The Journal on Cloudmanic Labs

The Lights Were Always On

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The last thing published on this blog went up in March 2016. It was a post about getting burned building on someone else’s platform. Then nothing. For ten years.

Fair enough if you assumed the lights went out.

They didn’t. Here’s what actually happened: every product we launched got its own website, its own blog, and its own people to talk to. So that’s where all the writing went. Skyclerk news went on Skyclerk. Options Cafe news went on Options Cafe. The one site nobody ever wrote for was the one with the company’s name on it.

When Threesomes Go Bad

Fri, 18 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

At Cloudmanic we have built 3 products that enhanced another company's platform. Two of them are in the bitbucket and the third, Photomanic, is lightly maintained and we have no plans to expand the offering. The secret to so little success is to build with third party applications is that when you build on someone else's platform you are not in charge — the platform provider is.

The Rise and Fall of Third Party APIs

I have been around the block a few times so I have seen the pattern I am about to describe again and again. A young, perky company tries to get noticed, bending over backwards to make developing on its platform easy and enticing to outside developers. Until one day the company grows up to the point that it can justify making changes ostensibly for the greater good. Said changes often include discontinuing parts of the company's API, changing the terms of service, and new-found zeal for micromanaging the applications built on the company's platform. As a developer you suddenly go from feeling like a partner contributing to a community to a flunky of the platform provider.

How My Love Affair With Evernote Came to an End

All 3 of the products Cloudmanic built on a third party platform were based on Evernote. Because good software applications take a lot of time to build, when we started developing the first product, Evermanic, we discussed our intentions with the Evernote team. We were assured that Evernote would help market the finished app and that we were building within the company's terms of service. In other words, we were partners. And after months of work and tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, we were ready to take our partnership to the next level, to be part of the company's app marketplace.

Hybrid Mobile Software Development Is Dead to Me

Wed, 06 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Ok, maybe not totally dead, but my views on hybrid mobile software development have changed recently. Since the invention of the iPhone I have used HTML5 hybrid solutions to build mobile apps for both iOS and Android. I started with Phonegap, then moved on to Appcelerator, followed by Ionic. The guiding principle was speed of development — these platforms allowed me to build great apps much faster than I could using Apple or Google's native platforms. Going forward, speed will continue to be a priority but I am adding 2 more guiding principles to my decision tree: (a) the ability to develop software for new hardware platforms and (b) the irrelevance of Android.

Why Go Native Now?

Four very big happenings caused me to change course:

Apple released Swift, a new programming language that replaces Objective-C. I never enjoyed writing code in the awkward syntax of Objective-C, which felt low level (who wants to write header files in 2015?). Swift feels and behaves a lot like the more familiar JavaScript and is more enjoyable to code (which translates to speedier development).

Thinking Offline by Default

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Most software developers consider an application that runs offline a "phase 2" type of feature. Nowadays the Internet is everywhere, and it's fast. In most cases only a small percentage of an application's users lack a decent Internet connection. So rather than focus on the minority, at first we should focus on the majority, right? I say wrong — for a reason that has nothing to do with the speed of your Internet connection.

Recently, we at Cloudmanic Labs adopted a new mandate to build all of our applications — web and mobile — as offline first. Our first nonmobile example of an application that works completely offline is Heapless.

Why this new mandate? Very simply, offline is fast — really fast! Regardless of the speed of your Internet connection, storing your data and the files needed to run an application locally makes the user experience almost instantaneous. Modern browsers are able to prefetch all of the resources needed to run the application in the background using web workers. Which means that as a user goes from page to page or state to state everything is loaded instantly — no waiting for the application to communicate with the server. We use a similar approach to communicate data back to the server in the background to ensure that the user never has to wait.

Our primary goal of offline first is not to support users at 30,000 feet — the objective is making our application crazy fast and responsive. And thinking offline first has the added benefit of supporting our Internet-challenged users as well.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Thu, 06 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Are you marketing yourself and your business to the fullest? You probably have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and an Instagram feed. You're LinkedIn and no stranger to Reddit, Flickr, Tumblr, and other spelling-challenged social networking services. You probably even have your own website. You've got it covered right? Not so fast: if you're not podcasting, you might be missing out. Podcasting is more than the latest and greatest craze — the benefits are many and podcasts are easy and inexpensive to create.

Podcasting strengthens your connection with your audience over time by establishing your voice — both literally and metaphorically — as a familiar and anticipated beacon amidst all the noise. As you share your enthusiasm and expertise on your podcast topic, you can market your products and services to the very audience that might actually care — and successful podcasters attract advertising that generates income. Additionally, podcasting furthers your skills as a speaker and moderator, and interviewing others is a great way to network and produce content ideas.

The Sun Has Set for Evermanic

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

When we launched the Evermanic application, the objective was to offer a single-purpose tool that streamlined the frustratingly slow and cumbersome process of uploading notes to Evernote on the go. Fast forward to the present and Evernote has made major improvements to its core mobile application so that now users can upload notes directly to Evernote with ease. Simply put, we do not think we can build a better application than today's Evernote — therefore, Cloudmanic will no longer sell Evermanic. We encourage our loyal Evermanic users to use instead Evernote's core mobile application.

Evermanic was Cloudmanic Labs' first "real" mobile app. We invested a great deal of time and effort learning the mobile design and development techniques that we currently employ in our other offerings. Evermanic will forever occupy a special place in our hearts because it helped us become real mobile app developers, but releasing Evermanic from our portfolio will allow us to devote more attention to other applications — which will result in even better versions of our core software products.

Thank you to all our customers who have supported Evermanic over these years!

Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus in the Year 2020

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Predicting the future in writing has never been my thing — that's what talking heads in the media get paid to do. But today I am allowing myself to make a prediction about how Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus will be used in 2020. It will be fun — and 6 years from now we can look back and see if I was even close to right. I am prompted to make this prediction as I try to figure out when, where, and how I should use these services because today there seems to be a lot of overlap. Here goes...

Facebook — The same, more or less. Facebook will continue to be the place to connect with our friends. It will be the digital coffee shop where we gather, communicate, and share with people we know from the real (nondigital) world.

Twitter — The cocktail party for the masses. Twitter will be the place where people who might not know each other exchange ideas. A place for both celebrities and regular Joes. There will be less "look at what I ate today" and more real-time, meaningful dialog between strangers. Also, Twitter will be the place where news breaks (which will then be chronicled in depth on Google Plus).

End Users Need to Stop Taking Credit for Good Design

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Whenever I hear a digital interface praised as "intuitive" my eyelids twitch. What's intuition got to do with it? What end users are really saying is that the interface is so well designed that it's pretty much idiot proof. I get why we might not embrace that particular expression, but calling an interface intuitive shifts much of the credit due the designer to the user. And that happens because we tend to mistake the simplicity of a well-designed interface for simpleness, discounting the hard work of good design.

What is good — or if you insist, intuitive — interface design anyway? Most essentially, good design requires minimal knowledge and experience on the part of the end user. It allows us to bridge the gap between what we do know and what we don't know without a lot of cognitive effort — that is, without having to think too hard. And that's a very good thing because more and more digital tasks are being foisted on consumers, for better or worse. Which means that good interface design is essential: when you go it alone, shit-hot functionality is useless without a well-designed interface that makes navigation seem obvious and success practically inevitable.

Why Do People Dislike Basecamp? Blank Canvas Syndrome

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve met many people over the years who absolutely love Basecamp, and also many who hate it. When I ask why they hate it, they often say they “could never really get into it.” At first I thought these people were idiots. OK maybe I still think they are idiots, but that isn’t the point. The point is that over the years I have tried to understand the mindset of a Basecamp hater. And finally, after many years, I have arrived at what I believe is a key insight. What Basecamp haters really mean when they say they “could never really get into it” is that they didn’t like the blank canvas — they had no idea where to start.

Escaping Mediocrity

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I can think of at least 10 friends who have spent years counting the days (and hours, minutes, seconds) until retirement. Most of them are fixated on retirement because they hate their job and see no other way out. They are trapped in mediocrity. That way of life is not for me — time is the ultimate nonrenewable resource, and I believe that every moment spent in mediocrity is a waste.

For this reason I would be happy if my tombstone says He Did What He Wanted, When He Wanted, How He Wanted. Not because I am a selfish dick — I live my life this way to avoid falling into the trap of mediocrity. If anything — be it a job, a task, a friend, a surrounding — is unpleasant for very long I make a change. I have trained myself not to fear change because change is often the solution to (rather than the cause of) life's problems. For example:

I stopped doing yardwork. I hated the endless cycle of cutting the grass only to have it grow back — yet I enjoy having a nice yard. So I decided to have my cake and eat it too by hiring someone else to do the yardwork. The operative word being "hire" meant that I had to free up funds by reviewing the family budget and making some cuts. It turns out I do not need collision insurance on my 1994 Jeep, and I discovered that we were overpaying $50 a month for cell phone usage. Bam! Problem solved.
I put an end to disruptive phone calls. Apparently Phil Libin was reading my mind when he said, "I don't like it when people call me without a prearrangement via text or email. It's extremely unlikely that I'll be able to talk at exactly the time someone arbitrarily decides to call me, so it's more efficient and more polite to send a text or email first." Hear, hear. About a year ago I changed my voicemail greeting, instructing would-be callers to email me. People have learned to respect this request and communicate on my terms.

The Main Street Entrepreneur

Tue, 10 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The word entrepreneur has been bothering me lately (yes, I know, #firstworldproblems). I have spent almost half of my working life in the tech startup world and the other half in the main street small business world. The tech startup world defines entrepreneurs as individuals with a bright idea who raise money from investors and try to make it big. This type of entrepreneur typically gives up a job at a company like Google to run their own show. But are they really running their own show? I say they are merely trading their managers at Google for managers in the guise of investors and board members. The truth is, a tech startup entrepreneur is not his (or her) own boss. Though the potential payoff for succeeding is enormous, the risks are also great and the tech startup entrepreneur gives up many of the freedoms a main street small business entrepreneur enjoys.

When I was growing up my dad was a main street entrepreneur. He ran his own insurance company in addition to some side businesses. He was his own boss. He attended every one of my soccer games, never missed a parent-teacher conference, and was always there to say goodbye to me as I trucked off to school. And he took our family on several weeks' worth of vacations every year. He was present, happy, and in control of his own life.

I am not at all suggesting that a main street entrepreneur does not work hard. My dad sure did — but he was in charge of when, how, and what he worked on. It's not news that we all have days when we do not want to be at work. You might be tired from the night before or distracted by something else, but if you are not your own boss you probably have to just sit there and chug through the day. The main street entrepreneur does not. He can focus on that something else and take care of work when the time is right. He is not lazy — he simply has more options.

Why Are We Busy All the Time?

Wed, 28 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Almost daily I talk to someone who claims to be slammed. Swamped. Super busy. I hope these people are just exaggerating and not actually missing out on life. Because time is the one resource we can't get more of, in recent years I have focused on making sure life does not pass me by because I am busy. And if I am busy, it better be worth it. Below are some strategies I use to avoid common time drains.

Paper Bills

Mail-in forms are a time drain. For me every paper bill represents 10 to 20 minutes of time. I need to get it from the mailbox, open it, review it, scan it, pay it, record the payment, and then dispose of it. For a business owner like me paper bills can add up to days of lost productivity each month.

Like most people I opt for paperless billing and automatic payments whenever possible. And that's the catch: many companies do not yet offer those options. If digital billing and payment options are not available I often try to pay a year in advance to minimize bill paying to a yearly event.

Paper Checks

You might laugh, but receiving a paper check in the mail causes me a great deal of anguish. As a business owner I receive paper checks several times a week. Presuming that each check takes about 30 minutes to process and deposit, which involves a trip to the bank, I lose a great deal of time and money per check.

I avoid receiving paper checks at all costs. I push for payment via direct deposit, which is more secure and faster for everyone involved. Even payment by credit card, which takes a 3% bite, is preferable to paper checks that can cost even more to cash. Going forward I am considering charging a fee for processing paper checks. I am also considering requiring payment in Bitcoin.

It Pays to Know Where You Sit

Wed, 14 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

What is a good seat in this fast-moving business environment? Traditionally, our first thought would be the cozy corner office far away from those bright, naked cubicles by reception. But this is the 21st century and peace of mind is dictated more by solving problems and being productive than creature comforts like a quiet environment or a pleasant view — or even the freedom of a virtual office. No, the "good seat" in business is about managing technology and personnel needs. And that can be done from either side of the hypothetical desk.

Whether you are performing the job or having someone perform it for you does not matter. The important thing is understanding the big picture of what it takes to get the job done. Make sure you have a contract that clearly defines the scope of work, the infrastructure necessary for success, and the procedures for resolving problems. Not understanding the business model and its processes will put you in a no-win situation. Does the upgrade require new hardware or software? What does the maintenance phase look like? Who has control over the data? Will the budget be enough to see the project from start to finish? You don't want to go in half-assed because cutting corners simply won't get the job done. No, you are going to need to be fully assed to sit in that seat over the long haul.

A Few Things to Consider When Hiring an Agency

Wed, 30 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

So you have a fresh new idea for a product. Maybe an iPhone app, a web application, whatever. You saved up some money or wangled some investors, but instead of hiring a team to develop your project you want to subcontract out to an agency. Your thinking is that the agency can get your product to market swiftly as they have in house all of the designers and developers needed to build your dream.

In the last 15 years I have hired many agencies. I have also worked for many agencies. Heck, I even ran an agency. Let's say I've seen the agency issue from all sides. So I wrote this post to share a few things to keep in mind when going the agency route. Most also apply to hiring a freelance designer or developer, but the focus is agencies — the types of companies that have fancy offices, charge boatloads per hour, and invite 25 people to every meeting (account managers, project managers, salespeople, developers, designers, freelancers, random dude not doing anything that day).

You Can't Have It All

When hiring an agency you can't expect to get a high-quality product at a good price delivered on a fixed schedule. An agency salesperson will always try to convince you that they can deliver on your schedule. If they are working on an hourly basis they will assure you that they already added tons of padding to the budget. And besides, their designers and developers are the best in the world! Simply accepting that you can't have an outcome where quality, budget, and schedule are achieved — you should maximize for one or two. Don't be fooled into thinking you can have it all.

Most Agencies Don't Care About Your Little Project

The best agencies spend their days working with the big boys, the Fortune 500. These clients have massive budgets and are a good agency's bread and butter. Simply put, your little startup project is not going to get the best resources or the most attention. An agency will always choose a Fortune 500 client over you. Sorry.

Agencies Hire Lots of Freelancers

Agencies rely on freelancers to save money. They pay some eager freelancer $50 an hour (no benefits, no taxes) and bill them out for $150 an hour. The problem with these subcontractors is that they come and go — in some cases halfway through a project. Transferring knowledge from one person to another is costly, jeopardizes the schedule, and can negatively impact quality. Agency turnover can make you wonder if you should have just hired a freelancer yourself.

Your best bet is to make sure your agency is not going to subcontract out your project. If it's unavoidable, be sure that your contract details what happens if things go wrong with the subcontractor. Also, confirm that an agency employee will manage the project. I have seen it happen over and over again: the agency hires a subcontractor for your project, puts you in contact with said subcontractor, and then takes a backseat. Dumping project management on the client is pure negligence on the part of the agency. (I doubt that it happens with their Fortune 500 clients.)

Please Don't Be Offended, but I Think You're an Idiot

Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, feedback. Life is unbearable if you cannot speak your mind, but in our everyone’s-a-winner culture anything short of ebullient praise is viewed as an affront. And so, to show that you’re not a glass-half-empty sort — you see the positive stuff, too! — you start with a few compliments before slipping in the unpleasant news. But you don’t want to end on a bad note so you close with something upbeat — another compliment or some hearty encouragement. Congratulations. You just served a “shit sandwich.” In more refined circles it’s called a “praise sandwich.” Either way, it’s a classic rookie mistake. Your protege will take one look at this questionable offering and either see only the praise or only the criticism. You end up with the status quo or a new enemy.

