March 22, 2018

Writing Software Requirements 101

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: custom software, custom software development, Programming tag, requirements, softwares, writing software requirements

Writing software requirements should be easy, right? Right? Of course we know exactly what we need and can tell you exactly what the software should do. Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy. Writing software requirements well takes detailed, deep thought about business requirements. It also takes clear communication between the people who will use the software […]

February 26, 2018

What is Technical Debt?

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: custom software, custom software development, software development, technical debt

You may have heard software developers and project managers talk about “technical debt”. This term has been around since the 1990s and is growing in popularity. But what is technical debt and why do people keep talking about it?

February 15, 2018

Monolithic Rollouts of Legacy System Replacements

in: Business, Developers, Programming, Software Tagged: business efficiency, business productivity, Business Tag, consulting, custom software, custom software development, Programming tag, software development, softwares, solution design

Legacy system conversion projects are always challenging. Rollout strategy can make a huge difference in successful user adoption and overall project success. Only when I began writing them down did I realize that I had recurring dreams.  I had believed that my dreams were largely random and varied, but instead I learned that I had […]

December 18, 2017

How to Prevent a “Gotcha!” in Salesforce Relationships

in: Business, Data, Programming, Software Tagged: Business Tag, data tag, database, sales force management, salesforce, Salesforce administration, Salesforce development, Salesforce relationships, softwares

Working with Salesforce relationships is a little different from traditional relational database structures, but Salesforce has great tools for building custom data relationships, and most people can adapt quickly to the SOQL model. As with any other system, though, there are a few “gotchas” to watch for when designing Salesforce relationships. I ran into one […]

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 […]