The iRise Blog

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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We announced the immediate availability of the iRise simulation template for the iPhone at the Interop and Software 2008 conferences yesterday.

“iRise for iPhone”™ gives business analysts, user experience (UX) professionals and others a way to quickly prototype the look, feel and behavior of iPhone applications by making available pre-defined visualization widgets and templates that can be quickly assembled into a high definition mobile applications. 

The template can simulate all of the iPhone’s standard menu icons and user actions, such as using sliders and zooming in and out of screens by “pinching” and “unpinching.” Application designers can use it to create custom buttons, manipulate the menu icons and define the effects of actions such as double-tapping a button.

Our alliance partner, OneSpring, developed the capability and is also providing the “OneSpring iPhone SimDK for iRise”. 

Chuck Converse, a senior user experience architect at OneSpring noted, “Most applications, if you design them for mobile devices, are very text-heavy.  The iPhone’s display capabilities give designers more freedom and a whole new set of choices.”

The full story is available from these related links:

• iRise iPhone press release
• Article from CIO.com and INTEROP

And here is the YouTube video produced by OneSpring which demos the iRise iPhone capability:

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Is your software simple and usable?

There was an interesting opinion piece at Sandhill.com last week titled “Simplicity: What’s Next in Business Software” by Anthony Deighton of QlikTech. 

Anthony pointed out that the gap between what software users experience in their workplace and in the rest of their life is widening while the line between work and home continues to blur.  Business users are starting to expect that the applications they use at work be as clear, user-friendly, intuitive and simple as the other software they use.

The bottom line is that enterprise software vendors must “simplify or die” by embracing a philosophy of simplicity or risk getting left behind in the future by innovative and emerging vendors.

There are several characteristics of “simple” software that Anthony lists in his piece, including:

• Continue to offer robustness - “simple” is not the same as “lite”
• Focus on the user - enterprise software vendors need to focus on the user for a change
• Revamp the value chain - make sure you pick partner vendors and service providers who embrace the simplicity vision
• Deliver a fast sales and implementation process - the product must be easy for users, but also deliver quick value to the business
• Relentlessly pursue simplicity - you have to keep focusing on making your product usable and faster to deploy

Check out the full article and complete discussion thread from this link.

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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.

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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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Over on the iRise Users section of the Catalyze community, we’ve had an ongoing discussion thread where users have been displaying their creative side in the iRise Haiku Contest.

The exciting part of creating a great product is nurturing passionate users - passionate users who want to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with others.

I thought I’d share some of the haiku entries below:

Simulation done
A common path to follow
The fog is clearing

It, I simulate
To show the product behavior
They print the word doc

iRise is the key
For BA, UX success
Purchase it today

Who needs top-line growth?
iRise visualizes
Drives tranformation

Have an iRise haiku of your own to share? Leave a comment with your submission!

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I really enjoy seeing companies you work with almost every day
(in my case, alliance partners), take a leadership position to embrace
what you have been evangelizing to the market. Last month, Capgemini announced the launch of the Rapid Design & Visualization (RDV) Lab. Though the Lab is now available nationwide through all their Accelerated Solutions Environments (ASEs), the RDV Lab has been in place for several year and iRise has been actively working with and a primary solution in the practice with many joint customers. The announcement was made at SOA World, an appropriate place since visualization is critical to understanding what business stakeholders want that can be enabled in a SOA environment (but more on that in a later post…).

The RDV Lab continues to expand Capgemini’s work in the field of simulation by using a methodology that combines the latest simulation and communication tools with new research on how people create complex software. Capgemini estimates that 60 percent of such programs – including ERP (SAP, Oracle, etc.), Web 2.0 and SOA initiatives – encounter rework following misunderstandings between project managers who write the specifications, and the engineers who build the programs.  The announcement states, “The RDV is designed to help all parties get the software right the first time” - sound familiar? Absolutely, because Capgemini and iRise both believe that people, process and technology are required to really bring the full benefits of getting software right the first time.

Corey Glickman, the national leader for the Capgemini RDV Lab,
has been a champion for simulation and visualization for years
and an iRise user, speaking on different aspects at iRise User Conferences and interviews. Corey recently stated, “The RDV lets designers substitute images for nouns, animation for verbs, and a full–blown simulation for a phone book of instructions.” Is visualization really is the new language for designing software? I think Corey hit it right on the mark.

Capgemini has really taken the lead among global system integrators in piloting this effort years ago and now launching capabilities nationwide. For example, last year I presented Capgemini with the iRise Alliance Advantage Partner of the Year award for its substantial work (among other things) with one of our large manufacturing customers. Though the market for simulation is still young and in the evangelism stage, with the help of Capgemini, more companies will experience the benefits of visualization and share their success.

I look forward to sharing more examples of iRise alliance partners adopting the new language for designing software.

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Google (and others) made a huge splash on October 31st with their announcement about the new OpenSocial alliance.  This blog post is a compilation of insights and links to what some of the leading voices are saying about OpenSocial.

What is OpenSocial?  Essentially, OpenSocial provides the ability for companies to extend their website experiences to existing communities on popular social networks using mini-applications.  The official word according to Google is that “OpenSocial provides a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites. With standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create apps that access a social network’s friends and update feeds.”

It is also important to note that OpenSocial is not “GoogleSocial”.  Most of the leading social networks including MySpace, Bebo, SixApart, Orkut, Salesforce.com, LinkedIn, Ning, Plaxo, Friendster, Oracle and others have signed on to the OpenSocial alliance.  The notable exception currently is that Facebook has not officially joined yet.

Who cares and why?  Web strategists, developers, marketers, user experience professionals and others who define and design websites will be impacted. 

What are the challenges?  First of all, the announcement was just made 2 days ago, so everything surrounding the announcement and alliance is all pretty new.  According to Web Strategist and Forrester analyst Jerimiah Owyang, some of the other challenges include: open data opens risks, inconsistencies in application behaviors, cultural differences, and how will the alliance evolve.

Bottom Line - My conclusion is that is important to be familiar with OpenSocial as everyone will be affected whether as a consumer of social applications or more directly in your business.  Personally, I am excited about possible new features and capabilities I could be seeing soon in my favorite applications.  However, it will take some time for things to shake out and for developers to start exploiting the new APIs.  So, stay tuned, keep your ear to the ground and be patient for now.

What are your thoughts?

Additional Information - Here are some other links to explore to learn more:

• Official OpenSocial website
• Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post
• What really matters from Jeremiah’s colleague at Forrester, Charlene Li’s blog post
• SixApart’s view that OpenSocial is “Killer Apps and Regular People“

Finally, here is a the first “Campfire” video from Google that explains what OpenSocial and shows how it will work:

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Be The Voice (sm) is the mantra of the new social media phenomena. David Spark, a pioneer in the social and newmedia space, spoke at the iRise Fusion Partner Conference today and here is a summary of his message.

David presented on how social media, new media and conversation are propelling thought leadership today.

David’s key points included:

• Evangelize your brand through custom publishing
• Distribute content through conversation
• Fuel conversations with content
• Be truthful or be exposed

David is a strong believer in Facebook and urged everyone to join Facebook today. Facebook is no longer for college students and the fastest growing segment is the over 35-year-old market.

He also encouraged everyone to become a participant and even better, to become a connector. Connectors bring together others and point them to better content.

Finally, he stressed the importance of providing your ‘consumers’ with plenty of options. Let the customer engage when and where they want to - and make it easy for them to choose their option that is convenient for them whether it be online or offline, video or podcast, etc. Customers don’t need more choice, they need more “TV Guides”.

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