Know Your Consumer Rights: Credit Card Minimums and Fees

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I hate cash. I think most people do. Life is much simpler in a paperless world. But I don't love plastic, either — I am looking forward to Bitcoin taking over the world. Until Bitcoin is a household name, however, credit and debit cards are the next best thing. With a few caveats: some merchants only accept credit cards for values greater than a certain amount. And some merchants charge you a fee for using your credit card (it might not hurt, but it does sting). What many of these merchants do not know is that they are in violation of the law and credit card network rules.

Minimum Purchase Maximum

Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which went into effect in 2010, merchants that accept credit cards can legally impose a $10 minimum on credit card charges. However, they must impose it on all cards (not just American Express, for example). For more information check out the article Merchants May Require Up to $10 Minimum Credit Card Purchase. And the next time you encounter a minimum of more than $10 raise a stink with the merchant. I do.

Checkout Fee Limits

In 2013 the credit card networks set a limit to the checkout fee a merchant can charge. Has a merchant ever charged you 50 cents for using your credit card to buy a soda? Unless you were buying a $12 soda, that charge was against the rules. The limit to how much a merchant can charge is typically around 4% (0% in at least 10 states). For more information read this great article: Checkout Fee: Charging Credit Card Fees to Customers. Don't let merchants overcharge you for using your credit card.

The Power of Saying Yes, the Wisdom of Saying No

Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

You will get more out of life by saying yes. Not saying yes (i.e., saying no) is often rooted in fear. Perhaps you are afraid of failure. Or financial ruin, burnout, injury, insanity... It's a clusterfuck out there, and saying yes could be asking for a big bowl of trouble. But have you ever admired someone who seems truly unbounded? Someone who eagerly accepts offers you wouldn't even consider? Someone who confidently launches farfetched schemes? Free from the burden of doubt and worry, these people seem to be able to improvise their way through any situation. Who are these yea-sayers and have they really transcended their limits and stepped into the flow of abundance? Or have they just stepped in it?

Because as any naysayer knows, if you say yes all the time you will get too much out of life. Saying yes is like asking to be spammed. You will end up doing things you don't want to do. If not actual disaster, you at least run the risk of disappointment, boredom, and annoyance. It's ok to say no. Life will go on. Sure, there's a lot of pressure — both external and internal — to say yes. People like it when you like the things they like and do the things they do. And there's your own fear of missing out, fueled by the constant view of the other side of the fence afforded by carefully edited Facebook and Instagram posts. But it's ok to say no if you're not truly motivated by the opportunity. It's ok to say no if saying yes would cause you great inconvenience. It's ok to say no without a detailed excuse.

Two Types of Entrepreneurs: Risk Takers vs. Small Bettors

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Over the course of my career I have had the good fortune of working with many innovative business partners. Regrettably, some partnerships ended poorly because my temper got the best of me. For years I was convinced that I did not get along well with others. But recently, upon deeper reflection, I concluded that something else was to blame because I have many great business relationships that have endured the test of time. So what sets me off? What makes a partnership toxic for me? In a nutshell: risk takers. I do not like taking risks. It's not my style, and I can't relate to it.

A scan of the entrepreneurial landscape suggests two fundamental types: risk takers and small bettors. Apple (under Steve Jobs), for example, took large risks — betting the company many times over. In contrast, Twitter has few big bets in its history (heck, it started as a side project), growing instead through iteration — one small bet at a time. Because both forms of entrepreneurship can lead to success, the question of which is better is settled by your tolerance for risk. I prefer to make a small bet, analyze the results, and build on that effort because it is the more risk-averse approach to growing a company.

When forming a business partnership make sure your entrepreneurial styles align. Compatibility with respect to risk can help you avoid painful and costly conflict down the road. Maybe take a trip to Vegas together: if your partner is sitting at the blackjack table the entire time while you sip fancy drinks by the pool, maybe you're not a good match.

Take This Checklist and Shove It

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Not so fast. Checklists save lives. And limbs — literally. The next time you are laying on an operating table, you should hope your doctor doesn't have the same bad attitude toward checklists you had before reading this post because studies show that when surgical teams use checklists, deaths decrease by 40% and complications decrease by more than 30%. Those impressive numbers are the reason you should learn to love checklists regardless of your vocation.

I know, checklists are boring. They may be the nerdiest way to increase your efficiency and reduce costly and time-consuming errors. A sexy robot would be so much cooler, but a checklist is way easier to produce. Trust me. But before the how, let's take a look at the why, which is dead simple: No matter how good you are at what you do, a checklist will improve your outcomes. Checklists serve to document essential processes. They ensure consistency and promote accountability. Even the act of creating checklists can be beneficial, leading to the improvement of policies and procedures and encouraging collaborative dialogue among team members.

I've been a hard-core list maker for a long time, but I'm a recent checklist maker. A while back I was browbeaten into creating a checklist for a complex business process. I thought a checklist was unnecessary. More to the point, I was pretty sure nobody in their right mind would want to use the 11-page end result. I had better uses for my time than creating a tool that could only expect to suffer the humiliation of being ignored, like the spork. But the checklist was effective. People appreciated having a roadmap to their final destination, and they actually liked using it. So I became a convert.

Technology Might Not Be the Core Challenge for a Digital Startup

Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

There is a trap I have fallen into more times in my career than I would like to admit. I tend to stay too focused on the technology because that is what I know and am passionate about. The thing is, there's more to a successful digital startup than the technology. For illustration purposes, let's say I come up with a great idea for a service that will really help me and possibly others: a social network for dogs called DogBook. As a technologist I can pretty easily map out the digital design and development processes that need to happen to launch the service. But in the case of a social network for dogs technology is not the real challenge — marketing is.

That's right. Getting the attention of possible users in a cost-effective way is the real nut to crack. I hate to break it to you, but if you build it they still might not come. All good startups set out to solve a problem. But when deciding whether to chase an idea it's important to determine if the core challenge is technology or marketing. For example, in the case of Google the biggest hurdle was technology: building a badass search engine. In the case of DogBook, the difference between success and failure is marketing: customers need to be aware that DogBook exists and is awesome.

Snap!Clerk: Upload Receipts On the Go

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Question: What do the majority of business owners hate doing the most? Answer: Bookkeeping. Easiest quiz ever. That time-consuming data entry you have to stay on top of to truly understand how your business is doing — or at the very least, to satisfy Uncle Sam — is a pain. Well, buckle up because we at Cloudmanic Labs are pumped to announce a sweet new Skyclerk feature that will drastically cut the hours you spend bookkeeping: Snap!Clerk.

It's easy: using your mobile phone simply snap photos of your receipts on the go — and Snap!Clerk does the rest. Your receipts will be instantly uploaded to the Skyclerk servers, analyzed, and accurately entered into your ledger. Pay. Snap!Clerk. Done. How painless is that?

If you are the control freak type (many of us are) don't worry — you can choose a certain label or two, add a note, or select a particular contact, and Snap!Clerk will fill in the rest. Snap!Clerk is accessible via mobile and web interfaces, and you can even upload receipts by email.

When You Screw Up in Business Make It Right

Wed, 12 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I have been working since age 12. An almost daily occurrence since my first day of work is that I screw up. I am human, just like most of you, and all humans make mistakes. What distinguishes good entrepreneurs, good employees, and good people is how we handle our screw-ups. Clearly, all screw-ups are not created equal. They can be as minor as showing up a few minutes late for a meeting or taking longer than necessary to respond to a customer — or as major as blowing a deadline or delivering the wrong product. But because screw-ups are about as inevitable as death and taxes, in business the most important thing is not what happened but what happens next. That is, owning up to the mistake and making it right.

All my professional life I have offered, as a matter of course, some kind of restitution when I screw up. As a consultant, if there is an issue with a deliverable I often lower my price or don't bill at all. As a service provider, if I am not timely answering a support request I often credit the customer's account with a few months of free service. It simply never occurred to me not to compensate a customer negatively impacted by a mistake I made. Only recently did it truly soak in that other professionals do not necessarily live by the same code. Over the past few months the employees of some companies I have been doing business with let me down by screwing up repeatedly. Oftentimes, when confronted, they owned up but offered nothing in return to make up for my losses. Not compensating for a significant mistake borders on dishonest.

Microsoft Excel Is Causing Great Damage to Modern Software Design

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

For humans, a list is an exceedingly common way of organizing data. Typically a list is a collection of related items arranged vertically or horizontally, one item after another. Most databases store data in this very same manner.

A common first step when building a data-driven software application is to prototype data models in Microsoft Excel, a powerful tool for building and manipulating lists and managing raw data. The next step — product design — is the one that ultimately determines whether the software will live or die. And it's here that Excel is causing great damage by modeling terrible design.

Many developers build data-driven applications that look and feel a lot like Excel. Although mimicking the table-based structure of Excel often seems like the most logical way to display data onscreen, this assumption is flawed because it discounts a very important factor in great software design: the emotional connection between users and the software.

Great software, regardless of how mundane the content is, should evoke an emotional response. Users should have an unexplainable, powerful attachment to the application. Take a look, for example, at the screenshots below. Which one do you feel more compelled to engage with?

Option #1

Option #2

I assert that the design of Option 2 is far more engaging. Each item is part of a conversation between people. The effect is personal and meaningful. In contrast, the underachieving design of Option 1 delivers a list and little more. The information slackly dissolves into mere bits on a screen, requiring the viewer to concentrate to make sense of it — sort of like one does with those Magic Eye stereogram images.

Digital Currency (Bitcoin) Is Pretty Freaking Exciting

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Just a month into 2014, we are in the age of instant. Communication is instant. Amazon is getting close to delivering products to our homes via drones. And in the not-too-distant future, homes will have 3D printers to instantly produce products. The waiting times for just about everything are decreasing daily with one big exception: money transfers. It drives me completely nuts that the fastest way to transfer money from an account at one bank to an account at another is to withdraw cash and physically carry it to the receiving bank. As a business person I have to do this almost weekly. Yes, transfers by wire and Automated Clearing House (ACH) are options, but wire transfers are expensive and time consuming to set up and ACH takes days, not hours. And the United States has been frustratingly slow to address the situation — other countries have had instant transfers for more than a decade.

Frankly, I have given up waiting. I need a banking system that is in real time. I need a way send and receive money instantly and globally. Bitcoin has been hyped as a speculative investment opportunity and a means of online money laundering, but the bigger story is the possible shift away from centralized, government-backed currencies to a global digital currency that allows for cheaper, faster, and easier movement of money around the world. To oversimplify, a bitcoin is nothing more than a unique serial number that is protected by the power of cryptography. When I make a purchase using bitcoin, I am transferring this unique serial number to the seller in exchange for a good or service — just like when I hand a dollar bill to someone, who accepts it as value. Bitcoin is essentially the dollar going paperless, but offering the same relative anonymity and freedom as cash.

Thinking Outside Thinking Outside the Box

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The phrase "thinking outside the box" has long been a source of consternation rather than inspiration for me. Why do we use a trope to describe thinking that is supposed to be unconventional? It just seems wrong. I get that clichés summarily, if unoriginally, convey complex ideas so when I hear them I generally grimace inwardly and look the other way. But this one seems strangely self-defeating.

I don't remember being aware of "thinking outside the box" until the saying was suddenly everywhere. (Its use seems to have peaked, but clichés are notoriously tenacious.) Curious, I did a little research into its origins and discovered that "thinking outside the box" is worse than a mere example of the absence of the very creativity the phrase is ostensibly deployed to spark — or, incongruously, announce. The real crime is that it's misleading: there is no box. We're focused on thinking outside a box that doesn't even exist.

Companies Can Have New Year's Resolutions Too

Sun, 12 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Cloudmanic Labs is a small company — we can’t do it all. In fact, some tasks get set aside, and I am ashamed to admit that great customer support was sidelined by Cloudmanic Labs in 2013. We did not respond to customers as quickly as we should have and oftentimes our responses were generic and impersonal. As a company we have lots of goals for 2014, but we have only one resolution: to get back on track with great customer support — by which we mean timely and personal responses to all of our customers’ emails.

Sometimes Instant Isn't So Gratifying

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I am a pretty instant guy. In fact, I go quite batty when something that should be instant is not. Nowadays, thanks to the internet we have instant information and communication. Anything we want to know right now we can discover simply by visiting google.com. And we can tell our friends about it right away. But recently I have realized that there is a situation in my life where instant is not good. Where instant is a distraction and a detriment. And so, I turn instant off when reading books.

If You Care About Your Data . . . $B1:$C2#?!

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

More than ever before everything is data and data is everything. Regrettably, managing data has become a black art involving Microsoft Excel VLOOKUPs and highly individualized spreadsheets. Though there has been a push to move data to more robust systems such as SQL Server, a large portion of data ends up at the opposite end of the software spectrum — in scary spreadsheets that are emailed and cut and pasted and generally lack the validation necessary to maintain data integrity.

The reasons for this misuse of software are numerous, but the most common are a lack of resources and limited skills. In both small businesses and large institutions (particularly those whose IT budgets have been slashed in the current recession), individuals often find it necessary to go it alone and come up with ad hoc methods for entering and retrieving data in programs they are familiar with — usually Excel. Overreliance on spreadsheets occurs when other options seem prohibitively difficult or expensive to implement. It can also be the result of a bunker mentality that sets in or when IT enforces the use of specialized, tightly controlled databases, driving some users to go rogue.

The spreadsheet solution seems great at first. You are empowering yourself and getting over on The Man. But over time a spreadsheet tends to turn into a mess of workbooks and worksheets that starts looking more like game of Battleship as your data sinks in a grid of B9:Z88 cells. Ultimately each one evolves into a hopelessly idiosyncratic contrivance that only one user understands. And then you go on vacation and someone renames a worksheet and all your VLOOKUPS and calculations fail. Or worse, you work late one evening and distractedly sort your columns — and scramble your data. Sometimes the spreadsheet solution is flexible to a fault.

The Art of the Long Email

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Most people hate receiving long emails. In fact, some people think emails should be no more than 3 lines long (or 2, or 4, or 5). This is not my personal style. I like to give recipients everything they need in one email. I believe that doing so optimizes my time and theirs. One of two things happen when I send a long, detailed email to someone: either they never read it and drop off or they appreciate having all of the pertinent information in a single reference document. Either way, it amounts to one focused episode in my life versus scattered smaller ones.

Let's look at the first case in which the recipient never reads my email. Maybe this person is a contractor, vendor, employee, friend looking for advice, or my mom :). If the person is not detail oriented enough to read and process my long email (my nice way of saying they are lazy), then they simply are not a good fit for me in terms of communication style (sorry, mom). And, most likely, working together is not in our best interest. In the case of friends or relatives seeking my advice, many simply move on and get the advice elsewhere if a long reply is too much of a hurdle for them. Simply put, long emails can serve to weed out lazy and needy people — a real time saver in the long run.

In the second case, in which the recipient of a lengthy email is appreciative, the flow of information is optimized to reduce the likelihood of lots of back and forth dialogue. This is a good thing because the fragmented nature of lengthy email exchanges makes them hard to follow and too often results in offhandedness. Providing a single, thoroughly informative document to which the recipient can refer as needed is much more efficient.

Need to Make a Decision? Ask the Magic 8 Ball

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The first phone app I ever downloaded was Magic 8 Ball. Technically, the app is called Fortune Ball for trademark reasons, but the ersatz legalistic name does not obscure its identity. (Just as a freezer pop is a popsicle and sparkling wine is champagne, trademark and terroir issues be damned.) I was thrilled to have a digital Magic 8 Ball to help me make decisions, in no small part because it is much more portable than its analog cousin.

