Archive for August, 2008

In the business of custom software development a lot of work comes in the form of people stuck with a technical need that they can’t figure their way around. This need is often unexpected. Often the people that are stuck are not technical.

In these situations the successful developer will quickly assess the need and write a proposal or estimate. To do this the developer needs to be able to ask the right questions, properly assess project scope, and quickly put together a team. The developer will also often need to speak with product vendors associated with the prospective client to learn the capabilities of sometimes unfamiliar systems.

As a developer, even if you have no experience with a specific tool, product, technology, API etc. you have to keep in mind that you still know more about how those sorts of things work than your non-techie client. This doesn’t make you an instant expert, but you are valuable because you can more easily and comfortably figure out how to use the troubling technology than your client.

The key to your value is making your clients seem to their client(s) as though they were as comfortable with solutions to the technical problem as you are. Your quick response is crucial so your client isn’t in the uncomfortable position of having to stall and dodge technical questions from his client while waiting for the solution.

In conclusion, dealing in custom solutions means dealing with the unexpected. Unexpected needs require quick fulfillment in order to prevent overall timelines from being thrown off.

So be responsive to your clients’ needs. They will come to depend on you and your business will grow because of it.

If you happen to be sifting through forum post after forum post trying to figure out what’s new (and very special) about release 3.5 of Microsoft’s .NET platform, let us save you some time.

Here’s everything you need to know about what’s new in .NET 3.5. It’s a long list chock full of new and powerful features such as LINQ, peer-to-peer networking, durable (aka stateful) services, RSS/Atom syndication and support for 9 more web-services interoperability standards.

3.5 is truly a milestone release. If you haven’t considered .NET as a platform in the past, it’s definitely worth a look.

GoodBarry is an amazingly good platform for any small business that wants to effectively manage an online presence. It provides you with everything you need to

• build and manage a web-site full of great content
• connect with current and potential customers both pro-actively and passively
• sell goods and services online using the merchant of your choice
• track and report on every contact you have with your user-base
• manage online marketing campaigns customized to your market

If you’re just getting your business online, or are frustrated with a cumbersome and ineffective web presence GoodBarry can help you get where you want to be.

ps. GoodBarry is built on the BusinessCatalyst platform. Evans Codeworks has agreed to provide customization and integration services for the Business Catalyst platform. So get started with BusinessCatalyst and email us when you’re ready to integrate with or move all of your current systems to BusinessCatalyst.