tin, literally releasing new code fast and often.
Agile means being able to change direction, or make changes, quickly.

In my experience, Agile software development is the best way to enable the above – it’s a compromise between speed, collaboration and real results.

So with this engagement, the brief was to review everything (tools, processes, infrastructure, code) and to come up with a document that includes analysis and recommendations. My observation from this experience is that there is a fine line between agile development and chaos, but that this line gets thicker the more you invest in the right systems, processes, tools and infrastructure, which all enable and support doing *stuff* fast.

For example, in no particular order:

1. Testing is harder than it needs to be if there are no testing environments, unit tests, documentation of code, testing scripts, user outcomes (there are many examples, these are just a few)
2. It’s difficult to estimate and prioritise for business priority, when your list of items to work on is not prioritised or you don’t know what dependancies are
3. If you ask people to step outside of their comfort zones, more often than not you’ll be met with resistance. Use tools that make people comfortable
4. If it takes a long time or is difficult, to release a version of your software, then you’ll release less often and make more mistakes
5. If everyone understands the processes involved, you’re more likely to become more efficient. If those processes are changing or non-existent, efficiency is hard to gain.
6. If you’re going in the wrong direction, you don’t want to get there faster. If your code doesn’t support quick changes, you’re not going to be able to change direction quickly

The above are just some examples that were pertininent, so you should get the general idea.

My hope is that with the right motivation, we’ll fix the issues holding things back by setting up the right infrastructure and processes to support the business goals, and end up creating an environment that does indeed foster robust, fast, agile development.

The previous company has left them in the lurch, and from what I can tell from reviewing everything, has left them with programmatically correct code, but not a holistic approach that touches the other elements necessary to make sales over the web. For example, the markup (client side code) used in the site executes the design well enough, but does not accommodate or take into account how search engines work, and most importantly fails on some user interface / usability fronts too. It’s not a product company that sells widgets, but one which relies on personal contact with a salesman to make revenue, but where the personal contact could be first initiated over the web.

If people can’t find you on the web, then whatever your site is, and however good it is, and however much it cost you, is nigh on useless. So these are things that we’re going to be working on – the objective is to improve the organic search funnel to get more people to the site without paying anything, and to increase conversion so that when people are on the site, it does what it is supposed to do. To coin another phrase to explain things, “we want our site to be like 3 salespeople”….

And so this is the high level project breakdown:

1. Setup infrastructure to work fast and make changes quickly
2. Move CRM system over to new server to remove old service provider dependancy
3. Setup Google Analytics and Google Adwords; make them efficient
4. Transfer previous (old) website search engine juice
5. Fix markup sitewide for organic SEO
6. Improve homepage usability and conversions
7. Move content from old website to new website
8. Setup blogging platforms for CEO and company
9. Setup social media funnels for engagement and credibility
10. Create content funnel sites for SEO, client education and acquisition

As you can see, the work varies from development, to online marketing, and with a bit of social media thrown in to make the client acquisition funnel wider.

I’m really enjoying working with a group of people that understand the importance (after a little education) of a holistic approach to what they do on the web, but more importantly the recognition that it is a process that needs to fit in with whatever is already there and is not something that can be rectified overnight (without a huge capital outlay).

The web is too much of an ecosystem now to ignore how people interact with different utilities (google, twitter, facebook, flickr, youtube), and thus how they directly affect the number of visitors to your site. Making sure you optimise for the funnel (into the site), and the site itself (generally usability on the site) will stand you in good stead.

Another update: This has also now started encompassing social media and software as a service consulting and implementation -> “How do we use Twitter?” and “What’s this Google Calendar thing?”….

Mode details here:
_ Official Google Blog: 30,000 new Google Apps business users at Valeo

This marks a significant moment for Google Apps, because Valeo has 30,000 Internet-connected employees, making this one of the largest enterprise deployments of Google Apps to date. Valeo is moving to the cloud with the support of Capgemini, one of the world’s most highly regarded technology advisory firms. This deployment across Valeo’s distributed workforce of 192 business entities in 27 countries and five continents demonstrates the vast scalability of Google Apps. Whether your company has just five employees in a single room, or tens of thousands of people scattered around the globe, Google Apps can easily provide powerful messaging and collaboration tools.

Hopefully this is something of a beachhead for web services as a whole…

We also need the following:

1. Allow emails from more than one account to be diverted to the system and converted into tickets which can be assigned to team members according to language.
2. Have predefined responses stored in a database which can easily be included as a basis for an email
3. Allow specific emails from specific accounts to be automatically assigned to individuals
4. Have various levels of importance for support requests
5. Should allow the creation of different groups with various role capabilities

If you have any suggestions or experience to share please let me know in the comments.

Update: we’re using eSupport

From:
http://blog.kindo.com/

1. Pruning is better (and you can use your keyboard to move your family tree around)
2. Invitations are smoother (and we’re playing nicer with Hotmail)
3. Your profile page has more information for your family (more status updates, and a better calendar)

Since we’re no longer in “beta”, you can be sure that your tree and pages will work as expected. So continue to build your beautiful trees, and share it with your whole family. And tell your friends to start their own tree too!

