The iRise Blog

Interop and Software 2008 at Mandalay Bay Convention centered just wrapped up last week.

James Maguire from Datamation filmed a “virtual booth crawl” with 30 second pitches from select vendors - most of whom were being awarded for innovation in software. You can check it out here or watch below.

Yours truly happened to be manning the booth when James came by. I gave my best 30 second rendition regarding iRise below.

Originally posted at http://ideasbyjohn.wordpress.com/

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Do you Twitter yet?  Do you even know why you should?  Do you know what Twitter is?

What is Twitter?  According to the Twitter website, ” Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” .  Twitter lets you send 140 character messages that are visible to anyone and the messages can be sent via the web, IM, cell phone SMS text messaging and the Twitter API.  Twittering is also referred to as micro-blogging - and most Twits are easier to read and scan because of the 140 character limitation.

Twitter is definitely moving into the mainstream as evidenced by these two recent quotes:

• “Twitter is one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet” - New York Times
• ‘Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app” - TIME Magazine

Common Craft put together this short video to explain Twitter:

 

Why do I care?  Sure, people share some mundane things in their life, but the real value of Twitter is gathering a group of people you follow and learning from them.  I use Twitter to find great blog posts and other resources that I may have otherwise missed.  Many astute companies are now using Twitter from a marketing perspective to listen to what their customers are saying and to promote blog posts, news articles and press releases.  For example, CIO.com is active in Twitter as well as the Editor-in-Chief, Abbie Lundberg, and editor/writer Esther Schindler.  People have even ‘twittered’ about iRise and there is even a website called Tweetscan where you can search on companies, people and other phrases.

Twitter Resources  Here are some other essential Twitter links to check out:

• Twitter Guide by Caroline Middlebrook
• Advanced Twittering by Jim Storer of Mzinga
• Twitter 101 presentation by Dustin Jacobsen
• Twitter Resources in the EKIVE blog
• Twitter Resource Roundup from the ext337 blog
• A Talk with the Twitter Guys - Shel Israel interviews the Twitter founders
• Twitter Pack - see who you should follow sorted by company, topic, geography, industry and profession.  For example, there is a list of the key Usability/UX professionals who Twitter.

It does take some upfront investment of time to get started with Twitter and you have to find the right set of people to follow who are not going to waste your time.  Here is a copy of my Twitter feed so you can visualize the value for yourself.  Scroll down and see who I’m following.  You can click on a user name to access a person’s profile on Twitter and start following them.

You can find me on Twitter at @tomhumbarger.  I look forward to seeing you in the “twittersphere”.

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The iRise Professional Services team has created a tremendous resource that is a must download for all iRise Users.  This new iDoc, called the iRise 6 - Common Samples, is comprised of 53 iRise examples covering a wide range of data functionaliy, RIA and advanced interactions.  A few of the documented Samples include: accordian panes, alternate views, autopopulation, portlets, table behaviors, data operations, datasheet actions and search.

One happy iRise user who already downloaded the Common Samples iDoc had this to say, “This is one of iRise’s best pro-active customer service moves.  So smart.  Big props to those who built them in the PS Group.”

The iDoc is provided as a convenience for all users to learn advanced features and improve their knowledge of iRise.  The iDoc is available for download from the iRise Users section of the Catalyze Community.  You must be sign into the Catalyze Community and have iRise User Permissions to download the iDoc.  If you are not yet a member of Catalyze or the iRise Users Communities, you can get more information and register from this link.

Here are the key links to the Common Samples documents in Catalyze.

• Common Samples iDoc
• Common Samples Discussion
• Common Samples Table of Contents

Each Sample contains a description of the functionality, the degree of difficulty, steps to demonstrate the functionality and steps on how to build the simulation in iRise as noted below:

Enjoy!  If you have any comments or questions about the Common Samples iDoc, please use the Common Samples discussion forum in Catalyze.  And thank you iRise Professional Services.

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Last September, I wrote a blog post about Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon.  Randy had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and was told he had just months to live.

So I was pleasantly surprised last week when I ran across an article by Randy in Parade.com.  Randy noted that “I’m lucky to be living longer than I expected, allowing me more time with my kids. I’ve tried to do unforgettable things with them—such as swimming with dolphins—so they’ll have concrete memories of us and of my love for them.”  With his unexpected time and fame, Randy has also written a book (“The Last Lecture”) and devoted time to advocate for pancreatic cancer.

Randy’s article in Parade.com also has the complete video of Randy’s lecture which made these points:

• Always have fun
• Dream big
• Ask for what you want
• Dare to take a risk
• Look for the best in everybody
• Make time for what matters
• Let kids be themselves

Everyone should watch or listen to Randy’s lecture.  It is truly inspirational.