Magic 8 Ball had been a trusted guide of mine since childhood. My older sister had one that I borrowed when she was not around. I became enthralled and decided that she did not appreciate its true value, so I neglected to return it. In its physical form the Magic 8 Ball invited contemplation. It had the heft of a scaled-down bowling ball and the gravity of its dark horse namesake and was filled with a mysterious liquid that concealed the answer on the icosahedral die until it floated into view in the circular window.

That Magic 8 Ball was eventually dropped one too many times, developing a crack and losing an alarming quantity of its inky lifeblood — which led to its confiscation by my mother. I didn't buy or pilfer a replacement, but its power as a decision-making tool stayed with me. And then, years later, some magical thinking programmers developed the Fortune Ball. The app lacks the comforting solidity of the original, but it is surprisingly satisfying as so many physical things that we once believed could not be replaced digitally are. (Not that long ago I couldn't imagine buying shoes online. I now buy shoes online almost exclusively. Sorry, shoe stores.)

Minimum Viable Product: Build, Measure, Repeat

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Most people building software these days have heard of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy: construct only what is necessary to get a few users onboard and worry about the rest of the planned features later. The problem is, most of us suck at figuring out just how much is enough for a product to be minimally viable. As a result, we often times err on the side of too much. Cloudmanic Labs has launched a variety of products, and I like to think we are pretty good at gauging an MVP feature list. So recently I sat down and looked at the numbers to see how accurate we were at building an MVP release of Photomanic, our photo application for Evernote launched about a month ago.

We measure the usage of all features, which helps us determine whether we should invest more in a feature or not. One feature I insisted on was the ability to rotate images. I was convinced that without this feature users would not consider Photomanic viable. As it turns out, only 0.84% of the images uploaded to date have been rotated. Yet this feature is the one our development team spent the most time building — and one for which we generated a laundry list of upgrade ideas. Even I rarely rotate images, and I was the biggest proponent of the feature. Clearly, our perceptions of what is important are not always accurate.

No Rest for the Small Business Owner

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Summer is winding down. The light is shifting and a hint of autumn wafts on the breeze. If you haven't taken a summer vacation yet, odds are you are a small business owner. Sure, you can work on your laptop outside in the dog days and cut back your hours, but those small concessions to the season do not yield the same benefits as taking a true break. One of the drawbacks of being your own boss is that the demarcation between work and the rest of your life becomes hazy: the dreaded schedule creep. Somehow the clear advantages of being able to match your work style to your natural circadian rhythms (I'm looking at you, night owls) and accommodate the inevitable tasks that need to be completed during standard business hours are offset by a tendency for work to expand to fill all of the nooks and crannies of available time. And with the intertwining of social media and enterprise it's hard to tell what's work and what's not anymore.

Does it even matter? Common sense suggests that it does, and research confirms it. But that doesn't mean it's easy for the small business owner to close up shop, hop in the roadster, and head for the hills. At least, not to any vacation destination that doesn't have high-speed internet access. Part of the problem is that the demands of your business don't stop just because you're on vacation, and many entrepreneurs don't have anyone to cover for them. But for many, those facts obscure a deeper, darker truth: they can't get into vacation mode. Much ink has been spilled over our collective inability to unplug, and groups like Digital Detox, based in Oakland, California, have formed to lend support to the tech-tethered seeking to break the habit.

How We Shaved 200+ Milliseconds Off Our Response Times

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

At Cloudmanic Labs we have built a variety of software applications; some for customers and others for internal use, some that are bleeding-edge-brand-new and others that are more mature. In the past decade scaling our applications was never much of an issue. Our growth pattern was pretty linear, and we always ran our applications on the same collection of servers. To manage growth we simply added another server or upgraded the specs of our existing servers.

But over time, collocating newer and older applications on the same servers created a major problem. Before running new libraries (such as upgrading Node.js or PHP to the latest versions) we needed to make sure that our older software was compatible. Meaning we could not release new software as fast as we wanted to due to the risk of causing issues with our older products.

About 2 months ago we set out to solve this problem. Before making any changes we profiled our applications. In the past they were similar in terms of memory, CPU, disk I/O, and network usage: serve up some HTML, make some calls to the database, and support some Ajax calls. No more. Our new world is very real-time and mobile, and these factors stress our systems in different ways. Profiling helped us realize that each application has unique requirements and each needs to be on its own collection of servers. We see managing multiple server configurations as a small price to pay as we mature as a company.

B2B Is Bi-Curious But Unwilling to Admit It

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Before we investigate this thought-provoking claim, let's do a quick review. Conventional wisdom holds that the fundamental difference between business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) sales is the purchaser. Furthermore, although in both cases the marketing goal is to guide customers through the purchasing process, the tactics employed with businesses and consumers differ significantly. But things change, and the line between B2B and B2C is blurring.

Traditionally, B2B has been associated with old school sales techniques. Think dealmaking between a salesperson and a business representative — over golf and martinis, maybe. In contrast, B2C entails advertising across a variety of media to cultivate brand awareness and loyalty among individual consumers. Making the B2C sale has historically involved retailers and salespeople — but in many situations these intermediaries are fast becoming relics of the past. (So is the 3-martini lunch.) Social media and the troves of information available online now empower consumers to become well informed before making purchases. They are also more comfortable with — sometimes preferring — a self-directed role in transactions. Think self-service. At home in your pajamas at midnight, if you like.

In recent years B2B has begun to look a lot more like B2C. Although Skyclerk, Cloudmanic's bookkeeping application for small businesses, is essentially a B2B product, we do not have dedicated salespeople. Instead, we market the product in the very same ways we would a consumer product. We use mobile apps stores, social networks, and online promotion to bring attention to Skyclerk and acquire customers. The product itself is our golf-playing salesperson — meaning it has to be designed to effectively sell itself.

My Crazy Excuse for Not Focusing on My Core Products

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

We at Cloudmanic Labs recently launched a sweet new product: Photomanic, the best way to upload, organize, store, and enjoy your photos using the Evernote platform. But when I initiated the building of Photomanic some of my closest advisers were puzzled, asking questions along the lines of "WTF are you doing, Spicer?" Now, I'm the first to preach staying focused on your core, and Cloudmanic's core is small businesses. Every other product we have launched has been geared toward helping small businesses thrive. So why build a photo application?

Well, when you are the leader of a company you are sometimes your own worst enemy. You have a team of people who can build whatever you want — and it's up to you to decide which ideas to chase and which to drop. The thing is, the notion of Photomanic had been kicking around in my head for a few years. I would stay up late building prototypes, and daily I pondered how I could justify building Photomanic as a Cloudmanic product. Frankly, it was becoming a distraction. Maybe I am crazy, but I just had to build Photomanic to free my mind to focus on Cloudmanic's core small business efforts.

Building a Software Product in a Month

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Cloudmanic Labs team built Photomanic, our new photo application for Evernote, in a month. Actually, the time from introducing the concept to launching Photomanic was less than 30 days. I am very impressed with the polished product that resulted from our hard and fast work. But why the rush, you ask? Well, on a whim we decided to enter Photomanic in the Evernote Devcup 2013 competition — a month before the deadline. Consequently, we learned a lot about building software under pressure. And as many of you know, I am not a big fan of deadlines.

I have always believed that any first release of a product requires about 500 hours of work. This estimate includes time for planning, design, programming, integration, and bug fixing. If realizing the feature set takes more than 500 hours, the plan for the 1.0 release is probably too ambitious. But we had only a fraction of 500 hours to build Photomanic, and we did not have time to explore many different ideas. In this case we deviated from our usual development process in some key ways:

I appointed myself the decider. Although we bounced ideas back and forth, I often had to cut discussion short and make a decision. Given the time crunch, the team understood the expediency of this dictatorial approach. Before the next release we will revisit those ideas we were unable explore fully.
We adopted a deadline-driven attitude. After listing everything we wanted Photomanic to do, we prioritized that list and set a deadline for each phase. Features that were not completed in time were shelved for the time being. Normally, we start with a list of tasks necessary to build a minimum value product and launch when all of those tasks have been completed.
We leveraged our existing infrastructure. One reason we succeeded under such a tight deadline is that over the past 5 years we have built a scalable platform for our products. Had we not made that early investment, we could not have built Photomanic so quickly. Even we were surprised by how smoothly things went. This experience confirmed my belief that building infrastructure should be a strategic objective of any young company.

Photomanic: A Photo Gallery for Evernote

Mon, 08 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you are an Evernote user you probably know that its purpose is to be your external brain (and who couldn't use one of those?). In fact, Evernote's tagline is "remember everything." Meaning, of course, everything you want to remember. The moments I most want to return to are often caught on camera: trips, parties, big events — including, recently, the birth of my first child. But there's been a disconnect: that is, I store everything in Evernote except photos, which I manage with a different application.

Correction: I used to. Because I am pleased to introduce Photomanic, our new photo gallery app for Evernote. Using the simple yet robust Photomanic web interface (and soon mobile apps), you can easily upload your photos and organize them into albums in Evernote to enjoy whenever, wherever (and share, if you like).

Beyond keeping virtually all of your memories in one place (finally!), Evernote is the perfect place to store your photos for eternity (give or take). Because if you are an Evernote Premium user you get 1 gigabyte of storage per month — it's a use-it-or-lose-it sort of thing so you might as well use it — and if you ever stop subscribing to Evernote, the storage you have paid for remains yours. With other services, if you stop paying you lose your storage space. Not cool.

The Digital Photo Conundrum: A Manifesto

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I have been managing digital photos for a very long time. I am not a professional photographer — I'm like you: I love scrolling through my photos and remembering trips, parties, milestones, friends and family, what I looked like 20 pounds ago . . . and I want to be able to access these memories forever.

The problem is, I am on at least my 10th digital photo storage solution. As the technology has evolved I have switched from one software package to another, and more recently from one service to another. Switching is a pain because it entails moving and reorganizing my photos — again. Which brings me to this manifesto. Frankly, I think that all of the existing digital photo services are lacking. I have yet to find one that truly and elegantly meets my needs. Born of this frustration is the following manifesto describing my ideal digital photo service.

Cost.

Paying a monthly fee to store photos adds up. After all, photos are one of those things most people accumulate over the course of their lives and then pass on to the next generation. Digital photo storage should not equal a monthly fee. I don't need any more recurring bills.

Safekeeping.

Storing photos on a computer is risky. Many people know all too well the woe of failing to back up their photos. Locally stored photos also need to be transferred (repeatedly) from old to new computers. Photo storage should be effortless and permanent, and backup should be automatic.

Ownership.

Simply put, you own your photos — no one else does. End of story. Yet every photo service has different terms of service regarding photo ownership. A photo service should protect users' photo ownership rights.

Privacy.

Not all photos are for sharing. Therefore, photos must be private unless the owner chooses to share them. When Google incorporated Picasa into Google+, for example, the burden of keeping photos private was placed on the user along with pressure to share photos with Google+. A photo service should ensure that users are in complete control of their photos.

AngularJs: Why I Never Should Have Hired Myself

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I am pretty vocal about what I think makes the kind of great programmer a manager should hire. A great programmer is more than someone who has computer science fundamentals under control and knows how to write lots of comments in smartly modularized code. These skills are, so to speak, merely the cost of admission. I am on the record saying that a great programmer needs to be passionate and needs to hang out with the right people.

When it comes to PHP, I meet my own criteria. I am very passionate about PHP, and I follow and hang out with the best minds in the PHP world. Before I go to bed each night I search around on Github for new and interesting PHP libraries. And I get giddy waiting to see what Phil Sturgeon and Taylor Otwell are going to do next. Until recently, however, I did none of these things in relation to Javascript — a clear sign that I was not a great Javascript programmer.

Which is why I never should have hired myself. About a year ago I Googled around looking for a new Javascript framework because jQuery just wasn't adequate. I reviewed all of the possible candidates, including AngularJs. None appeared to meet my design goals so I came to the conclusion that Cloudmanic Labs needed to write our own Javascript framework. We ended up investing thousands of dollars worth of time to develop CloudJs, and we are pretty proud of it. But there's a catch . . . wait for it.

Recently I began putting in extra effort to become as connected with the Javascript community as I am with the PHP community. Frankly, I wanted to start promoting CloudJs as we got closer to launching version 1.0, but also I had become pretty passionate about Javascript. While hanging out around the Javascript watercooler I kept hearing about the AngularJs framework that I had dismissed. When I finally dug into it, I realized that AngularJs and CloudJs are essentially one and the same — except that AngularJs is far more mature. And so, because there is nothing that CloudJs does better than AngularJs, Cloudmanic Labs is going to adopt AngularJs.

Go Ahead, Just Stand There

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It turns out that if you do it right, just standing there can be pretty powerful. Think Wonder Woman: chest open but not puffed, legs apart, head level, one or both hands on the hips. Assume that stance and your body will release hormones that make you feel confident and calm. It's sort of like putting the proverbial cart before the horse: instead of allowing your posture to merely reflect your emotions, you can use it to elevate your mood and generate the self-confidence you need to navigate stressful situations. Because even born leaders like yourself have off days.

Striking a super hero pose might sound silly now, but it can save your bacon the next time you have to pitch an idea to a difficult client, deliver negative feedback to a coworker, or plead your sorry case to a judge. Social science researchers at preeminent business schools (like Harvard) have identified the primary hormones associated with so-called expansive postures as testosterone, which correlates with dominance and a willingness to take risks, and cortisol, which is related to stress. When you gotta deliver, you want your testosterone high and your cortisol low.

The physiological effects of holding a commanding pose for just two minutes last about 20, but the benefits of fine tuning your posture in general are immeasurable. Your mother always said to stand up straight, and she was so right. Your carriage changes your self-perception and influences how favorably others perceive and respond to you. Adopt an expansive posture and you will seem more credible and attractive. But overdo it by going all stiff or alpha primate and you will have exactly the opposite effect.

Being Bleeding Edge Is a Good Thing

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I am a pretty bleeding edge guy when it comes to technology. In fact, as the manager of Cloudmanic Labs I am willing to invest to upgrade our systems with the newest technologies before building additional features or products. To be clear: with respect to deploying code into production bleeding edge does not mean buggy alpha software. Rather, it signifies employing novel but tested libraries, technologies, and design patterns.

The major counterargument to being bleeding edge focuses on end users, who typically don't even know which technologies products use. Why replace the old technology with bleeding edge technology if users don't care? I say this argument is short sighted. When users adopt new software, they hope to use it for a long time because switching can be annoying. But developers who allow complacency to set in and fail to keep up with technological innovations will one day wake up and realize that updating their product is nearly impossible. Advancing software to the next generation is not an easy task and the technology changes blindingly fast. Therefore, if you are not on the bleeding edge you are late.

Why We Do Not Offer Phone Support

Wed, 29 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Does offering phone support make a difference? It does — but not in the way you might think. At Cloudmanic offering amazing customer support is a top priority. If you want us to do backflips we intend to try. Why, then, do we not offer phone support? The bottom line is that phone support costs a lot of money. Many of our peers do offer phone support — and their prices are at least double ours. It really comes down to this simple fact: because 98% of our customers never require support we don't feel that it makes sense to raise our prices for the 2% who occasionally do.

In the very beginning we had to make the tough decision to provide support only via email (and sometimes Twitter or Facebook). We stand by this decision. We understand that email is not some users' preferred way of receiving support, but we have not yet encountered an issue that we could not resolve with a customer via email.

When Your Devotion to Quality Makes Time (and You) its Bitch

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Is your work style get-it-right or git-r-done? That is, are you more process oriented or results oriented? If you're habitually the former, chances are you pay for your obsessive tendencies with time. Remember that task you were totally sure you could bang out in one hour? The one you labored over for six? How did that happen? Sure, the final product was a marvel of perfection (or so it seemed at the time), but was it worth it?

