November 1, 2017

Salesforce Winter 2018 Reporting Enhancements

in: Business, Data, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: Dashboards, Lightning Experience, New Features, Reporting tag, salesforce, Salesforce development, softwares, solution design

It’s a funny thing about Salesforce developers. Many of us really dislike change, even when we know very well it’s necessary and worthwhile. Why? Too often, changing an application is like re-routing plumbing after the house is built: making a change that looks small can take a whole lot of effort with a whole lot […]

September 27, 2017

Software Automation Isn’t A Job Killer

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: automation, business productivity, custom software development, softwares

Can software replace my job? It’s a concern with roots going back centuries to the arrival of the first automated power looms in 18th-century England, continuing into more modern times with the large claw-like robots that build automobiles. Today it seems there are hundreds of websites making their living pushing clickbait headlines describing the perils […]

September 5, 2017

Keep Asking Why

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: business analysis, consulting, custom software development, solution design

DISCLAIMER – this article applies to mainly to Organizations without business analysts and programmers on staff. A few years ago, we were asked to quote a small automation for an existing, repeat client. They wanted help streamlining a spreadsheet-based process that took about 1/2 day of a high-level employee’s time each week. Client: Can you help […]

August 4, 2017

How to QA for a Consulting Firm

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: QA, quality assurance, software development, testing

ONE:  Don’t just “break the system” I remember my very first QA task when I started here three years ago.  I was testing a client’s internal employee management system.  I had never tested anything before, so I asked my project manager, “How should I QA the software?  What does that mean?”  He answered simply: “Do […]

May 15, 2017

The Midnight Coaching Email

in: Business, Leadership Tagged: custom software development, emotional intelligence, leadership

Let me take you back to the year 2011. This was a big year for us, as Susco had made a big name for itself as one of the first movers in mobile app development studios in the State of Louisiana. We were growing revenue at 50% per year and collecting awards like they were going out of style.

At the time I was a babe at 33, not a grey haired 39 year old – so needless to say, the success started going to my head. I thought of myself as being very emotionally intelligent with how I dealt with people, but it’s very easy when growing a company to do a great job focusing on the way you treat your clients and referral sources but not apply the same effort with your staff. This blind-spot almost cost me one of my best employees at the time. In the interest of protecting the innocent, I’ll refer to them as “Jim”. So, here we go…