Surt Framework

Has been three years since I started studies on advanced way to start software projects. This time gave me some authority on framework design using modern methodologies and simples technology that works!

I’ve been usin this research and some of the past projects I’ve done and now it became mature and I hope I can share it. Take a look at this page. It talks about what it is, technologies and some of methodology I use. I hope to increment details as the time goes on.

I’m so happy because I had migrated one poor enterprise software to a highly structure one, by changing usability, patterns, layers in few weeks working alone. Badly saying, migrating some 20 files (lists, froms, data screens) with lots of complexity to 50 files with simplicity, good usability, navigation, ajax, SOA Services. Users were amazed and they don’t know I did much more, with less people, no error, and the system works best.

Wireframing is not prototyping

Quplog’s post talks something interesting about what I’m dealing with these days. Loads of new application pretending to be a mix of prototype and wireframing tool are ruining some viewpoints.

I’ve seen some Microsoft SketchFlow users claiming they are doing wireframe when actually they are working in prototype. In fact, they were just wasting time. Concepts differ, have look at:

Wikipedia defines website wireframes as follows:

“A website wireframe is a basic visual guide used in interface design to suggest the structure of a website and relationships between its pages.”

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website_wireframe

Prototyping, on the other hand, gets the following summary:

“The conventional purpose of a prototype is to allow users of the software to evaluate developers’ proposals for the design of the eventual product by actually trying them out”
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_prototyping

Behavior and visuals indeed has different audiences to attend. Software prototyping is about evaluation, testing, verification, and function. Not wireframing. And doesn’t matter whether you’re working on desktop or web application. If you starting a project with a powerful tool which can deliver code when you’re still wireframing, you’ll have to think about framework, logical and physical structure, components and other hell things which you shouldn’t care at that moment. If you do so, please, consider to have some training and education at the subject.

Anyway, these are 18 tools on the subject. I use Balamiq, because it is simple, nice, productive and license is affordable cheap.

Agile TechDay 2009

I was happy to be among those nice experienced agile guys! That was the second event in Rio about Agile methodologies. These one was special not just because I was invited to give a talk at the end but because the people who talked was really involved with scrum. For my surprise, rather than just agile ways in IT the principals of the Accenda Group gave a talk about Scrum in the marketing industry. They are trying to incise scrum at heart of marketing industry by doing what they call Agile Marketing. Nice approach but also a lot of people to convince!
So.. we are in InfoQ, have some pics.

Toyota side effects

On Jun 18, 2008, Reuters published an article exposing the Toyota’s human rights abuses and aggression to the worker’s rights.
The main subjects are:

• Trafficking of foreign guest workers, mostly from China and Vietnam to Japan
• Assembly line workers in Japan are low-wage temps who have few rights and earn less than 60% of what full time workers do

The auto industry has affected us so far through the Lean Thinking, Scrum and so on. In software industry, many ones are talking about Lean Thinking and how amazing we can be if we learn from other industries.

We are pround of Toyota’s managerial style which facilitate communication, avoid time-waste, spread knowledge across multifunctional teams and rush things to be completed. Now, our software projects has a good style to actually produce good results to our customers. Thus I hope the Toyota style side effect, exposed by Reuters doesn’t happen to us too. I’m really willing for the market get mature to see how this new organising will set.

u-hu-hu-hu-hu….

Read more: Toyota Linked to Human Trafficking and Sweatshop Abuses

Lean Principles

I wanted to show lean principles as something I stand for. So I did use the html structure from Przemysław Bielicki blog as she also copied the principle from Tom and Mary Poppendieck’s book too.