They don't say time is money for nothing, and tumbling down the rabbit hole without regard for the relative importance of a task is not a profitable business model. But is it really just a matter of poor time management? To avoid a time warp, some experts advise that you start by identifying the components of a task and budgeting time for each. This advice might be sound in theory, but it can be difficult to follow. To wit: I tend to set time limits and then blow them successively. One hour mushrooms to six because the finish line keeps moving. This tendency is not, however, entirely due to a pathological inability to accept that good is good enough.

It's also partly the result of a tenacious devotion to quality. Great ideas do not form on command, after all. And occasionally I need to take the time to address a knowledge or skills gap. Sometimes good might be good enough for the job, but not for me personally. In such cases, the additional time spent is by choice. If I think getting something just right is important and I have the time to sacrifice, I will ignore the insistent tick-tocking of the clock. True, the extra effort might not be readily apparent to others or immediately rewarded, but the value of developing my abilities and doing my best is intrinsic.

Modal Windows Are For Chumps

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In web design I see modal windows misused repeatedly — though, admittedly, this is just one man's opinion of improper use. (Or is it? Read on...) But I should begin by clarifying three things. First, a modal window appears within another window. Second, while Cloudmanic products do use a few modal windows, most reflect poor judgement on our part and will be phased out over time. And third, there is a time and place for modal windows — some examples are described below. Nevertheless, I submit that 90% of the time modal windows are misused.

Why Modal Windows Are (Usually) Bad

Modal windows are useful because they delimit a space in which the user performs one or two simple tasks. The unpleasant side effects, however, are often not worth it. Here is my short list of why you should use modal windows sparingly:

They're clunky. Most developers neglect to think about different screen sizes with respect to content. For example, if the modal window content requires scrolling, the screen displays both the modal window scroll bar and the browser scroll bar and your wheel mouse behaves differently based on where the cursor is. Yes, the browser scroll bar can be disabled, but doing so has never felt natural to me.

They're not mobile friendly. Modal windows are almost always difficult to manage on mobile devices. They're slow to load and slow to hide. Unless the developer does tons of testing, the content can get wonky — such as when the onscreen keyboard pops up.

They require a lot of developer time. Developing a modal window requires extra effort because the association between the parent page and the modal window page must be maintained. And developing modal windows for a modern ajax-type web application is especially complex.

They're disruptive and cause angst. The appearance and disappearance of a modal window disrupts the screen in a big way, forcing the user to refocus. And if, when the modal window disappears, users do not refocus on the correct area of the parent screen, they might wonder if anything even happened. Users need good visual cues to confirm that a change has occurred. The idea of modal windows causing Cloudmanic users even such micro forms of angst bothers me.

An Angst-Free Workplace

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Like most people I ask myself regularly, what is important in terms of my career? Typical answers include salary, benefits, type of work, location, hours, and the like — but recently I concluded that angst is my top concern when it comes to crafting my career.

Often, working conditions cause a lot of angst. You might have a difficult client. You might be managing a difficult employee. Your coworkers might drive you nuts. Your workload might be too much. Your deadlines might be too tight.

Sometimes angst is minor and other times major, but angst in any form can lead to stress, lack of motivation, and unhappiness. Why would anyone want to spend 8+ hours a day working in any state other than utter delight? Of course, some might say that a workplace where everyone is free of angst is a fantasy. I respectfully disagree.

Removing angst from the workplace has to come from two places: management and employees. Management needs to foster an angst-free workplace, and employees need to stand their ground and not allow the work environment to cause them angst. That said, simply ignoring things that cause angst is not a solution I would recommend or tolerate at Cloudmanic Labs. Instead, you must identify angst and destroy it (carefully, of course).

How Do You Build An Angst-Free Workplace?

Every workplace is different. Every manager is different. Every employee is different. Therefore, no one solution can work for every company. The best advice I can give is to encourage every member of the team to be the guardian of their own angst. For example, if the way tasks are assigned to you is causing angst, consider the possible alternatives and collaborate with your managers and coworkers to enact a solution.

Skyclerk Just Got Better and Cheaper

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Cloudmanic Team is stoked to announce that Skyclerk just got better and cheaper. And here's the best part: in most cases you don't need to do anything except pay less than you were paying before. Lucky you! Let's take a moment to investigate the details together.

Better how?

We know how frustrating it is to make a decision when you have too many choices. We also know that your business accounting needs change over time. Because we are squarely in the simple is better camp, we have simplified our pricing to a free plan and a paid Premium plan that includes unlimited monthly transactions, unlimited contacts, and unlimited storage to meet your business accounting needs whether they are small or big. And soon the paid plan will include 50 scans a month to help you go paperless and stay organized.

How much cheaper?

A lot cheaper. For example, if you had the $99 a month Infinity plan, you now get the same service for only $15. At that crazy low price Skyclerk is one of the cheapest online accounting systems — most of our peers start around $30 for an unlimited plan. In most cases the change to the new Premium plan happened automatically. The exception — yes, there is one — is that if you had a plan bundled with shoeboxed.com, the choice is yours. That is, you can keep the bundled plan at the previous price by doing nothing. Or you can unbundle and switch to the new $15 plan by emailing support@cloudmanic.com.

Evermanic Has Arrived

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I am very pleased to announce Evermanic has arrived!

Simply Put

Evermanic is the fastest way to capture recurring notes on the go and store them safely into Evernote.

Or, If you like to know the nuts and bolts

Evermanic is an iPhone application that allows you to set up profiles (templates) for the notes you know you will be taking over and over again.

For example, Bob might keep track of meals with clients taking photos of the meal receipts. These receipts might have to be stored into a particular Evernote notebook and tagged in a particular fashion. Bob might even want the same note title for each receipt. All these are pieces of information that compose an Evermanic profile. Once he has configured his profile (template) with the characteristics of his choice he is ready to go.

Next time Bob is on the go and wants to file a meal receipt, he simply selects the profile, snaps a picture, and puts his phone back in his pocket. Later, when he opens Evernote again, his meal receipt will be stored just the way he likes it.

Price Is A Feature

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In general, I tend to use top-quality products. This might not be for all things in my life (just look at my car) but it is true for most things that I really care about or use on a regular basis. I tend to seek the best of the best. Lately, I have been noticing a new data point in my decision making process: price.

I can think of several specific examples when price was a tipping point that made me use one product over another:

I really like my Android Nexus 7 tablet. In fact, I am in love with it. However, when I compare it to the iPad, I sort of wonder why I love it when the iPad is so much more loveable. When I compare the two, I realize that I'm more drawn to the iPad. Yet I own a Nexus 7.
I'm also in love with GitHub (such a great service). Side-by-side, GitHub is a better product than Bitbucket in all accounts. But I find myself using Bitbucket more.
I am madly in love with Linode. It's a far better product than Digital Ocean, but more and more of my needs are migrating to Digital Ocean.

In all of these examples, I've found myself actually using the less expensive product. If price wasn't a factor, I would only be using an iPad, Github, and Linode.

Laravel / Composer : Skate To Where The Puck Is Going To Be

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."
~Wayne Gretzky

Steve Jobs brought Gretzky's quote to the computer world's attention in 2007, and since then I have always kept these words in the back of my mind. At Cloudmanic, we like to make decisions based on this philosophy as well.

As many of you know, Cloudmanic Labs is a PHP / CodeIgniter development shop. We have been loyal to both of these technologies from the very early days. But things have changed: PHP is moving forward at a nice pace; CodeIgniter is not. As a firm, we can stay with the puck or skate to where it is going. Internally, we have made the decision to invest our time in Laravel along with Composer.

PHP has, for a while now, introduced two very powerful features: namespacing and autoloading. CodeIgniter, on the other hand, simply has not embraced these ideas. As a consequence, senior developers who contribute powerful libraries to the open source community have moved on. The libraries that we have grown to rely on are now being developed in a way that does not mesh well with the core CodeIgniter framework.

Another factor in our choice is that we want to engage and attract the best development talent we can. It seems most of our development peers have started to embrace Laravel with an increased focus on using Composer with Laravel. What senior engineer wants to work on old technology? To stay relevant and attractive as a company, we need to stay on the cutting-edge.

If you have not already checked out Laravel and Composer do it now. You can thank me later :).

Skyclerk Dives into Video Marketing

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We've all seen them: The videos companies make to market their products. For some companies, videos explaining how and why to use their products really make sense (Apple, for example, does a great job at it).

But I have to admit I'm usually skeptical, especially when the video is for a small web start-up. What is the return on investment for one of these minute-long videos? Are they just spending money making these videos to show their VC investors that they are spending their money as fast as possible?

And of course, do people even watch these videos?

For the longest time, I never watched any of these videos when reviewing a product. It just seemed easier and faster to read the website and find out everything I needed to know about a company or product. However, recently I have noticed myself watching promotional videos even before I look at the company's website.

If my usage patterns have changed, I'm guessing others are finding these types of videos useful as well. Or maybe others have always found these videos useful and I have just been behind the curve.

Either way, it's time to take the plunge with video. Like most new things at Cloudmanic Labs, we are going to learn this video marketing thing by diving right in. We're pleased to share our first creation, a quick intro into Skyclerk.

Taylor Swift Is Dead To Me

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you follow my writing at all, you will notice there seems to be an ongoing theme of conversation around building great user-focused products. I typically dive deep into building software products, exploring how to build something that will truly ignite your users. Often you do this by putting your users' needs above all else. So it hit me hard when recently, I was let down by a person/brand that I really admire — Taylor Swift — as she did not ignite me as a "user" of her products.

Yes, I am a Taylor Swift fan. I like her music, but I also really like her as a person. I think she is authentic. She has been pretty true to herself and her fans since she got her start. Comparing Taylor Swift to Lady Gaga is night and day. With Taylor, what you see is what you get. She has always brought a "keep it real" approach to her music and her brand.

Skyclerk: Import Ledger Entries From CSV

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One of the most useful features in Skyclerk when you are first starting out is the ability to import past ledger transactions via a CSV file. Most accounting systems, banks, and spreadsheets will allow you to export your transactions as a CSV file. Once you have a CSV file it is very easy to import your transactions to Skyclerk.

To import your ledger entries follow the instructions below.

1) Navigate to your Ledger landing page. From this page click on the "Import Transactions" link in the right column.

When Designing Software, Think About My Wife

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Actually, that's a shitty title. It should be, Don't ever think about my wife again! Maybe it's best if you think about your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, or cat. Think about the spark that brought you together. Think about the emotional attachment you have to one another. Think about all the times you almost broke up but stayed together.

When I design software I try to model it after my relationship. I want every user to be as enchanted with the software as I am with my wife. I want users to trust me in the same way my wife trusts me. I want to have a commitment with every user that is like the commitment my wife and I have for each other. When building software, I try to build that marriage between user and the software with every feature.

Sparking the Relationship

When you meet someone new and there is a spark, it often leads to a first date. You might not be able to verbalize the spark, you just feel it deep down inside. It might be how the person is dressed, how they conduct themselves, where they are from, their profession, and or something you can't even identify. Often it's just one or two things that ignites the spark.

When building software, you have to find those one or two things that sparks a user's interest. You need to convince the user to go on a "first date" with you. Once on the date, you can show off all your other amazing qualities, but if you come on too strong, you'll never get that date. What are the one or two things that really makes your software spark someone's interest? Why would they want to "go out" with you in the first place?

Open Source Doobs Drive Me Nuts

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer: This is just one man's personal feelings. Pet peeve, if you will. While a few close friends of mine have certainly motivated me to write this, I will not be calling them out. They know who they are. These friends are close friends… I still love you guys! Feel free to blog about something crazy I do.

Open source doobs drive me nuts! What is this "doob" thing I speak of? Well, it's someone who only uses open source software. They demand the freedom open source software gives you. They hate paying "The Man" for their software (ie. Apple, Microsoft, etc.). So they typically only use Linux, Android, Gimp, and so on. Free, open source software.

Freedom Over Quality

Some open source software is truly great. I use tons of open source software every day. In fact, I bet I use more open source software than I do paid software. It's often much better than the stuff you pay for, but I always at least review my options. The idea that you would not pick and use a product based on its merits vs. being open source is just crazy to me. Any way you look at it Photoshop is better than Gimp. Many paid text editors are better than open source ones. For many years iPhone was way better than Android. Plex is better than XBMC. Roku is better than Boxee. In the software world, there is no good reason — other than a personal allegiance to a concept — to NOT use the very best tool for your personal needs. Yes, you have to truly try them all to know what the best is. Quality should always win.

Giving Back

This is what drives me the most nuts. It truly sends me into a tailspin: Not giving back. Being an open source doob is great — if you give back. Boatloads of blood, sweat, and tears goes into building great open source software. Yes, people open it up for all to use. It just feels wrong if someone is only using open source software and not giving back. You know that buddy who, when you go out to dinner with him, you always pay and he never offers in return? That is how it feels when you use open source and don't give back. Take, take, take and give nothing — just wrong.

Is The Code Good?

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

How do you know if a developer has written good code (even if that developer is you)? I've been asking myself this a lot lately. I really want to define the answer as thoroughly as I can, because if I have some strong criteria to follow, I can hold myself to highest standards and never fall short. Also, I can be a better manager if I have some strong guiding principles.

Steve Jobs was famous for asking employees if their work was their very best. If they did not clearly state yes, he sent them back to the drawing board. I am not willing to be that type of manager, however, I do want to be able to recognize when my team is not doing their best work.

To be clear: I am not talking about knowledge or CS fundamentals. I am really talking about things like, how clean the code is to read? Did the developer go about things in a simple way or an overly complex way? Is this code designed to support the future or is it just thinking about today's requirements? And so on.

Judging Code By Bugs

All code has bugs, and I think watching a developer (or yourself) manage bugs as they are reported is a great measure of how good the code is. Over the years, I've observed that if a developer gets a bug report and fixes it right away, that is a sign of great code. Here's my logic: If your code is overly complex, it's going to take a while to debug and fix.

When I've written great code, I can fix bugs right away. The process of tracking down the bug is almost instant. I can do that because it's code I'm proud of, and I wrote it from a place of passion. There is something about code you are proud of that lets you almost instantly zoom in on the problem and solve it right away. It is your baby after all, and you want it taken care of.

Coming Up For Air: We Have Been Busy

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last year many of our customers and partners have reached out to us and asked, "What gives?" We've heard over and over again that our rate of innovation has slowed. We have not released any new or revised features in almost a year. Everyone wants to know, where the heck is this new Heapless and Evermanic product they've been hearing about? Well, today we are going to confess.

About a year ago we realized a few things:

We are not just a single-application company. Cloudmanic is more than just Skyclerk. Our mission is to better the lives of small businesses via innovative software. While accounting and bookkeeping is important, there is so much more we can do.
If we wanted to do more, we needed a better infrastructure. We did not want to "reinvent the wheel" for every new product or service we offered. Core infrastructure, such as user accounts, billing, and hosting, all needed to be united.
We needed to unite our brand. Cloudmanic is about holistically helping small businesses. Moving between our products and services should be a fluid experience. The best way to do that is under a shared umbrella.

What Has Changed?

I am pleased to announce the first release of our new infrastructure today. This has been more than a year in the making, and we are just getting started. Here are the changes you will see with your Skyclerk account:

Product, Distribution, Product, Distribution...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We all know the saying "Location, location, location." This is a great saying to live by for many different industries. But when it comes to the web startup world, I would say there is a more important saying: "Product, distribution, product, distribution, product, distribution."

Nine times out of 10, I can detect a first-time entrepreneur — and have a pretty good idea of their future success — based on how they see product and distribution. To make my point, look at the two responses to the question "How will people discover and engage with your product or service?" Which of the following responses is from a first time entrepreneur, and which is from a veteran?

