We’re getting ready to launch the latest version of Vertabase project management software.  As always, before a launch, I spend time writing down the message behind the software.  When we release a new version its not just about adding new features. Each release encapsulates our specific approach to technology and its application to managing projects.

This time around, it struck me how intertwined our approach is with the continued development of rich internet applications (perhaps because of MAX) and how core ColdFusion has been to the evolution of RIA’s and to our product.  In putting the message down on paper/pixels I hope to describe why ColdFusion is so powerful for rich internet application development.

From the very beginning, we’ve relied on ColdFusion for the external releases of our professional product.   The main reason at that time was the speed at which we could build a high-grade web-based application.  The first wave of RIA development, remember, was getting applications to run on the web. There were numerous “thin client” approaches that would serve desktop applications over a network. But that was simply changing the deployment/delivery method of accessing the same old software.  Web-based applications were fundamentally different.

These first generation RIA’s were about building new tools that could be available from anywhere so that information could be at the same time centralized and ubiquitous.  Similarly, the input of information could be both streamlined (since data entered by one user, once, would be stored in a database instead of a desktop) and expanded (users could enter data from around the world). The beta of Vertabase was launched in 1999 with our major production version going live in 2001. There was no better or faster technology for building and deploying a true web-based application than ColdFusion.  It had the language and the server all built in, seamlessly.

Another key to a RIA experience is usability.  With the web-based revolution, the cost of developing software was radically lowered (by tools like CF) as was the ability to distribute software. This opened the door for creative entrepreneurs to start building and selling software using new interface paradigms.  Instead of being designed by engineers employed by large corporations, software could be built by graphic designers, musicians and garage programmers. Even though there was an Apple that was pushing interface, the internet unleashed the creativity of thousands and thousands to push interface further. It didn’t take a whole lot to experiment with an interface on the web. And with the number of consumers accessing the internet, the demand for new experiences grew.

At Vertabase, this meant finding a visual metaphor that allowed users to quickly access the information and functionality they needed, but still maintain authenticated access rights and individual permission levels.  ColdFusion was perfect for the job. We could build an effective, intuitive interface connected to an authentication backend and permission system. ColdFusion also gave us tools to build tables and charts that made it easy for users to visualize and interpret their information. The latest version of Vertabase takes advantage of this and has a totally revamped interface with new visualization tools

The most recent growth in RIA’s has been on the user experience side. Web 2.0 tools have exploded that create a simple user experience to enable a few key functions -often related to communication and connecting people.  Flash and Flex are pushing the boundaries of how users navigate applications and how immersed a user can be in an application experience. For sure, ColdFusion has the tools to connect to these type of interfaces.

But in my world, the world of project management and productivity tools, software has to be more than an immersive experience.  It also has to be about functionality and getting things done.  I want our software to enable greater productivity.

In managing projects, that means having a one stop shop to input project data, update the data, share the information and use it. For this kind of hard-core, productivity centric application, ColdFusion rocks the house.

As I see it, this is the next step in Rich Internet Application development -allowing data to be input from a variety of sources and to have the information available in many formats. The data should be usable and portable both in an application and outside of it, whether in the browser or out of it.

An application doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  There is an eco-system of tools and technologies.  While some employers have set a path for an integrated, seamless technology stack (whether it be on a network or in the cloud), for most, users, the most relevant eco system is still their desktop and the productivity tools on it. This has been our focus at Vertabase since version 4.0 and is certainly the case in version 4.5.  And again, ColdFusion has made this type of functionality easy to build.

The ways we look to integrate with the desktop world are places like, PDF, data manipulation, calendaring and email.

• PDF is the de facto electronic replacement to paper, and a standard for formatting a printer friendly output. People want a print-out that looks like what they see on screen. PDF was made for this and ColdFusion makes it easy to create PDF’s on the fly.
• For data manipulation, MS Excel is the dominant tool that people have on their desktop and in which they feel comfortable.  Exporting to CSV is an easy, convenient way to get data out of a web-based application and onto the desktop for users to work with further.  Here, again, ColdFusion makes it easy to do.
• For calendaring, many people use MS Outlook. ColdFusion can trigger appointments in MS Outlook using some readily available scripts.  ColdFusion 8 also introduced the ability to work directly with MS Exchange Server for shops that do want a more integrated back-end.
• Email remains the most used portal for people to connect from the internet to the device centric world -whether the device is the desktop or a mobile device.  Email is how people stay up to date on projects and issues in their workplace.  Email is how people can be reminded of what they have to do. With mobile devices, it can follow them everywhere.  The ability to send email and generate specific emails around business rules tied to user behavior in an application are fundamental functions in ColdFusion.

These are key components of a user’s desktop environment that ColdFusion makes easy to integrate with. (And that’s without even mentioning the new applications ColdFusion can help introduce on the desktop through AIR.)

