China, year end and software as an art ...
So it’s mid February and I haven’t written a blog entry since early December. I’ve simply been too busy. However, the kind comments from a number of people (clients, prospective clients and partners) whom have read the blog and mentioned that they enjoyed it, have convinced me its’ worth keeping it going. It is too easy to concentrate on working through the never ending ‘to do’ list rather than take an hour or so out and overcome that ‘writer’s block’. So, to those of you who have been waiting in eager anticipation for the next instalment (if only …), apologies for the delay and I’ll try and keep it to a monthly entry going forward.
The end of last year was frantic. With Christmas, December is a short month anyway. This is compounded by the fact that it’s the end of the year and therefore everyone is focused on closing deals/spending budget – depending on which side of the fence you sit. For me this included getting back from the DIA conference in Germany and then embarking on a 36 hour visit to the East Coast (fly out Tuesday evening arrive Tuesday evening, meet Wednesday and fly back Wednesday arriving back in the UK 6:00am Thursday morning). It was all go as, no sooner than I had got back to the UK, 48 hours later I was off on vacation with the family to China and Malaysia.
China, or actually Beijing – what can I say? The old Monty Python sketch comes to mind “and now for something completely different.” My immediate thoughts as I type are: It was cold; the Forbidden City was very impressive; the Great Wall looked just like the photos but what the photos don’t show is the ‘street vendors’. What I didn’t like (to say the least) was the fact that everyone in China seems to want to rip-off tourists. From the aggressive street vendors which approach foreigners everywhere (especially outside tourist venues) to the ever present ‘English Students’ looking ostensively to be wanting to practise their English but, as the guide book warned us, actually seeking to ‘encourage’ us into purchasing over priced goods. This forum posting explains the scam very well.
China will have to stop this attitude going forward. They can get away with it at the moment as it’s new and everyone wants to go. Few will want to go back once they have ‘done the sights’. We do plan to see other parts of China. As for Beijing - sorry but been there and done that! It’s not just the rip-offs, its simply not a city like, for example, Barcelona, which positively demands you return time after time – despite the high crime rate. After Beijing it was Malaysia. Malaysia is a ‘home away from home’ (my wife is Malaysian) and, as always, we had a huge amount of fun.
It was then back to the reality of the New Year and the office. So, how was our 2006 and the year end? Answer: Not bad - but could have been better. There were a couple of big deals which we had hoped to close prior to the year end which, for one reason and another, didn’t close. The good news is that they are still very much alive and that we had a number of smaller deals come good. The bad news is that every delay costs additional time, sales effort and the cash is in the client’s bank account – not yours. As any sales manual will tell you, there is nothing like a ‘compelling event’ and the end of year is a big one which comes by but once a year.
January is normally a quiet time of year in which to plan, write blogs and ‘gird one’s loins’ for the year ahead. However, we went straight into the year with an order and a huge number of new enquiries. I guess people over Christmas must have been lying around gently musing along the lines of: “what is it which is giving me the most pain at the moment? Ah - I know its document review, there must be an answer out there somewhere.”
We were also preparing for a release of v 3.2. The initial target was end of January, but as it became clear that we were not going to make that we changed plans to have ‘code complete’ at the end of January. So we are now, in mid Feb, in the final stages of testing and will release PleaseReview 3.2 by the end of the month – assuming the testing doesn’t uncover any significant issues.
So a software company slips delivery again I hear you say – how surprising. True we have slipped a bit but that doesn’t mean we can’t manage the business. What it means is that we constantly have to balance resource, functionality, contractual commitments, time and clients’ desire not to have too many releases. We could release on time if we went code complete two months before release, but the same level of functionality wouldn’t be there. As it is functionality which keeps us in our market leadership position and attracts new customers, we would have to release more frequently. It’s a complex equation with no simple answer.
On this subject, every now and then one reads something which resonates. I was reading the Financial Times review (written by Richard Waters) of Scott Rosenberg’s book “Dreaming in Code – A book about why software is hard” – and the following passage resonates - big time:
“True, many software projects take longer and cost more than expected, or they are abandoned outright. Also true, software development still sits uncomfortably between art and science, dependent on the creativity of individual programmers and remains frustratingly difficult to make as replicable and predictable as other branches of engineering.”
I have long agreed with the view that software creation is somewhere between and art and a science. Yes, it’s true that you need procedures and traceability and well commented code and all those other things which people audit. But it’s also true that for leading innovative software products you can not simply ‘follow a formula’. It’s about getting the balance right. As I have always said, “If it was easy everyone would do it.”
Seeing as we are having a bit of a catch up (it surprising – once you sit down to write and get started there is so much to tell), let’s address one of my pet issues, namely the cost of sales. As a direct result of a show booth visit, I got an email which said, and I paraphrase, “can you come along to our company (which incidentally is located miles from any other and the chances of you combining it with any other visit are so low as to be not worth considering) to give a demonstration of PleaseReview. I think it could be really useful for us”. My answer was, as always, “I’d love to come along to your company but, before I spend all that time and money, I’d like to present the software to you and your colleagues using GoToMeeting (like Webex). If that is successful and you are interested in moving forward let’s then arrange a meeting.”
The result? Nothing – not even the courtesy of a reply despite several follow-ups. Well, I’m afraid basic economics come into play and we can’t double the price of the software to cover sales visits to unqualified prospects. The basic problem is that businesses with the attitude which says ‘we won’t consider you if you don’t visit immediately’ will not get the best solution on the market. They will get an over priced solution from a company which has spare sales time and the resources to visit them.
I am giving serious consideration to listing sales visits to remote prospects as a price book item which requires a purchase order and the cost of which is credited against a final purchase. Any thoughts remote prospects? Would you pay for a sales visit?