We have a complete social media plan in place, along with a budget for an on- and off-line marketing campaign; we plan to reach out to media for press coverage, and we have an all-star team of writers for our blog to spark traffic via SEO.
We're not really sure what channels of distribution will lead to the most conversions. We have a small budget set aside for experiments. Of course our experiments will be across all channels — we will be measuring everything! Once the data is in, we will know what channels we will focus our attention on. Really, distribution is something we are only experimenting with in the early days. Our focus is on the product and the iterations of the product.

Maybe my fake examples gave it away, but anyone who tells me they have a very clear distribution plan in the early days of building their company is fooling themselves. The person who realizes they need to try all distribution channels, coupled with product iterations, is most likely the seasoned entrepreneur.

Deadlines Are Harmful To The Creative Process

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Here at Cloudmanic Labs, we pride ourselves on doing excellent creative work. To keep up a constant stream of high quality work from happy employees, we did something a bit unusual: We're a deadline-free zone.

There were many reasons that factored into this move, but first and foremost: Deadlines are harmful to the creative process. Let me walk you through how that happens, and why losing the deadlines can be beneficial.

I would say 99% of all deadlines are soft deadlines. What I mean is, if a soft deadline is missed, the world will not come to an end, you will not be fired, your company will continue to stay in business, and profit will stay on track. When you look at most deadlines they are nothing more than a date a manager randomly picked on the calendar, or some date the sales guy told a client. Of course, if the deadline is external it's never good for your company's reputation to miss; however, it is much worse to deliver crappy work just to hit a deadline.

Before I get too far, yes, I realize some deadlines are hard deadlines. I would say these hard deadlines only happen 1% of the time. For example, if you're a retailer doing promotions for the Christmas season, missing your deadline and completing the promotions in January is pretty harmful. But I'm not talking about those deadlines. What I'm suggesting is that better management could lead to hitting the deadline, while operating as a deadline-free company.

37signals Is Nailing It Today

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This is especially true if you subscribe to the ridiculous Church of 80-character Lines.
— David Heinemeier Hansson

Always remember: A program IS NOT communication between a human and the machine. It's a communication between a developer and the next developer.
— Don Schenck

I have learned an important principle: simple things work, often to our dumbfounded surprise, for we tend to distrust the simple and strive for the complex.
— Richard Cracroft, Our Trek Through the Wilderness

Normally, I would consider the act of simply summarizing and reposting someone else's blog post sort of wasteful. That is what twitter is for. I guess these three quotes really match the philosophies and beliefs we have at Cloudmanic. I could not help but share as we have already written about some of this stuff in the past. Check out Coding Should Be Like Writing A Book and Software Design: The Come Back Later Problem.

Check out the two 37signals posts (and the comments) that I am referencing below.

Clarity over brevity in variable and method names

I Have Learned an Important Principle Simple

Software Design: The "Come Back Later" Problem

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Once upon a time, software was very different. You did not have app stores. You could not download free versions. You could not simply create an account and run the software from your browser. Software required commitment.

Back in the day, if you wanted software, you got in your car and drove to Staples and engaged with the sales person about which software was perfect for you and your computer. Once you decided on the software you were given a shrink-wrapped box with a CD inside. Oh yeah, you also had to pay for it. And software was not cheap in those days, either.

Before you ever installed your new software you already had a pretty big commitment. You spent time at Staples. You spent your hard-earned money. And typically, you could not return the software once you opened it.

After all this commitment you were not going to let this software go to waste. People would block out time in their schedule just to sit down and learn how to use the software, going over every inch of the software, learning everything there is to learn.

Learning Is Hard: Hire Employees With A Learning Scale Of 10

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I have been in the process of some major self reflection lately. Typical me, everything I conclude I want to translate to the business world. Give me a moment to setup my thought and then I will connect it back to the business world.

Point blank, learning is hard. Learning requires pain. Learning requires dedication. Something I have been wondering about for a while is: Why am I really good at learning something and completely suck at others? I was this way all through school, both high school and college. Get my attention and I am all in. If I am not interested, I am going to be a complete failure.

For over 8 years now I have been trying to master Portuguese. I have studied by myself. I have taken classes. I have visited Brazil many times. Still my growth rate is very slow. There is no question that I really want to learn Portuguese.

During the same period of time I have learned a handful of programming languages, studied the financials of over a hundred companies, and studied business concepts from the world's leaders.

Why is it so hard for me to learn something that I want to learn but so easy for me to learn something I really really want to learn? Why is my focus so hard to tame on things I am interested in but yet so easy to tame when I really really want to learn something?

I concluded this thought today while snowboarding with my wife. She likes snowboarding. She is not willing to really push it. She wants to get better and better. However, she is not willing to go through the pain and stress it might take to really become a pro snowboarder. She is ok learning the sport slowly, very slowly. I realize we all have a learning scale.

The Concept of a Learning Scale

So I would like to enter into record the concept of a learning scale. Maybe many people before me have come up with that. If you think I am a moron for just thinking about it now move on to your next blog post.

For those of you that have stuck around: I think a learning scale is a number between 1 and 10 — a measurement of how much you really want to learn something. A learning scale is a measurement of passion. I guess my learning Portuguese scale is about a 3. I want to learn it but I do not really want to learn it. My passion is just less than other topics. I am unwilling to go through the pain and suffering to be a master.

My learning scale for programming and business seems to be consistently at a 10. I am willing to put in the hours and stress to fully understand.

Ok, why did I bore you with my personal soul searching? I think this relates directly to business and the act of hiring. As a growing company we are always looking for talent. I realize today I want to look for talent that has a learning scale of 10 when it comes to the subject of their employment.

I want to hire people that love the idea of learning new things (in relationship to their field). Most of the creative and engineering types we hire are people that need to be able to learn (and learn fast). They need to keep up on bleeding edge technologies and concepts. If they do not have a learning scale of 10 for their field they will be a waste of resources for us. We need to hire people that are currently passionate about staying current and always learning.

From now on I am only hiring people with a learning scale of 10 for their field. If you are a small growing company I would recommend you do the same.

NDAs Are Often Misused & Dumb!

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Startups without a product are always asking me to sign a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), and every time I think about refusing. It just seems misguided. There is a time and a place for an NDA but starting a company is not one of them. I realize lawyers are advising their clients to play it safe. This is poor advice; it does not holistically help your company succeed. Lawyers are focused on protecting you. They are not focused on building a great team, marketing to the masses, and building buzz around your company and product.

When you are starting a company you want everyone in the world to know about your product and service. Marketing is expensive and time consuming. Why not get the ball rolling? Why not tell everyone in the world what you are doing? The sooner possible customers, partners, and employees start to engage with your company and get energized, the better.

Most people think they are protecting some great idea. I would guess 99% of all ideas have already been thought of by someone else and someone is already working on it. If your idea is so powerful you should be filing a patent to protect it, not NDAs. It is about how you execute. It is about the million decisions you make day in and day out that leads to the special DNA of your company and your product.

Again, if your idea is so special, go apply for a patent. In all other cases start focusing on how you are going to build a great company with great products. Rather than hiding behind NDAs, stand on the tallest mountain you can find and tell everyone about how you are going to change everything with your company. Rally the troops and start building!

There Had To Be A Better Way: How Skyclerk Came To Be

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

In a world where building the next social network or some random deal site is the hot thing to do, why on earth would a company choose to build an accounting system? Has accounting even changed in the last 100 years? Before I can explain how Skyclerk came to be, I should give some personal history.

I am a fourth-generation entrepreneur. As a kid, I watched my father keep his books by hand, using nothing more than pencil and paper. I watched him spend hours every day to keep track of the financials. He would wake up early, stay up late, or work all weekend long just to stay organized. By watching him, I personally witnessed how time consuming and labor intensive it is to run a small business.

Intuit to the rescue? I do not think so!

Finally, Quicken / QuickBooks was born. This seemed like such a game changer for my dad's free time. But I'm afraid in terms of time, it never saved him much — it just created a brand new list of challenges: installing the software, keeping backups, figuring out all the advanced features, data entry, and so on. Life seemed easier but my father was still spending the same amount of time doing his books.

Now fast forward to 1998, when I started my first company. Just like my father, I had to keep books. I did what most business owners do: I purchased QuickBooks, installed it on my computer, and spent my nights doing bookkeeping. Every bookkeeping session just seemed more and more painful. The software was too complex, it never did what I wanted it to do, and input just took forever. I kept thinking the same thing over and over — there had to be a better way.

Taking Matters Into My Own Hands

In early 2004 I finally snapped. I had to build my own bookkeeping system. I had to speed up the process of accounting so I could focus on growing my company, not taking care of the books. Skyclerk was born from my frustration with the existing systems and my determination to find an alternative. From 2004 to 2010, Skyclerk was nothing more than an internal tool that I kept enhancing to make better and better.

It took a while to realize, but in late 2007 I finally concluded that if I hated other accounting systems, other people must too. Why not offer Skyclerk to other business owners? I have shaved hours and hours of bookkeeping time from my life. Time is too valuable. Why not share with the world?

Now people around the globe use Skyclerk. Accounting may never be "hot," but Skyclerk is a valuable tool that saves people time so they can build their businesses, enjoy their families, or even browse their social networks.

The moral of my story, and Skyclerk's story: Don't just settle. There is always a better way.

Loyalty, Its Important

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I hear the term "It's business" over and over again. It seems to be this universal way of saying "I know I am doing the wrong thing but I can justify it because it makes my company more profitable." It seems to be a crappy way of saying loyalty is not relevant in the business world. In my world loyalty has a higher currency than "it's business." To me "it's business" is short term and loyalty is long term.

Let's first define loyalty. Loyalty can be found in many different forms. Personal relationships are just one example. Loyalty is much deeper. An employee can be loyal to a company or its mission. A vendor can be loyal to a customer. A company can be loyal to a supplier, and so on. It is easier to talk about loyalty in terms of people and their actions, so I will stick with these examples, but organizations as a whole can be loyal to each other.

Loyalty is about being 100% dedicated. I don't mean by this that your entire life is consumed by the relationship. I mean that you are always going to do your best work when in a loyal relationship. You are always going to prioritize based on loyalty. You are not going to jump ship for a brighter future when you are truly loyal. You are going to continue to think about how you can make the loyal relationship stronger via continued growth.

A great example of loyalty is Sheryl Sandberg COO at Facebook. She has made her money at Facebook. She could move on to bigger and better things. It is publicly known she has been offered many CEO jobs. It appears she is loyal to Facebook. She is committed to the mission. She is not going to leave a company that has been so good to her. Loyalty is going to fend off temptation. Maybe she will jump ship someday, but it does not seem to be something she is going to do anytime soon. I am sure Mark and the Facebook board recognize this and are giving her the same level of loyalty back.

Loyalty has always been very important to me. Something I have learned over the years is you can't force it. Everyone has their own level of loyalty. Just because you feel loyal to a person it does not mean you can expect it back. True loyalty is not something that just happens. As a manager, as a friend, as a husband, when loyalty binds it is truly a magical thing and the long term dividends will be big.

Coding Should Be Like Writing A Book

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The story I am about to tell happens almost monthly.

I needed to add some complex functionality to a project I was working on. I did what any good programmer would do and searched the web for a library that already did what I needed. I found a great library and got to work. I was really excited this library was going to save me hours and hours of time (in the end it still did). As I was moving forward I discovered some bugs in the library. I was hoping to just be able to make a few fixes and continue on. After diving into the library I found the code very hard to read. By many standards the code was pretty well written, but you really had to go through the code with a fine tooth comb. You could not just easily skim the code and figure out what was going on. Functions were very cryptic and variables were short in nature and not very descriptive.

I get it. Programmers do not like to type. Saving keystrokes saves on finger pain. Again, I get it. We all learned that a line of code should never be longer than 80 chars long (well that was when monitors had tubes).

Every time I find a library just like the one I mentioned above I end up just rewriting it. At the end of the day the logic is nearly the same. I have just written the code to be more descriptive and easy to understand. I like code to read like a book. You can quickly skim the code and understand what is going on. I also like my code to look pretty. If you printed it out and hung it on the wall it would be pleasing. I find code starts to look like crap when people wrap too many lines, or add too much logic without a few comments to break it up. There should be some symmetry to code.

Love me or hate me for it, I am going to continue to write very long descriptive functions, clearly define my variables, crazy long database column names, and add some sexy curves of symmetry to my code. Oh, I almost forgot, don't give me crap about code bloat and performance. There are always bigger performance fish to fry.

<?php echo $this->readers->ThankYouForReadingThisBlogPost('You Rock!'); ?>

A Special Thanks To Wildbit

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

People say business is cut throat. It is a snake or be snaked world. If you run a business you are in a dark silo where it is you against the world. As far as I'm concerned, these are just strong statements that get thrown out into the wild to get people's attention. Companies like Wildbit are proof this is simply not true. Wildbit, the makers of Beanstalkapp and Postmark, are working hard to help out fellow bootstrapped companies.

The team at Wildbit knows how hard it is to grow a company without piles of cash in the bank. To help bootstrapped companies they are willing to give away extra services for free (contact Wildbit for more information). Wildbit is also building a mentoring community called Think Strapped. Think Strapped is "A mentorship community for encouraging sustainable growth in software start ups". You can learn more about Think Strapped at their website thinkstrapped.com.

It is not every day we highlight other companies on our blog, but we were overly compelled to express our gratitude to Wildbit for their support of the bootstrapped community.

Thank you Wildbit.

Let's make it easier to talk. And listen.

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re a fan of communication, this is a great time to be alive. Between Twitter and Facebook and texting and email and blogs and old-fashioned phone calls, it’s nearly impossible not to be in touch with others.

20 Mile Hikes

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I am currently reading Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck — Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen.

First of all, what a great book! Second, the book mentions two explorers on a quest to hike to the South Pole. Each explorer leaves at the same time to try to beat the other to the South Pole. The two journeys have a great deal of parallels to running a business.

One explorer uses amazing focus and discipline and hikes 20 miles a day every day regardless of weather or conditions. He progresses 20 miles a day. Never more never less. The other explorer would sit in his tent on bad days and hike big long days on nice days. One day he might hike zero miles the next day he might hike 40 miles. The first explorer made it to the south pole and back. The other explorer died.

The point is, being disciplined and focused every day (in business) makes for a better outcome. Trying to grow too big too fast is a mistake. Continue on a 20 mile hike every day. Even if you think you can do more. Even if it is tempting to go faster.

I think in general at Cloudmanic we have maintained a pretty good 20 mile hike, but I am going to be more aware of our pace after reading the above book. Sometimes I get frustrated that we are not moving fast enough. Sometimes I want to add more features or products. Sometimes I want to be all things to all people. Sometimes I want to slow down and relax. I think if we stepped on the gas pedal or became complacent we would not build great products. We would get lost on our hike.

Roadmaps: We Should Have Known Better

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I am writing this post after making the decision to kill months of hard work around adding invoicing to Skyclerk. We have decided to scrap everything and start over as the road we were driving down showed not to be the right path. We almost made the decision to finish up what we were working on, launch it, and then make it better over time. Iterative software development is a notion we grasp onto and practice, but then again, our first release should be something we are at least proud of.

The problem is we made a big mistake. We have been telling customers for months invoicing was coming soon. By opening our big mouths and not delivering we are letting our customers down. For that we are sorry!

Keep Our Big Mouth Shut

Last year we made some big mistakes. We exposed our product roadmap with timeframes of when we thought we were going to have things done. This included our mobile apps, invoicing in Skyclerk, and more. Then we were stuck between delivering on our commitments to our customers and building the best darn product we could. I am afraid the product suffered because of the added stress of hitting targets we announced. If we just kept our mouth shut we would have had the freedom to take the time it needs to release when we knew we were ready, not when we felt we had to get something out of the door.