I’ve gone on much longer than I like to, but hope to have conveyed why ColdFusion remains the most powerful language for developing rich internet applications. It has done a great job powering our application. It allows us to offer an ever more enhanced application experience and productivity solution to our users (while remaining cost effective in terms of development time).

The bailout is on track to rack-up another $800 billion. That’s in addition to the original $700 billion, which is in addition to $25 billion here and there to rescue various financial service firms before the $700 billion and the roughly $135 billion of other funding that was attached to the $700 billion.

This brings the total amount to over $1.6 trillion dollars

And people are fussing over $25 billion to the auto industry?

Here is pdf of the presentation I gave at Adobe MAX CF Unconference on Project Management and Time Management.

The main theme is that having great information before, during and after a project are the keys to a successful project. That information gives you a basis for good communications and good management (of your team and client expectations). The presentation then discusses how time tracking can be an easy habit and powerful tool for generating great information.

Its been a whirlwind week and I haven’t had a chance to blog about three other events that took place this week in the world of Vertabase. Here is a summary.

1. Vertabase Project Management Software -we publicly launched the pre-release version of Vertabase 4.5. Clients are already using it and raving. Here is a link to the full release notes (on the pre-release).  Some significant changes are:

• New interface, new look and feel
• Resource Calendar view of projects, tasks, resources, etc. across calendar days and weeks
• Change request system with change logs
• Faster timesheet entry
• Enhanced MS Excel import for even faster template and schedule creation.

We launched the next version of the Vertabase site to go with it and a new Vertabase Video Learning Center.

2. Vertabase Timer -we launched Vertabase Timer 2.0 for tracking time on projects and tracking time on clients.  More information is posted on the Timer site (and a new video about the Vertabase Timer).  Significant new additions are:

• Elapsed time is shown for both now and all time on the item
• Tasks available in a drop-down or auto-suggests field
• More preferences -choose date format (European or US) and time format (24 hr/ 12 hr am, pm)
• Export to a server via a JSON post (so IT departments can collect data across the company from people using the Vertabase Timer)

3. I gave a presentation on Project and Time Management at Adobe MAX 2008 at the CF Unconference . The presentation should be posted here within the next couple of days.

The main theme was that you can generate great information on your projects and tasks by tracking your time (which can be a relatively painless habit to pick-up). This information becomes the basis for your estimates and a powerful tool to help you improve communication and expectations on your next project.

Where to start? It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye the MAX BOF Session on CFML Language Development came and went. But what a great session.
First off, thanks Jason Delmore (Adobe), Adam Haskell and Matt Woodward (OpenBD), Gert Franz (Railo -who wins the pulling an all nighter to participate award) and Sean Corfield (CFML Advisory committee -graciously agreeing to speak).

And of course, everyone who participated in person and online.

About half the meeting got recorded on Acrobat Connect right here

Here is a recap of the first half from my recollection. I would invite speakers and participants to add in their recollections as well.

For some context, the session followed a Meet the CF Team BOF session. Most people were finishing grabbing pizza and beer from the hallway (the day at MAX starts around 7.30 am). We had a few technical challenges. Then got started.

The agenda was

• let each of the three CFML platforms state their vision of CFML.
• Get feedback from the audience on where they wanted CFML to go.
• Discussion to ensue.

Gert opened up with the concepts that

1. the core of CFML should be free,
2. the core should run equally well on all three platforms,
3. CFML platform vendors can add particularities to their flavor of CFML,
4. There should be a way for other vendors to add on extensions to the application.

Railo has begun putting this approach in action by

• being on the CFML Advisory Committee
• adding in Railo specific tags and features (Transfer, cfvideo, enclosures)
• building an extensions manager where 3rd party vendors can publish language extensions and even applications that can be added to the Railo CFML. 

Adam seemed to be generally on the same page with 

• the importance of having CFML be open source and
• allowing the community to add and extend language -both to the core and OpenBD specific implementation.

Jason talked about CFML’s long and rich history. That the mantle of rapid application development was taken from CF and that he is dead-set on getting that back. He said that Adobe is not so much focused on adding new tags or features but making it easier and faster to utilize the features that already exist in CF.

Jason did a quick poll in the room of how many people use more than 50% of tags in CF. No -one raised their hand. General consensus seemed to be that people use maybe 10 - 20% of the tags in CF.

This was a good seque to feature requests. One request that was discussed was improving CF Chart and Flash Forms.  Participants in the audience chimed in saying that CF Chart wasn’t doing the job so they looked at an extension that Ray Camden had on his blog. But then this still wasn’t enough so with about a week’s worth of work he was able to solve it using Flex. 