Take care Randy and I hope the epitath on your tombstone comes true - “Randy Pausch: He Lived 30 Years After a Terminal Diagnosis”.

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We are very pleased to announce that the first annual iRise “Visualize the Prize” Commercial Contest starts today and has a total cash prize of $20,000.

Why are we doing this? According to chief marketing officer, Mitch Bishop, “We know we have passionate and creative users, and we want to let them share their passion with us and the broader iRise User community”.

So, what does it take to win? Are you passionate about iRise? Has iRise changed your life or the way you do business? Are you creative? Do you have a great idea for telling the world about the power of visualization?  Do you have a great way to motivate others to buy iRise?  Help us tell the world by creating a 30 to 60 second commercial about iRise and you could win $15,000.

Make us laugh, make us cry, make us think, make us say “wow, we didn’t think of that!” or “whoa, we didn’t think of that”.  You have total creative control to write, cast, direct and shoot your commercial.

We encourage you to tell us how you have used visualization and iRise to create something special.  Did you speed time to market, increase innovation, improve user experience or reduce costs?  Note that 30% of the judging criteria will be based on the liklihood to motivitate people to buy or try iRise.

What are the contest details?  A summary of the contest information has been copied below and is available from the contest website at www.irisevideo.com.  Please bookmark the website so you can check back frequently for new video submissions - and don’t forget to vote for your favorites during the voting period in June.

Prizes:

• The 1st place winner will receive $15,000
• Two Runner-up winners will receive $2,500 each

Dates:

• Contest starts Tuesday April 8, 2008
• Contest ends Wednesday June 4, 2008
• Top 10 semifinalists selected on June 6, 2008
• Voting period runs from Friday June 6, 2008 to Friday June 20, 2008

Contest Process:

1. Create a completely original commercial – 30 to 60 seconds long
2. Upload your video to YouTube by June 4, 2008
3. Register on the iRise Commercial website and submit the URL for your video
4. Wait for iRise to approve and post your commercial on this iRise Commercial website
5. Promote your iRise commercial video and watch all of the accepted videos on the iRise Commercial website

6. Vote for your favorite videos from June 6, 2008 to June 20, 2008

7. Complete rules are available here

In order to prime your creative pumps, here is an example iRise Commercial that I pulled together last week…and don’t worry, I’m not eligible to win:

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Laurie Gray from OneSpring (an iRise Strategic Partner) shared her thoughts on Rich Internet Applications or RIA during the monthly Catalyze webcast yesterday.

 She started out with the RIA “elevator pitch” from Tony MacDonell who writes the InsideRIA blog:

“Rich Internet Applications are software programs that are designed to run above the level of the operating system, and are universally available to you, where ever you may be when you need to use them. You can run them on any computer, in any context. Run them in the web browser, on the desktop, or even on mobile devices as well. Rich Internet Applications offer powerful user interfaces, that allow you to work or play in ways that are familiar, intuitive, and exciting. They leverage the best of the web, without sacrificing the power of the desktop.”

She also shared the origins of the term Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) which first appeared in an essay by Jesse James Garrett from adaptive path in February 2005.

According to Laurie, the five myths of RIA are:

1. RIAs provide the perfect vehicle for splashy sites
   • they are also amazing tools for complex, transactional, data-driven sites too
2. RIAs bring people-centered design to information workspaces
   • most users will not care how the app was built, but if they have a bad experience, they won’t come back
3. If you’ve designed websites, you can design RIAs
   • that’s not necessarily true
4. It’s just like our software, of course our users will understand it
   • think again — there are lots of ways to do things
5. RIAs provide a better user experience than traditional HTML
   • it depends — and sometimes it can be a worse experience

Laurie wrapped up with a demo of her favorite RIA websites and a list of valuable resources before answering a spirited round of questions.

The presentation slides embedded below and webcast recording are available from the Catalyze Community.  Some of the questions from the webcast are also answered in Laurie’s Catalyze blog.

| View | Upload your own

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What are Rich Internet Applications or RIAs? Are they the panacea for everything that ails us? Are they the perfect vehicle for sexy, splashy sites? Do RIAs provide a better user experience?

Learn more about RIAs from User Experience expert Laurie Gray of OneSpring in this month’s Catalyze Community Webcast. Laurie will discuss some of the most common attitudes toward RIA’s and address the 5 biggest myths surrounding this exciting technology. 

• Title - The Five Myths of RIAs featuring Laurie Gray 
• Date and Time — Tuesday, March 18 at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern
• Registration — Sign up at this link
• Recording – If you miss the live broadcast, the recording and presentation will be posted in Catalyze by March 20

Laurie has lived in the world of user experience since 1995 and  is a user experience expert with OneSpring - one of iRise’s strategic partners and 2007 Partner of the Year.  She also wrote an article on Best Practices in User Experience last year.