Transparency

We like to be a transparent company. We like to talk to customers about what we are doing and where we are heading, but more importantly we like to build impressive products and features. We feel we can serve our customers better by delivering something that is "freaking amazing" than giving them an outlook into where we are heading.

I am afraid as of today we will no longer publicly give insights into where we are heading. We will have to keep our product roadmap private. Please disregard any timeframes or roadmap announcements we have made in the past.

Please don't be afraid to send us your thoughts and comments. While we may no longer respond with "great idea we will start working on it", we do listen to all our customers, and use as much feedback as we can when building our products and features.

And rest assured, because we do not brag about working on what is important for you, it does not mean we are not doing exactly that.

Consistent UI Design For Apps & Marketing Sites

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last year or so Google has rolled out a new consistent look and feel across all their properties. While I am not in love with the design, I am in love with their consistency. One aspect that I think all start-ups should learn is being consistent between the apps and the marketing sites. Every google property has a marketing site that tells you about the application and convinces you to sign-up for it. Every software as a service start-up has the same thing. So many start-ups do not carry the same look and feel all the way through from the marketing site to the application to the mobile app and beyond. Here at Cloudmanic Labs we are guilty as charged.

Most users do not know what a marketing site vs an application site is. Nor do they care. They just want to be able to get what they want when they want it. So when you start with one look and feel and transfer to another look and feel users might think they have left the site. Imagine driving down the road in a desert. All of a sudden, you blink and you open your eyes to find yourself in the middle of a city. You are still driving down the road. You are still fine. However, you would have to take a few moments to process the change.

I think we owe it to our users to focus on a consistent experience across all our properties at Cloudmanic Labs. Users should be able to flow between our sites and apps fluidly without having to recompose when going from one site to another. It might take a while (well over a year) but we are going to start refactoring our properties to be more consistent.

Hiring Programmers When They Are Excited

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

From a young age all the way up through college I was completely addicted to snowboarding. Every day I was not snowboarding felt like the world was coming to an end. I used to be on the first and last lift ride up for the day. I was competing. I was talking to possible sponsors. I was working for the mountain as a snowboard instructor. Sadly, in recent years that drive and passion for the sport have gone away. I visit the mountain less each year. I spend less time at the mountain when I do go.

Today I was reflecting on why I lost the passion. I have become complacent in my snowboarding. I have peaked. I don't see myself landing more complex tricks as life goes on. I am just going to the mountain to enjoy a nice day. I do not have any goals such as to learn a new trick. There is not something new and exciting for me to conquer. I feel I have mastered snowboarding as much as I ever will.

Clearly, the period in my life where I really wanted to grow and progress in snowboarding is past me. This is ok. I will find new challenges in life.

There is, however, some drawback to losing my passion for snowboarding. I don't think I will be winning any future competitions. I don't think sponsors will be knocking on my door. I don't think mountains will be fighting to hire me. As I am no longer bringing passion and excitement to the table my return on investment as a snowboarder has declined. Simply put, my snowboarding career is a declining asset.

The same relationships apply to hiring software engineers. I want to hire a programmer while they are still in the growth period of their career. I want engineers that feel every second they are not programming is a wasted movement. I want to hire engineers that are always challenging themselves to learn something new. After an engineer peaks they are a declining asset; they lose the passion. They stop spending the weekend keeping up on the latest technologies. They stop looking for new and exciting ways to solve problems; they stick to what they know. When the passion and excitement wear off, the employer's return on investment decreases.

I am not suggesting that every engineer peaks. I think more times than not engineers lose the passion. Everyone is different. Some peak early and some peak later, some don't peak at all.

Also, I am not suggesting we fire every employee that has already peaked. I'd rather work with a good employee to give them new challenges and to find areas they have not yet mastered, but for which they can use the expertise from the previous years, such as managing a team of programmers. I am, however, suggesting that, when hiring, years of experience can sometimes be a bad thing, even though not always.

To find engineers who will grow with the company, what I look for when I hire is engineers that consider programming a way of life not just a job — just like snowboarding was a way of life for me.

Skyclerk Hearts Shoeboxed

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We've always had a good relationship with Shoeboxed. It's no wonder, really, considering we have so much in common: Efficiency, style, a deep hatred of loose pieces of paper.

Our partnership has been going so well, we decided it was time to take things to the next level. Shoeboxed and Skyclerk has seriously committed to each other. To celebrate this joyous occasion, we wanted to share the love.

Starting today, any Premium or Infinity Skyclerk user will get a free Shoeboxed account. Free! Here's how:

If you don't have a Skyclerk account, just register one and we'll do the rest, from setting you up with Shoeboxed to linking the two accounts together.

If you already have a Skyclerk account, all you need to do is activate Shoeboxed.

If you already have a Shoeboxed account, we'll transfer it over to Skyclerk. Don't worry; we'll pick up the tab so you only have one monthly bill.

Like any strong relationship, this one is based on a seamless give-and-take. When you have both accounts activated, your Shoeboxed transactions will be automatically imported to your Skyclerk account every day. How sweet is that?

Waltz on over to Skyclerk to get started. Ain't love grand?

Get Ready For Heapless

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Here at Cloudmanic Labs, we're always looking for ways to tame the document pile. Whether it's receipts or certificates, emails or e-bills, paper or digital, the trappings of running a business can be difficult to keep track of.

That's all about to change.

We want to let you know about something we're working on. It's called Heapless, and it's an organizational tool that will help you lose the heap. It's going to be like having a dozen assistants at your beck and call.

Like all of our products, Heapless was designed to enhance the efficiency of your office. Heapless is a solution to a problem almost everyone has.

Heapless isn't ready for prime time just yet, but we're hard at work on getting it there. If you'd like to be notified when Heapless launches, visit our website and sign up for Heapless news.

Thanks for a great 2011!

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As the year comes to a close, we're thinking about all we're grateful for in 2011 and what we're looking forward to in 2012.

First and foremost, we're thankful to you for making 2011 a terrific year. This has been a stellar 12 months in many ways:

Skyclerk's growth this year was beyond our wildest dreams. In order to keep our product up to par, we spent a lot of time scaling Skyclerk and making tweaks based on your feedback. Having to switch our name to Skyclerk was a setback, but we came out of just fine and love our new name. It was one glitch among many highlights. We released iPhone and Android apps, which have been well-received by users. We also built and strengthened partnerships with other companies, including Shoeboxed.com.
Grapeshare, which started as a side project to satisfy our love of wine, was launched. This project is still very new but is off to a fantastic start, with more and more users posting about the wines they love every day.

As good as the last year was, we're eagerly looking towards what we'll be bringing you in 2012. A few of the things to keep an eye on:

With Skyclerk, we're going to build on the successes we've had so far. That means doing more of what we've been doing: Listening more to users, building more features based on that feedback, and doing more to find new and creative ways to make bookkeeping and accounting dead simple. You're the reason we're here; it's always our goal to meet your needs.
Just like a fine wine, we anticipate that Grapeshare will only get better as time goes by. However, Cloudmanic Labs has moved on from Grapeshare. It has become very clear Grapeshare is going to grow into a thriving business. Grapeshare has a great team working on it everyday. While we are no longer formally involved we chat with the team every day and will continue to promote Grapeshare. We love our focus on small business and felt Grapeshare was too far out of our wheel house. Grapeshare made our 2011 New Year letter because it was a big part of our year and we know it is going to have a very exciting 2012.
Finally, we'll be rolling out our newest project, Heapless, in early 2012. Heapless is another tool — like Skyclerk — to support the paperless office. You know those heaps of paper that can pile up on your desk? If so, then you have a pretty good idea of what Heapless can help you with. Look for more on Heapless in the coming months.

Again, without you, none of the highlights on this list exist. Thanks for your input, which keeps us striving for our best. Here's to you! Cheers!

New Year's Resolutions Are Garbage; Setting Goals Is Not

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It was probably a decade ago, in the midst of my angst ridden teen years, that I decided New Year's Resolutions were a load of crap.

My own personal case study has proven me correct: January 1st means a month of fighting to get on a treadmill at the gym. All the people who hate to work out, but resolve to go every day because HEY! NEW YEAR? NEW YOU! Time to flatten those abs and tighten that ass, right? No more carbs or chocolate, RIGHT?

Wrong.

"Diets" are always the new black in a new year. At least until February when the gym clears out again.

So yeah, I gave up trying to be "better" every new year. And who could blame me with all that Y2K (and now 2012) end-of-the-world stuff? Why not just party like it's 1999? Live fast, die young. Mr James Dean said so.

But that doesn't really work either. I don't really believe that I will live to see the world end. And I don't really care to die young.

So my mantra the last few years has simply been: Outdo Yourself. Basically, have a better year than the last. Do something different. Fly by the seat of your pants. Whatever the cost, go do interesting shit so you have something to put in your memoir. Or at least a great Facebook status to make your friends jealous.

It's been an interesting few years: in 2009 I was art directing a magazine in NYC and working myself to the ground. A layoff at the end of the year turned 2010 into a tour of South America and part of the US. 2011 I decided to give the deuces to my beloved Brooklyn and try out a low key west coast lifestyle.

That brings us to 2012. The ghost of Christmas future.

I had a few vague ideas of what this next year should accomplish, but it wasn't until this fine gentleman pointed me in the direction of this outrageous lady's blog post that I discovered I could indeed make resolutions. In the form of specific and attainable goals. In a way that gives me time as opposed to the First Of The Year Cold Turkey Syndrome.

Basically you pick a word for the year, choose 9 "life buckets", 3 goals for each, and write down an action step for each goal at the beginning of every month. If you don't do it, ask yourself why not? Maybe you didn't want to do it in the first place. Reevaluate. Carry on.

My word for the year? Those of you who know me outside of the interwebs will probably get a fantastic laugh. Patience. She of the instant-gratification-let's-hop-on-the-next-train-out-of-town-I-wanted-that-done-yesterday persona has chosen the word "patience."

Why this particular word? Because I feel like I run around with my head cut off most of the time. Because when I don't get something I want within 10 seconds, I get over it and move on to the next. If there are more than 2 people in line for coffee, I turn on my heel and walk out the door.

And I live in a town with serious slacker mentality. You'd have thunk some of it would have worn on me by now. You'd have been mistaken. Apparently you can take the girl out of the rat race, but the rat race stays severely embedded into her system.

At any rate, I'm hoping that this methodology brings more focus and attention to everything I do. Instead of walking out the door sans caffeine fix, why not take the time to snap some shots on the good old iPhone as a location reference for future photos shoots? Or use that time to simply be, well ummmm, patient?

I live in Rose City and I rarely stop to smell the damn roses. Here's hoping I understand the idea of Patience a little better by 2013.

Why the #NewTwitter Kept Me From Deleting My Account

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Let's go back a couple weeks ago — prior to Twitter's launch of the massive redesign that has been all the rage the last few days. New, seemingly minor features kept rolling out on a pretty frequent basis. The problem was that they were being stuffed into spaces that, at least in my mind, were supposed to be pure. The system was getting convoluted.

My biggest beef was with the Activity tab. Quite frankly, I don't care who my followers are now following. That information doesn't deserve its own space. I figure the suggestions provided by Twitter must have some algorithms that create an educated guess on who and what you're interested in. My trust in technology is greater than my trust in most users of technology.

Overall, I was starting to get confused. And I work on websites for a living. In fact, I design user interfaces. Not your average interweb persona looking for funny photos of cats to forward to my BFF and posting shout outs to my homies for a job well done drinking jagerbombs all night.

It felt as if these changes (really, additions) were taking away the simple structure that Twitter was built upon from day one. Not to mention the iPhone app was a process unto itself. How many taps should it take to get to your own Tweet feed? Definitely not as many licks as it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

I was THIS CLOSE to deactivating my Twitter account. I cut the cord to Facebook a couple months ago and once the initial withdrawal was over, I felt lighter. My life was my own again. Therefore, might as well slash every social networking service that isn't serving me.

Fast forward to the morning of December 8. I opened the Twitter app on my iPhone and gasped with delight. 4 lovely icons populated the navigation bar.

Almost immediately I knew what they had done. But I had to be sure.

I booted up my laptop and went straight to my first visit of the #NewTwitter. A bigger gasp this time. Everything was different. Everything was lighter. Everything was more sane than it had felt in a long time.

I'm not going to go on about the actual changes. If you use Twitter, you've already seen/used the new interface. If you're not a Tweethead, then I'm not sure why you're reading this in the first place.

What is by far more important to me is the WHY of this redesign. I had an inkling, but checked the Twitter blog for confirmation. And I was correct.

The redesign was due to careful consideration of how users were, uhhh, USING the service. Through @ symbols to connect with people and hashtags (#) to discuss topics. So what did those smart cookies over at Twitter do? They reiterated the entire site to make a better service for their consumer base REFLECTING how they were already using the site. These design decisions were not based on what they THOUGHT users MIGHT want in their Tweet world. They were based on evidence. Cold. Hard. Facts.

This is the business model of the technology age: iteration and reiteration (hat tip to Steve Jobs). Putting a beta version out there, seeing how it fares, and course correcting. Testing A vs B vs C. Streamlining instead of bloating your product with unnecessary crap. Integrating rather than adding on like those parasites that live off their mothership shark for life.

My favorite part of the new design? So glad you asked. The "Compose New Tweet" icon — that perfectly lovely feather pen which shows those designers are thinking about the details. It says "We're a classic now. We're here to stay. Maybe you should, too. And write something while you're at it. Just keep it 140 characters or less." And yes, that quote is exactly 140 characters.

The Joker Test

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

When someone reaches out to our company trying to get something from us, such as a job, or to sell us something, I always apply what I call the "Joker Test". All our products are free in at least a basic way, and it takes less than 30 seconds to sign up for an account. Our products are what define us. Every decision we make is going to be in terms of how we can make our products better for our customers. So why the heck would someone not take the time to learn a little about what we do before reaching out to us?

The "Joker Test" is simply a quick search to find out if the person reaching out has created an account and engaged with our product at least a bit. If the results are positive, the person passes my first screen.

It takes very little time to understand us; with very little effort you can discover how we tick. Your proposal to us will be so much more valuable and our willingness to give you the time of day will be much higher if you just do some research before picking up the phone or sending us an email. Or you may choose to be a Joker.

Sucky Products Suck - or is it just that good products are great?

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I admit it. I have made many friends and family members' ears bleed with my constant raving of a particular product once and again. When I fall in love with a product I make sure everyone around me knows. I form a complete disdain for the use of any other product. I have never understood why until recently. Beyond my comprehension, I have always loved Basecamp over Jira even though Jira does way more. It puzzles me why I love my Mac more than any other computer when Linux gives me all the control in the world. I always wondered why I am willing to pay up for a JetBlue flight when United will get me to the same place cheaper.

I stood in line for hours to be the first to buy the iPhone. The phone really was a game changer. After a year or two I dumped the iPhone and went all Android. I had this concept that I wanted more control over my phone. I did not want Apple telling me what to do with the hardware I paid for. After almost 2 years of using the Android I went back to the iPhone. I realized all the features, control, and freedom Android offered was at the cost of a shitty product. To me there was nothing engaging about using an Android. There was no emotional connection.

I think feature bloat in most products is nothing more than mind tricks. We get wrapped up in the fantasy of all the stuff we can do with those features. We feel a product is so much better because the feature list is longer. We feel if we have the control to hack away on our products they are somehow better.

So, when I say a product is no good, or better yet, another one is simply amazing, I can't always give you a bulleted list of the reasons for my affirmation. I can't always define in words why one sucks me in while the other just sucks. You just sort of know when a product is top notch. You get the feeling great care and attention to detail was put into building it. You know because you find yourself engaged using it; you look forward to the next time you get to use it. It becomes a friend to you, rather than a utility.