Finally, following the success of the outsourced testing, which has now been going on for 6 weeks and has fitted seamlessly into our process and contributed greatly, we are looking at expanding development through ‘off shoring’. Watch this space.
The end of last year was frantic. With Christmas, December is a short month anyway. This is compounded by the fact that it’s the end of the year and therefore everyone is focused on closing deals/spending budget – depending on which side of the fence you sit. For me this included getting back from the DIA conference in Germany and then embarking on a 36 hour visit to the East Coast (fly out Tuesday evening arrive Tuesday evening, meet Wednesday and fly back Wednesday arriving back in the UK 6:00am Thursday morning). It was all go as, no sooner than I had got back to the UK, 48 hours later I was off on vacation with the family to China and Malaysia.
China, or actually Beijing – what can I say? The old Monty Python sketch comes to mind “and now for something completely different.” My immediate thoughts as I type are: It was cold; the Forbidden City was very impressive; the Great Wall looked just like the photos but what the photos don’t show is the ‘street vendors’. What I didn’t like (to say the least) was the fact that everyone in China seems to want to rip-off tourists. From the aggressive street vendors which approach foreigners everywhere (especially outside tourist venues) to the ever present ‘English Students’ looking ostensively to be wanting to practise their English but, as the guide book warned us, actually seeking to ‘encourage’ us into purchasing over priced goods. This forum posting explains the scam very well.
China will have to stop this attitude going forward. They can get away with it at the moment as it’s new and everyone wants to go. Few will want to go back once they have ‘done the sights’. We do plan to see other parts of China. As for Beijing - sorry but been there and done that! It’s not just the rip-offs, its simply not a city like, for example, Barcelona, which positively demands you return time after time – despite the high crime rate. After Beijing it was Malaysia. Malaysia is a ‘home away from home’ (my wife is Malaysian) and, as always, we had a huge amount of fun.
It was then back to the reality of the New Year and the office. So, how was our 2006 and the year end? Answer: Not bad - but could have been better. There were a couple of big deals which we had hoped to close prior to the year end which, for one reason and another, didn’t close. The good news is that they are still very much alive and that we had a number of smaller deals come good. The bad news is that every delay costs additional time, sales effort and the cash is in the client’s bank account – not yours. As any sales manual will tell you, there is nothing like a ‘compelling event’ and the end of year is a big one which comes by but once a year.
January is normally a quiet time of year in which to plan, write blogs and ‘gird one’s loins’ for the year ahead. However, we went straight into the year with an order and a huge number of new enquiries. I guess people over Christmas must have been lying around gently musing along the lines of: “what is it which is giving me the most pain at the moment? Ah - I know its document review, there must be an answer out there somewhere.”
We were also preparing for a release of v 3.2. The initial target was end of January, but as it became clear that we were not going to make that we changed plans to have ‘code complete’ at the end of January. So we are now, in mid Feb, in the final stages of testing and will release PleaseReview 3.2 by the end of the month – assuming the testing doesn’t uncover any significant issues.
So a software company slips delivery again I hear you say – how surprising. True we have slipped a bit but that doesn’t mean we can’t manage the business. What it means is that we constantly have to balance resource, functionality, contractual commitments, time and clients’ desire not to have too many releases. We could release on time if we went code complete two months before release, but the same level of functionality wouldn’t be there. As it is functionality which keeps us in our market leadership position and attracts new customers, we would have to release more frequently. It’s a complex equation with no simple answer.
On this subject, every now and then one reads something which resonates. I was reading the Financial Times review (written by Richard Waters) of Scott Rosenberg’s book “Dreaming in Code – A book about why software is hard” – and the following passage resonates - big time:
“True, many software projects take longer and cost more than expected, or they are abandoned outright. Also true, software development still sits uncomfortably between art and science, dependent on the creativity of individual programmers and remains frustratingly difficult to make as replicable and predictable as other branches of engineering.”
I have long agreed with the view that software creation is somewhere between and art and a science. Yes, it’s true that you need procedures and traceability and well commented code and all those other things which people audit. But it’s also true that for leading innovative software products you can not simply ‘follow a formula’. It’s about getting the balance right. As I have always said, “If it was easy everyone would do it.”
Seeing as we are having a bit of a catch up (it surprising – once you sit down to write and get started there is so much to tell), let’s address one of my pet issues, namely the cost of sales. As a direct result of a show booth visit, I got an email which said, and I paraphrase, “can you come along to our company (which incidentally is located miles from any other and the chances of you combining it with any other visit are so low as to be not worth considering) to give a demonstration of PleaseReview. I think it could be really useful for us”. My answer was, as always, “I’d love to come along to your company but, before I spend all that time and money, I’d like to present the software to you and your colleagues using GoToMeeting (like Webex). If that is successful and you are interested in moving forward let’s then arrange a meeting.”
The result? Nothing – not even the courtesy of a reply despite several follow-ups. Well, I’m afraid basic economics come into play and we can’t double the price of the software to cover sales visits to unqualified prospects. The basic problem is that businesses with the attitude which says ‘we won’t consider you if you don’t visit immediately’ will not get the best solution on the market. They will get an over priced solution from a company which has spare sales time and the resources to visit them.
I am giving serious consideration to listing sales visits to remote prospects as a price book item which requires a purchase order and the cost of which is credited against a final purchase. Any thoughts remote prospects? Would you pay for a sales visit?
Finally, following the success of the outsourced testing, which has now been going on for 6 weeks and has fitted seamlessly into our process and contributed greatly, we are looking at expanding development through ‘off shoring’. Watch this space.
posted by David Cornwell, PleaseTech Ltd at 8:12 PM
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