We feel we’re far from the finished article – Kindo will grow up, evolve, and get bigger and better all the time. We’ve launched a new Kindo forum [http://forum.kindo.com] too, which is a good place to ask questions if you need any help. Please tell us what you do and don’t like about Kindo, and also tell us how you want it to grow too!

Bye for now!

Must say that the last few months have been a blur…
Since January of this year, Technovated has gone from 4 people, to 10, to a venture funded project with 14 people in all, over three office moves and many many late nights and long weekends.

There’s a blog post coming up about it all soon, but the long and the short of it is as follows:

1. I’m responsible for getting our venture funded application out the door soon, so I’m stacked as it is
2. I’ve battled to find dates this year that get the right mix of African and international speakers together at the same time
3. I’ve battled to find the right kind of sponsorship early, which would mean the difference between something good and something mediocre – mostly related to point 2 (since sponsors like to be linked to speakers and topics)
4. I’m convinced that it would be a loss maker if we didn’t get the right speakers – there’s a very fine line between raising enough sponsorship to make the cost for attendees affordable as well as afford to bring out good speakers; all before you have fixed numbers that are all paid up… and without a pot of cash to dip into, it’s harder to take risks

So, in truth I’m not 100% happy about it ‘cos I’ve been talking about it for a while and I’m the kind of person to do rather than talk wherever possible, but I’ve taken some good advice from people who are helping out, and the consensus is that we should be aiming for around March / April next year rather, to give us more time to get points 1 through 4 above right. I certainly don’t want to spend time, effort and potentially my goodwill only to get great speakers out to SA and the event is a dismal failure and costs me more money than I have or can afford!

Anyways, this isn’t a sob story if you were thinking you were gonna be reading one.

A lot of people have either told me to give the idea up, or told me that I’m crazy, but I believe that they’re wrong. I’m pretty sure now that the original format and idea that I had bubbling in my head is going to have to be re-thought to take into account the difference environment, the cost of long trans-Atlantic flights, and the relative expense that something like this is when compared to someones monthly salary.

That said, I think the direction to take is to adapt and give more time to finding the right dates so that the right speakers can congregate for the event. Once that is done getting sponsorship will be easier and therefore the chances of success higher.

So, bottom line is that I’m still personally 100% committed to getting this off the ground and happening in Africa, even if it has to be delayed some – I would rather delay by 6 to 8 months and make it a good one where everyone benefits, than rush to make it work in October and end up with something that is mediocre…

So, I ask you to bear with me, and to stay tuned. It will happen.

If you know any business analysts looking for an exciting gig/role, then please get in touch with me

Job description below, can send word doc if you like.

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Business Analyst – Job Description

Openads is seeking a highly skilled Business Analyst with a level of technical expertise, to work within the Product Management group.

Candidate will help formulate and define the scope and objectives of systems and technology. Based upon user needs and a thorough understanding of the business and industry requirements, the candidate will assess and present the business case. Must help assess the implications and impact of deliverable on the current and future business environment.

Working closely with the Product Owner, the candidate will be responsible for translating the project vision and consequently lead developers to solve business requirements. The analysis of business and user needs, then translation of those requirements into system specifications will be an important aspect of the job. Will also be required to build relationships with users, functional managers and consultants regarding specific deliverables.

Must be happy to pick up knowledge and expertise quickly in a fast-paced environment. Ideal candidates will have experience in the advertising industry and Agile Project methodologies.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with Product Owner
Will help translate key requirements from the Product Owner and translate them into a form that developers can work with. Will also aid the Product Owner in making key decisions

• Strategic Planning
Sit between the development group and the Product Owner. Must be able to provide input as required, communicate decisions and strategies and then help implement that strategy on specific projects.

• Process Improvement
Work within and help refine the requirement processes.

• Business Consultancy/Liaison
Play a supportive role in advising areas of the business and technical staff on the implication of new initiatives and ideas on existing applications.

• Business System Selection
Play a leading role in the identification and assessment of business systems solutions for specific projects. Ensure that the solutions are in line with Product Owner’s requirements

• Business Systems Development
Provide input into the development of new business systems through detailed analysis. Write specifications for external parties and internal staff to develop projects.

• Business Systems Delivery Mgmt
Play a lead role in the implementation of projects for business systems solutions. Assist in unit and integration testing, and manage sections of acceptance testing. Ensure components are delivered to satisfactory levels.

• Testing
Will play an active role in testing and identifying defects in deliverables

Mandatory Skills:
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Extensive experience of leading business analysis
• Good experience of process analysis
• Good experience of data analysis
• Ability to resolve issues without clear or predefined solutions
• Motivated, quick thinking and have an interest in learning various technologies.
• Must be happy to work within a structured Agile project methodology

Desirable Skills:
• Experience of Advertising industry
• Experience of working with Agile project methodology, ideally Scrum
• IT Development background
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Thanks in advance if you do
Gareth