Think of it this way. I can't tell you every reason why I love my wife, I don't really know. I am not completely sure why I chose to spend the rest of my life with her. There is something so engaging about her that it brings out all my passion. Products that don't suck are the same way.

Introducing Grapeshare

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Exciting news: We just launched Grapeshare, new social network that lets you share the wine you love with friends.

At Cloudmanic, we like wine. For years, the team has talked about wine, discovering new wine, keeping track of wines we have enjoyed, and how there needed to be a better way to share wine with friends. We looked at different wine apps, but there was no elegant tool for what they wanted. We wanted something easier and beautiful. And something that we could use to not only track wines, but discover new ones. Discover people who are like us and like the grapes we like.

So naturally, we decided to take matters into our own hands. The result is Grapeshare, a new social network for oenophiles that lets you share the wine you love with friends. You can record and rate wines, upload label photos, make connections and get recommendations.

If this venture seems a bit different from our other work, it is — and it isn't. See, Cloudmanic Labs believes in the power of creativity. Every week, we take a little time off from our regular projects to work on other things — or to just brainstorm about what the world needs. At the very least, we have stimulating conversations. Grapeshare is one of those "other" projects. Like all of the things we do, Grapeshare was sparked by passion, and it continues to be fueled by hard work.

It's great to be able to share that passion with the rest of the world. To get started with Grapeshare, go to the website and sign up with your Twitter, Facebook, or Google account. You can also follow us on Twitter (@grapeshare) and like us on Facebook. Check out our blog for wine tips and stories, and to keep updated on new features.

Northwest road trip 2: Attack of the mountains

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Never turn your back on a mountain.

Note: Earlier this summer, my husband and I found ourselves in an unfamiliar dilemma: we both had a chunk of vacation time we needed to use immediately. The situation called for an epic road trip across the wilds of Washington, Canada and Montana. More background in earlier post: Northwest road trip, part I: Ghosts and vampires

While Olympic National Park is home to the majestically named Olympic mountain range, it didn't prepare us for the peaks of British Columbia. The first attack came just after we left Vancouver. We wound our way north along the famous Sea-to-Sky Highway, admiring views of water and forest, and when we came to a sign for a waterfall at a provincial park (kind of like a state park here), we turned off the road. Our reward was the sight of Shannon Falls' 1,000-plus-foot cascade.

That should have taught us something. But instead, when just down the road we came upon a scenic viewpoint sign with a little mountain graphic on it, we hardly noticed.

"Stop?" my husband asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Nah," I said from the passenger seat. We hadn't been driving very long; we'd just stopped at the waterfall; plus, I figured we weren't going to get a dramatically better view of the distant peaks than what we could see out our car window.

We zipped by the turnoff. A moment later, we went around a corner.

"Oh my God! Wow! Holy — ! Wow!"

Giant, glacier-covered mountains loomed to the west. They were so big, and so unexpected; it felt like they were nearly on top of us. I grabbed for the camera and got off a few through-the-window shots while my husband tried to keep from driving us off the road.

Honey, there's a mountain at the window.

And thus we learned our first lesson of Canada: When they tell you there's something to look at, they really mean it.

From there, the sights only got bigger and more impressive. Any bend could yield a breathtaking vista. We expected that in the national parks, but realized the whole freaking province was stunning. We even started joking each time we neared a provincial park: "Oh, it's just a provincial park. It's probably something like Yellowstone, only twice as big with five times as many geysers."

Just another amazing, giant mountain in Canada.

Of course, once we did reach the national parks and the Rocky Mountains, the alpine attacks only became more frequent. I finally stopped taking photos of mountains. Partly, it was because they were literally everywhere I looked. But also, I knew their grandeur wouldn't have the same power when I was home, looking at them on a computer screen, instead of staring up at them from an avalanche zone.

Northwest road trip, part I: Ghosts and vampires

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Note: Earlier this summer, my husband and I unexpectedly found ourselves needing to use a chunk of vacation time. The situation called for an epic road trip across the wilds of Washington, Canada and Montana. Here, in four parts, are the highlights.

Olympic National Park is only a few hours from our Oregon home, yet until this summer, we'd never been. Did we think that it was too far? That it wouldn't be worth it? Whatever the reason, we were repentant even before we actually entered the park boundaries. All it took was a glimpse of snow-capped peaks beckoning in the distance and we realized the error of our ways.

First look at Olympic's mountains. Yes, this was taken through a windshield.

These days, the damp and beautiful Olympic Peninsula might be better known as the home of the Twilight series than the home of a national park (and if you're not familiar with Twilight, skip to the next section). Nowhere was that more evident than Forks, the little town Stephenie Meyer implausibly turned into a stop on every teenage girl's bucket list. Groups posed at the "Forks Welcomes You" sign, the high school, the hospital. As we waited at a stoplight, a girl in a Twilight shirt and a middle-aged woman, presumably her mother, clutching a Twilight map, crossed the street in front of us.

First Beach, on the La Push reservation, was similarly populated — except here, werewolves, not vampires, decorated signs (again, this is a Twilight reference, apologies). It was impossible not to mock things like Jacob Black's Fireworks Stand, but my laughter faded when we reached the coast. All those times Bella complains about the backwaters of Forks and La Push, she neglects to mention part of it is in a national park — it's freaking beautiful.

First Beach. No bare-chested would-be werewolves sighted.

Of course, many of the beachgoers had obviously been drawn there by Meyer. I saw a man pick up his teenage daughter, who had a leg in a cast, and carry her down to the beach. Now that, I thought, is love.

We spent a few days exploring the beaches, forests and mountains, but as alluring as the idea of sexy vampires and sexier werewolves were, we had many miles left to go. A ferry ride across the choppy Puget Sound later, we were across the border in Victoria.

I was ready to stand on solid ground, but not ready to let go of the feeling of mystery we'd had in Olympic. As the sun started its downward slide, we plastered stickers on our chests and joined a large group of people for a Ghostly Walk. Two guides traded off telling us about macabre incidents in Victoria's past, from gruesome murders to horrific car crashes, and the spirits that couldn't seem to let go. Cheesy? Perhaps. But it was also a surprisingly good time. Even if the supernatural had been left out, it still would have been a fascinating tour of the seedier parts of the city's history.

Where's the Over-Communication Line

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

When working remotely, it's important to update people. Since you're not in an office and people can't see what you're doing, you have to let people know that you are in fact, working on the assigned task.

While communication is important, where is the line between communicating what needs to be communicated and over-communicating? And how do you draw that line?

Not Everybody Needs to Know Every Little Thing

When working with a team, you don't need to update the entire team on every little thing. Before you send an update, think about who is involved and who needs to know. Send it only to those people. If Task X is being done on Thursday instead of Wednesday and it doesn't affect Bob in any way shape or form, there's no reason to email Bob, is there?

Send Regular Status Updates — When Needed

Status updates are a good thing, until you start to over-do them. When you start on a project, discuss with your client, your boss, or your team how often they would like updates. This sets clear update expectations and helps to prevent over or under updating.

If you didn't start off setting expectations, and how you're updating is working, then by all means, keep doing what you're doing. However, if you find that it's not working — maybe one of you is constantly trying to get in contact with the other — it might be a good time to establish those parameters now. Better late than never.

Make Use of the Proper Communication Channels

As we mentioned before, using the appropriate form of communication is important. If you have a question about a task assigned to you through a project management system, comment directly on the task in the system. Using the proper communication channels ensures that you get a timely response as efficiently as possible.

Know When to Pick Up the Phone

Ever end up in one of those email threads that could have been handled through a 10-minute phone call, but instead turned into 30 emails? Recognize when emails are heading that way and pick up the phone, hop on Skype, or send an IM. Sometimes you just need real-time communication.

How do you update without over-updating?

Hating on H2O

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Not too long ago, before it (thankfully) fell out of fashion, bottled water was all the rage. It was common knowledge that the more you paid, the better it was. A few years ago, you couldn't go 5 minutes without catching a glimpse of someone with a brightly colored Nalgene bottle. These days, everyone has a BPA-free aluminum water bottle or four, perfect for filling at the tap, which is now trendy. Whatever the container, the thing that made all these accessories valuable was what went in them: Water.

To which I say, "not thirsty."

I'm something of an anomaly, apparently: I don't like water.

I mean, I love it when I've been exercising and my throat is dry and the water is cold. Times like that, it's the only thing I want to drink. But keeping a bottle with me at all times? No. Grabbing a glass as I pass through the kitchen? Why, when there are tastier options — like soda or wine — at hand?

I may be weird, but I'm not unique. I stumbled into a conversation with a friend a year or so ago in which he was complaining about not liking water. It was exciting to find someone who shared my antipathy towards perhaps the most precious natural resource. Water's just so… boring, we agreed.

For whatever reason, I just don't like the taste (and yes, I see the irony of that statement). Water is healthy, of course, but I figured calorie-free diet soda was OK. So I was dismayed to see this article about a study that suggests diet soda might not be OK after all.

The study found a link between diet soda and a larger waist size. And by "larger," we're talking 70 percent greater than people who didn't drink diet soda. It's even worse news for people who had two or more diet sodas a day: Their waists were 500 percent bigger.

The research also delved into health consequences of artificial sweeteners, but I'm a vain person and the waist-size data grabbed my attention more — maybe 500 percent more — than the health stuff. Yowza.

So I'm embarking on a quest to find alternatives to both water and diet soda. Most juice has a high amount of sugar; milk has lots of calories; and alcoholic beverages are clearly not suitable for on-the-job consumption (not my job, anyway). I was intrigued to read about the backstory of Hint, which was created by a woman who was addicted to Diet Coke but didn't like water (perhaps we were separated at birth). It's not available in my city yet, but I plan to track it down and test it out. I'm also planning to do some of my own flavored-water creations.

If you've got wet-your-whistle suggestions, fire away. I promise to give them a try, at least until someone says they'll make my waist way bigger than my aqua-chugging friends.

I Don't Care About Your Resume

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last week I made a comment on twitter about how I did not want to hire a candidate without previously having a Github account. I got some backlash more or less calling me a fan boy of Github. While I am a fan boy of Github, that was not the reasoning behind my comment.

If you have ever read a programmer's resume you know it is a big listing of every programming language they have ever looked at. All languages are the same right? Once you know one you know them all right? I call bullshit on this. Yes, once you know some CS fundamentals jumping into a new language is easier. You do not need to go back to college or anything. You can generally figure it out — but you cannot figure it out overnight. Just because you are considered a senior programmer in one language it does not make you a senior programmer in another language. As a small business we can not afford to hire someone that is going to need ramping up time. We need someone that can hit the ground running. We need someone that is going to produce high quality code, quickly.

So when looking at someone's Github account I can quickly see what language makes them high. I can see what technologies they pursue in their own time. You don't publish code on Github unless you are at least somewhat proud of it. Going to anyone's Github account shows you within seconds what language is their primary focus. I am only interested in hiring people that share the same primary focuses we have. When hiring I want the best of the best in the field we are looking for, not someone who can learn to be the best or who is the best at something else.

Lastly, the technologies we use have all made Github their official home. The leaders and maintainers building these technologies have made Github their official hangout. If you are not part of this community it is a good indication to me that you are not truly passionate about your programming craft, (or at least the craft we are looking for). If you are truly passionate about skiing you do not live in Florida do you?

Generally, I want to hire people who have a natural fascination with the technologies we use. In programming passion and fascination are much bigger motivators than a paycheck. Not having a Github account in my world says to me you are just looking for a paycheck.

Confessions of a webcam addict

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I had a Firefox browser open the other day when a coworker walked into my office. I jumped, simultaneously clicking a different browser tab to hide what I'd been viewing.

"What's up?" my colleague asked.

"Not much," I said, my guilty mouse finger searching for a work-related document to maximize on the screen.

She'd caught me in a distracted moment. It happens more often than I'd like to admit — one second I'm looking at something absolutely work-related, and then a few clicks later, I'm somewhere else entirely. My computer screen, unfortunately, faces the door to my office, so the scene described above isn't exactly rare. I think my coworkers suspect.

My confession: I like to look at webcams. Especially when there's lots of action: storms, sunrises, wildlife.

This confession either makes me boring as hell or a bona fide freak. But the truth is, if there's a camera is monitoring scenery or traffic, I want to see it.

I think this, er, hobby, started after a visit to Glacier National Park a few summers ago. Glacier has an impressive array of webcams that can help you monitor the weather for your trip, or help you prolong your visit after you've returned home. The site quickly became a fixture of my daily routine. Leaves turned color; snow fell; water froze. It was beautiful.

I started branching out. Glacier leads the pack, but there are other national parks with cams, and I checked on those. My local coffee shop has a webcam so you can check the line. I used to live in upstate New York, and in the fall I wistfully searched out foliage cams. Any car ride over a mountain pass was preceded by a check of the ODOT site.

Then I found the mother lode, the jackpot, the URL that was to a webcam aficionado like me what Kulminator is to a beer lover: The FAA aviation cameras of Alaska.

These are traffic cams, but not for street traffic. They're meant to show pilots the conditions at Alaska's numerous small airports. Because of that, they don't record freeways or interchanges, but mountain passes and tundras. Each location has multiple cameras pointing different directions. And the best part: You can watch time-lapse sequences. So, for instance, you can see the sun rise over Anchorage, the moon set over Kasigluk and the tides change at Hawk Inlet. I continually hope to see wildlife wander into view, maybe caribou in Tuntutuliak or bear in Valdez.

If I sound like I know where these places are in relation to each other, or any other point north of British Columbia, I don't. I've never been to Alaska. But through these small, low-resolution images, I get to see crimson alpenglow on snowy peaks and ships cross misty, moody bays.

Maybe someday I'll take a trip to Alaska. I'd like to. But the idea brings on a small worry, a fear that I try not to think about too much. I don't want to know what this misgiving says about me, or my habit. It's probably something all webcam viewers wonder about, which, in my case, is a bit disturbing. But here it is: Could reality live up to the wondrous pictures on my computer screen I've consumed so intently? Or would it disappoint, turn out to be different from my expectations, and frankly, uncomfortable?

If I ever find out, I'll be sure to visit at least one aviation webcam location. I'll be the fuzzy figure running back and forth (to ensure I appear in the frame), with goggles over my face. I might someday be ready to visit Alaska, but out my secret shame to friends and coworkers? No way.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tab to check.

Communication with Your Virtual Team

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest challenges of working with remote/virtual workers is communication. Email tends to be the go-to way to communicate, but is it the most effective way? Usually not.

One of the best things you can do to improve your business communications is before you send an email, take a few minutes to think about what the best method of communication is.

IM

Instant Messaging is perfect for two different types of communication — quick things where you need a one line response or collaborative tasks that are easier to accomplish in real time.

If all you need from Bob is a quick, one-line response, and you need it NOW, then IM is your best course of action. It's simple, it's fast, and it's immediate — you don't have to wait for Bob to check his email, then get back to you.

On the opposite side of the coin, sometimes IM is best for longer, real-time sessions, such as a brainstorming session. In this case, don't interrupt Bob — set up an appointment, and then come appointment time, hop on your IM client of choice and get brainstorming. Also, most IM clients let you save a transcript, so you can also refer back to the conversation if need be.

Micro-Blogs

Sometimes you want to throw out a new idea or give a general status update to everyone. If your company is using a micro-blog type app such as Flowr or Yammer, this is perfect for that. It allows everyone to view the idea or status update and comment on it in their own time, along with seeing what everyone else contributed.

Project Management Apps

Many project management apps offer you the ability to post a status update or comment on a task. If you are assigning a task or have a question about a task that was assigned to you, and are using a project management app — this is the most efficient way to go.

Document Collaboration

When it comes to real-time document collaboration, Google Docs is where it's at. You can have multiple people log in and work on the document at once, see where each person is working in a document, and even IM each other in a side-panel, perfect for discussing ideas, content, and editing.