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In the Catalyze community webcast this week, Barbara Carkenord from B2T Training talked about ways to improve communication with project stakeholders and create a “Sure-fire Communication Strategy”.  As is the case in many initiatives, being successful comes down to paying attention to the People, Project and Process. 

The keys to a sure-fire strategy are:

• Understand the unique characteristics of each project
• Support the organizational standards and processes of your company
• Get to know the people, their roles and both the subjective and objective characteristics

She also outlined “The 7 Golden Rules” for creating a sure-fire communication strategy:

1. Identify the people
2. Get to know them
3. Engage them early and communicate often
4. Identify potential problems and risks
5. Reduce problems with a communication plan
6. Fit that knowledge into your work plan
7. Review alignment to project goals and adjust as necessary

During the Q&A, two other interesting topics were discussed.  While answering a question about what to do when you realize that a project should not continue, Barb referenced a book called Death March by Ed Yourdon about surviving “mission impossible” projects.  She also talked about how great managers must employ “intelligent disobedience” to be most successful.  Intelligence disobedience requires taking risks, creativity, flexibility and perseverence and not ’sugar coating’ conversations with stakeholders.  An article by Bob McGannon has been posted to Catalyze on the topic.

Be sure to check Catalyze for copies of Barb’s presentation and webcast.

• Presentation slides
• Webcast recording

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Are you having trouble communicating with your stakeholders?  Do you want to improve how you gather requirements?

If so, you should join the Catalyze Community monthly webcast on February 14th with Barbara Carkenord from  B2T Training as she explains how to  design a sure-fire strategy for developing a communication plan.

Both business analysts and usability professionals will be more effective when they think ahead about how best to communicate with their stakeholders.  This presentation provides attendees with a communication planning technique that can easily be used on any project. 

Webcast Details:

• Date and Time — Thursday, February 14 at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern
• Registration — Sign up at this link
• Recording – If you miss the live broadcast, the recording and presentation will be posted in Catalyze by February 18

Barbara is the President of B2T Training and has over 20 years experience in business analysis.  Barbara has an MBA from University of Michigan and is a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP).

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I’ve spent some time over the last few months pondering the idea of design thinking.  Part of it was driven by the webcast that Linda Yaven gave on “Making Thinking Visible” for the Catalyze Community and part of it was driven by what I see are the key competitive pressures in marketplace.  It seems that more companies and organizations are starting to talk about increasing their innovation and improving time-to-market instead of cutting costs and reducing errors in their software development process.  But there seems to be a gap in the discussion about how they’re going to get there - which brings up design thinking.

What is Design Thinking?  Design thinking is a creative process of ‘building up’ ideas (vs. critical thinking which is generally associated with ‘breaking down’ ideas).  Design thinking is inherently collaborative as groups of people from different disciplines get together to brainstorm, communicate and develop new and creative solutions to problems.  Since there are no judgements or fear of failure in the design thinking process, design thinking encourages maximum input and participation. 

In Linda’s webcast, she noted that design thinking is not a genetic trait, but that all of us are capable of learning how to be design thinkers.  She also pointed out that design thinking is a method and a mind-set, and involves learning by doing or what she referred to as immersive thinking.  While design is subject to personal tastes and whims, design thinkers share a common set of values that drive innovation.  These traits include creativity, curiosity, ability to visualize, neutrality, environmentally centered, optimism and teamwork.

Why is Design Thinking Important?  Design thinking improves collaboration and will drive innovation.  Companies that apply design thinking will become the market leaders that develop new and innovative products and services.  Since they will be able to test and experiment with many ideas, they will have a built-in evolutionary advantage over companies stuck in a purely analytical mindset.  As noted in an article on Design Thinking by Tim Hyler (referenced below), “Design as an innovative problem-solving methodology is fast becoming an imperative business strategy.”

How Does Design Thinking Relate to iRise?  Design thinking includes the following processes or stages (courtesy of Wikipedia):

1. Define
2. Research
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Choose
6. Implement
7. Learn

iRise fits squarely in the middle of the design thinking process as we enable companies to rapidly prototype or simulate different ideas and alternatives.  In fact, it could be argued iRise is the tool that makes design thinking practical and possible for most companies. 

Where Can I Learn More About Design Thinking?  Design thinking is just starting to gain mainstream visibility in the business world and there are many sources with additional information.  Here are a few to get you started:

From the Catalyze Community:

• Making Thinking Visible webcast and presentation
• Design Education Applications for Business article by Linda Yaven
• Intro to Design Thinking article from Red Hat Magazine

iRise Blog Entry - Are You A Design Thinker?

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