Jason made the point that Flex 1.5 was thrown into CF previously since the Flex server was running $40,000 or so. But now with Flex SDK being free and Flex builder being relatively cheap there was no need for CF to have this. Just use Flex. Others online added that CF Chart can be expanded by accessing the underlying Java. So one idea was to do a better job of documenting/exposing the underlying Java so that developers can extend Adobe CF in that way. (Though why couldn’t CF simply update the Flex within CF? )

Jason reinterated the value of customer feedback and was listening here to what would help the community be more productive.
This brought up the topic of what is core and who gets to decide what features are in -which brought Sean up from the audience. Thankfully.

Sean explained that

• the committee met and voted on what was core and what was not core.
• All members of the committee have agreed that whatever is core will run across all member platforms.
• They had hoped to have more visibility on what they were doing but simply have not had the time yet.

The audience started bringing up directions that CFML should go, then, from a core perspective. 

One train of discussion was on making CFML more like Java - a tightly typed language and have more parallels and access to Java.

Both Sean and Jason responded that

• there are a tremendous number of advantages in CFML not being tightly typed and
• that Java is not the ultimate model for OO development -specifically pointing to Small Talk’s place in the evolution of OO and not having interface like Java (see Patterns in Design).

There was the sense from both Jason and Sean that CFML has its own approach and philosophy, that maybe that got lost along the way/muddled a bit, but that it seems to be well in the sites now!
CFML Ain’t Nobody’s “Lite”!

Sean shared his experiences on development by commmittee pointing to his experience on the C++ committee then what Java committee with some of those features. There ultimately has to be a decision making body that says what is and what is not the core language.

Some features will be implemented differently e.g. Adobe has PDF IP that the others don’t.  But there are also areas where OpenBD community and Railo with JBoss have (and are interested in pursuing deeper)  e.g. expanding with Java.

Open BD brought up how cool would it be for OpenBD to come up with extensions that reduce the value of Blue Dragon’s CF on .NET engine.

There was then a question on how does each platform vendor get feedback from the community. Jason mentioned the bug tracker and beta testing Adobe does before a release. OpenBD and Railo both have their communities.
However, as expressed by Sean, the hope is that the CFML Advisory committee have a website where CFML users across platforms can give feedback and lobby for features in the core.  However, Sean made the important distinction between development of the core vs point specific solutions that people want solved (this seems where extensions to the language could be useful).

From here, I think the Connect Recording picks it up.

Final impressions:

• CFML has a passionate user base
• The vendors and Advisory Committee are driven by feedback
• CFML has reached a level of maturity where point solutions can be developed by third parties and
• The larger resource pools (of either Adobe or an open source community platform’s) can be focused on advancing the core in key underlining areas 
• That productivity is still the key driver behind CFML’s value - and that there are now three enterprises pushing to regain the mantle of the utlimate in rapid application development.

Stay tuned -they say big news at the keynote tomorrow -it’ll be all Ben Forta!

Plan for Success

Your project management plan is your bible for success. Without it, there will not be a project because without a workable plan, you have no way to reach your goal. Your plan must start at with the goal that you want to achieve. Then, break down that go into workable segments. Set a timeline for each segment. Your team should know these timelines and adhere to them. This does not mean that you make a mad dash between segments. You want to allow enough time for these various stages to be achieved while still being able to meet the overall deadline. Remember, you can rework your plan to find better ways to get you where you need to be.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Key performance indicators are those little segments that let you know you’re moving forward and moving towards achieving your goal. You want to set KPI’s that can be measured and realistically attained. Set your team up for success and not failure by constantly monitoring the key indicators. This can also be a benchmark tool to use on future projects to determine success. If you have been on a project that has failed then you know some of the KPI’s that should have been in place to have effectively evaluated the progress of the project. The easiest way to build KPI’s into your project is to put them into the schedule as critical tasks. That way you can track your performance indicators as part of your timeline. Its like a built in reminder system to check on the health of your project.

5 Key Factors for Project Success.
So how do you keep a project moving toward success?

1. Know exactly what your project is trying to achieve.
2. Plan effectively to reach your overall goal.
3. Keep open communications amongst team members.
4. Have a Q & A session at various stages to see if the plan needs to be revised to achieve the goal.
5. Motivate team members. After all, they are working hard to help you achieve the project’s goal.

Being a project manager is a lot of work. However, when you’ve see a project through to success, then it is all worth it. Success can “always” be attained if you have the proper plan in place, good communications between team members and flexibility to change the plan as needed –without compromising the timeline.

Stay tuned for the next blog in this series. Subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss more tips on time management and project management success. 

Every major news site seems to have caught the RIA bug.

Check out http://www.cnn.com and http://www.foxnews.com for some electoral map Flash fun.  On Fox News the electoral vote count below the map re-tallies in real team, right before your eyes as the new numbers come in.  Can’t tell if its just animation or if its actually counting it up. 

NBC News has got the desktop pegged with RIA Widgets they call Newsware Widgets.

Fun stuff.