Intranet Sites

For frequently repeated information or documenting procedures so team members can refer back to and reference them, you can't go wrong with an intranet site. If you're using Google Apps for business, you can easily create an intranet site using Google Sites. Or you could use something like PBWiki or SocialText. The main thing is creating a place to house and document procedures to eliminate repetitive questions.

How do you handle communication with virtual team members? Do you use any of the above?

Cover Your Ass Software Development

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Andrew Warner of Mixergy.com says that when he interviews founders of startups the one thing they always say is the first release of their product looked like crap. Over time the product has evolved, but in general looking back the first release was not something they are proud of today. Hearing that always makes me ponder. Sure, I believe in release early and release often. Of course building a MVP (minimal viable product) and getting it out to customers is much better than continuously polishing your product hiding behind the "it's not perfect" curtain. The idea of releasing something you are not 100% proud of seems odd to me.

Many products are a spin off of a consulting firm, and founding teams often have client work backgrounds. It seems product teams forget their client work process when they build their own product. When working with clients you often practice what I call CYA (cover your ass) software development. You work with your client to really flush out their ideas. This often turns into a scope document, and the client signs off. Then you often move into wireframes flushing out any micro detail, and once again the client signs off (covering your ass). Lastly, before much development takes place you might have some design rounds with the client getting the client to fully sign off before the development really starts. With client work you are going through these phases to really ensure you are delivering just what the client wants and make sure everyone is on the same page. What also happens during this process is you flush out the entire idea from high level all the way down to the micro details. You never say "oh we will figure that part out later." With this process you deliver just what the client wants on budget and on time. Never would you deliver something to your client that you are not proud of.

When building your own product so many development teams just dive right in, pick a point at random and start programming. Since it is their own product many developers tend to think the CYA process is not needed, and maybe sometimes a little boring. I say this is a mistake. Not working through the different user experience issues, the data model, the design, and so on while just hitting the ground coding is a great way to have headaches later on. The CYA process front loads resolving headaches and problems that may arise in the future. Why not do that with your own product?

I am proud that any product we have ever released at Cloudmanic Labs has been well thought out. We go through the same process we would go through with clients. Not one line of code is written until we fully flush out our ideas, manage the scope, and fully design the product. The first release of our products have often been far from crap. They are polished. Also, our development time is not any longer than other hit-the-ground coding teams. Our discipline to maintain the CYA process has made it so we have never released a product we were not proud of, no matter how far from our desired final form it is.

We of course don't think we are going to be perfect on our first release in terms of features, customer needs, and bugs. There is always going to be things we messed up, and that is why user feedback is very important. We listen to it all and evolve our products with our customers in mind. We never skip out on any of the important steps of a product development cycle just because it is convenient to ignore them or because it is boring. We never say "oh we will figure that out later."

CYA software development has an important role in non-client work as well.

Required reading

Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Banned Books Week is not taking place right now.

It happens in the fall, and librarians everywhere welcome it with a twisted glee. They can be quite the rebels, those librarians. If you don't believe me, read how librarians kept "Stupid White Men" from becoming pulp (regardless of your feelings on Michael Moore, trust me, the story's a good one). But back to Banned Books Week: Librarians celebrate it, making displays of all the books that have been banned or challenged. They relish in showing how some of the most popular books in history, even accepted masterpieces, have been deemed by some to be unfit for human consumption.

Not surprisingly, many of the books on the list were written for young audiences. Deciding at what age certain themes and language become appropriate is tricky enough on a case-by-case basis, never mind trying to apply standards to an entire generation.

I was lucky. As the offspring of one of those subversive librarians, I was not allowed to see R-rated movies until I was in high school — but I could read whatever I wanted. When I bothered to think about this parenting strategy, I realized it may have been lacking in logic. I could read Stephen King books at age 10, but not see the (typically underwhelming) movies based on those books until I was practically driving? Yeah.

But maybe there was some logic behind it. After all, I read voraciously then and still do today. Whenever I see "banned books" lists, I'm stunned by how many of my personal favorites are there. The very titles that infected my imagination and infiltrated my views of the world are repulsive to some. Perhaps it's that the books that have the most ingenuity, the ones that can most radically change our perceptions, are just too frightening for some. For me, and scores of others (many of these books are award-winners), that's what makes them magnificent.

Here, in no particular order, are some of my very favorite banned books, with brief commentary:

The Bridge to Terabithia

I remember wanting to inhabit this book. I remember crying at the end. Mostly, I remember reading it over and over again.

Lolita

It's not a love story. It is, however, an amazing accomplishment of character and language.

The Giver

Just after college, I worked in a school as part of a volunteer committee. One day the other volunteers — all mothers of high schoolers — were discussing "The Giver," a required book in one of the English classes. "I love that book!" I gushed. The mothers looked at me like I'd just said I loved burning small children with a branding iron. Turns out, they didn't share my adoration. One mother claimed her high school daughter had had nightmares for months after reading it (I read it in fifth grade, but okay). Another pursed her lips and shook her head. A few years later, the same school drew national media attention when a parent (not one of the mothers I knew) refused to return a book to the school library, deeming it so offensive it should be burned.

Twilight

Yeah, yeah, I know. The writing isn't great, and maybe they should be banned for overuse of the word "smoldering," but Stephanie Meyer is a genius at plotting. To those who would ban it, I can only summon a South-Park like "come on." The kids are actually entirely well-behaved: They don't drink, swear, do drugs or have sex before marriage. So they do lie — but only to save the lives of their loved ones and battle evil forces. People have a problem with that?

A Wrinkle in Time

The first time I tried to read this book, I found it boring and put it down. I guess I was naturally (albeit subconsciously) deciding what was too mature for me. A year or two later, I picked it up again and I don't think I closed it until I was finished. I went on to read every Madeline L'Engle book I could find.

Co-Working 101: What Is It, How To Find Co-Working Spaces, and Is It for You

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As more and more people are working remotely, co-working and co-working spaces are becoming more and more popular. Today we're going to take a closer look at exactly what co-working is, how to find co-working spaces, and how to decide if it's for you.

What Exactly IS Co-Working?

Co-working in a nutshell is a shared workspace where everyone pays a fee to help cover overall costs. In turn, the workspace offers desks, an internet connection, and usually things like a printer and fax machine. People can rent a desk at the workspace, see and meet other new people, and have a different four walls than the ones they're used to. It offers more privacy and quiet than a coffee shop, but less than a private office. In turn, it's more expensive than a coffee shop, but much cheaper than a private office.

How to Find Co-Working Spaces

You can always try Google, but there are a few different places that make it a bit easier to find a co-working space.

The Co-Working Wiki

The Co-Working Wiki is your one-stop shop for all information related to co-working, including a directory of co-working spaces across the world. In addition to the directory, they have information on co-working for all levels — whether you're just investigating, have co-worked before, or are interested in starting your own co-working space. It also includes information on how to get involved, media coverage of co-working, and links to other resources. Definitely start here.

DeskWanted

DeskWanted allows you to search for co-working spaces both by location and lease terms, such as Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly. It lists spaces from all over the world, but has more of a focus on Europe.

Loosecubes

Similar to DeskWanted, Loosecubes allows you to search for co-working spaces by location and minimum stay. One of the nice things about Loosecubes is it lets you find and reserve desks for as little as one day — and you can make the reservation straight through Loosecubes. Loosecubes also lists spaces from all over the world, but has more of a focus on the United States.

Is It For You?

Well, it never hurts to try. And some co-working spaces let you rent for the day, so you can test it out and see how you like it.

However, if you're on the fence about trying and any of the below statements ring true, it might be worthwhile to look into:

While you enjoy working remotely — and/or working for yourself — you find yourself lonely and missing co-workers.
You find yourself easily distracted at home and miss having a designated workplace.
You have a hard time separating work-time and home-time. Leaving and going to an office space might help you distinguish and create work-boundaries.
Although you prefer to work from home regularly, you think it might be nice to get out and try something new.

Have you tried co-working before? What did you think of it? Is it something you'd do again?

Waiting on the Fourth of July

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here in the Pacific Northwest, this time of year can be a little depressing. More often than not, it's raining, and the brief appearances by the sun serve mostly to remind us how little we've seen it. It's exactly how people think of the Pacific Northwest: Gray, wet and cool.

Fortunately, we're creeping ever closer to summer, which is anything but gray, wet or cool. People from other parts of the country tend to be unaware of what a summer in Oregon or Washington is like. I could give you the climate data, but it's much easier to simply say it's glorious.

Rain? No. Sun? All day. Temps? Warm, but generally below anything starting with a 9. Excepting higher elevations, there aren't even many thunderstorms (a plus or minus, depending on your preference). Like the residents of the PNW, July, August and September are very accommodating.

But note that June does not make that list. June is not a favorite month in these parts. The month that sounds like a nice older woman is actually quite a cruel mistress, offering any number of warm, sunny days, but also dishing out punishment in the form of rain, wind or hail. Woe is the school child who thinks the end of the school year equates to summer weather, or the bride who thinks the official change of the season means her outdoor wedding will be mild and precipitation-free. June offers enough heat to convince us to put away our sweaters and flannel (it's true, some of us do still wear it) in favor of tank tops and sandals, then it breaks our spirits with weather left over from the stunted month of February.

Hang around the west side of Oregon long enough, and you'll learn the unofficial start date of summer: July 4. That, the old-timers say, is when you can count on the rain and clouds to be gone. After July 4, you can plan a barbecue, a river float or a picnic without fear of forgetting a raincoat. And I have to say that in the six years I've been living here, I've found this local adage to be true.

The Web Is Hard

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As a 4th generation entrepreneur, and as someone who grew up in a small town, being a business owner has a very different meaning to me than to someone from the Silicon Valley. I grew up watching my father and grandfather build businesses on their own with nothing more than an idea, willingness to take risk, and maybe some capital from savings. Half my friends had parents who ran some sort of small business in the community. None of these companies had investors, none of these companies had boards of directors, and none of these companies were being built to be sold. Many of these companies had revenues in the millions even. Many of these business owners did end up selling their companies, but as a form of retirement.

Maybe I am jaded because I am in the Internet business, but I talk to future entrepreneurs every day — people with dreams and plans of running their own business. I have been talking to such people for over a decade now. More and more I am hearing from people not thinking about starting businesses the traditional way for traditional reasons. Everyone wants to start an Internet company. It makes me wonder: is the small town entrepreneur dead? Are we entering into a period when the market is no longer the small town, but the world? Are we entering into a period when hard work and a little savings are not enough to start a company and be one's own boss?

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with building a web business. Heck, I am no one to criticize since I have founded several Internet companies (as well as several small town businesses). We hear all the time that most start-ups fail. I think people need to be clearer about what it means to affirm that "most web start-ups fail." I think the chances of success, defined by not having to close down your business in the future, are much greater in the traditional model described above. I am rather sure the number of failed Internet start-ups is higher than the number of failed traditional businesses.

All this begs the question: In a world where more and more future entrepreneurs are turning to the web, is the entrepreneurial spirit going to decrease because the success rates are much lower?

How to get hired: What not to do

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Job hunting? I've been there. Less than a year ago, I applied to more jobs than I can remember and went on five interviews before I landed a new position. It was a learning experience, or so I thought. Recently, I found myself on the other side of the table as a member of a hiring committee. This time, I was the one sifting through scores of letters and resumes, evaluating qualifications and conducting interviews. And every time I shook my head at a novel-length cover letter or a resume that looked like it belonged to a 16-year-old, I realized I was learning much more about job hunting than ever before. Here, then, are some tips from someone who's been there. But this isn't a how-to for applicants; it's a how NOT to.

DO NOT:

Cover letter

Use a generic opening. There are only so many times — maybe twice — I could read "I would be a good fit for this position because…" before my eyes glazed over. Obviously you need to explain why you're the perfect candidate, but you don't need to bore people to death doing it. Make the reader want to meet (read: interview) you. (Aside: I went with unusual openings when I was a job seeker, and I'd like to think the tactic helped me land those five interviews.)
Define the company. The person hiring you already knows what the organization does, what its mission statement is and whom it serves. Proving you can look up a website will not give you an edge.
Re-write your resume. The cover letter and resume are different for a reason; one shouldn't be a re-worded version of the other. Use the cover letter to detail your most relevant work experience, or share something that isn't in your resume. It's where you should explain any questions your resume might bring up: Gaps in employment, lots of jobs in a short period of time, little relevant experience.
Get too wordy. One page is fine.
Make typos, use incorrect grammar or spell things wrong. Yeah, you already knew this, but apparently some of you think you're (not "your") much better editors than you are. This is the time to swallow your pride and ask a perfectionist friend (or two) to check things over for you. Trust me, it's worth it.

Resume

List an objective. Really, who cares? We know your main objective: To get this job.
Use personal testimonies. I can hardly believe this needs to be said, but I honestly saw a resume that had quotes from friends and co-workers about how wonderful an applicant was. It was unnecessary (that's what references are for) and just plain weird.
Talk about irrelevant experience. You have CPR certification? Great! But if you're applying for an upper-level marketing position, it's not a benefit and looks like you might have applied for the wrong job.
Go too long. That's not to say you have to keep it to one page, as has been the rule. Unless a length is specified, no one is going to throw out your application because your resume goes on to a second page. However, it shouldn't go too much past a second page. Say what needs to be said.

Interview

Be vague. When asked about your experience, bring up specific projects. Talk about what you actually did and what tools you used to do it.
Get off topic. If the question is long or complicated, feel free to ask the interviewer to repeat it. Write it down if necessary. Generally, it's a good thing if the person interviewing you is writing notes as you answer. If she's chewing the end of her pencil and staring vacantly at the clock, wrap it up. Fast.
Act cool. You want the job, right? Be enthusiastic. Don't worry about seeming desperate. I'd rather hire someone who seemed desperate for a job than someone who seemed like he didn't need it.

There you have it: Everything not to do if you want to land that job. I can't promise these tips will get you hired — if I could, I would be in the Bahamas on my yacht right now — but I can promise they'll keep your application from being immediately sent to the shredder.

Blog-Shaking News

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It's been busy around here lately. We've been neck-deep in work, building products and improving features. As a result, Skyclerk is looking pretty good (see for yourself). But another result is this blog has been a little quiet.

That's about to change, though, in a big-time way. Here's a question: Do you like fun stuff? Good! We're fans of fun stuff ourselves. We'd like to have some fun right here on this very blog. As of, oh, right now, we're moving our product-centric blog away from this space. In its place, we want to bring you fun stuff. Cool stuff (like that photo below). Stuff that catches our eye and makes us want to tell the nearest person, "Have you seen this?" Stuff that we do and think.

We're going to let our team loose to blog about the things that interest them. Given that we're a bunch of interesting, interested people (at least we like to think so), the new posts should reflect that. It's inevitable that at least some of the posts will be related to business, accounting, web, etc. After all, that's what we know, what we live and breathe. But part of spending so much time online means we consume a lot of information. Being human, we think about the information. Being humans with the ability to easily, instantly communicate with other humans, we often want to share that information with you — whether it's silly or newsworthy, geeky or awe-inspiring.

Why are we doing this? Easy: Because after all, you're interesting, interested people, and we want to give you things you like — the things outside of business, money and efficiency. We're hoping you'll share the stuff you like with us, too.

So stay tuned. Check back. Add us to your RSS feed and follow us on Twitter. Then get ready for the fun.

Cloudmanic Labs Has A New Blog

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We have moved away from WordPress for our blog and have started to use ExpressionEngine as our content management system for the entire site (including the blog).

Our new blog is located at https://cloudmanic.com/blog

We made the decision not to port over our old blog because we have new plans for this blog. Take a look at: /blog/blog-shaking-news/