Building a better AutoMap
April 27th, 2010 by allumsePublisher includes tools to create designs (Pro), stamp them out (Express), and automate builds (AutoMap). The thing is, AutoMap, as it exists today, is not always the right fit for our users. It offers more capability than some folks will ever leverage. For them, AutoMap is simply too expensive. Others make extensive use of AutoMap’s command-line capabilities to maximize their use of the product. In their eyes, AutoMap is huge bargain.
I’d like to figure out how we can better address both types of customers in the future. Doing so might mean splitting AutoMap into distinct products. Let’s see if we can define some product offerings that better fit everyone’s needs.
Is anybody out there there?
April 2nd, 2010 by allumsMarket research is tricky business. Knowing how to help your current customers is an easy affair (Focus, Focus, Focus). Keep your ears open and they will tell you what they need. Finding something new that both your current customers and potential customers find exciting is quite a bit more difficult. I can’t ask a customer focus group from 2011 what I should be working on today. So, like everyone else, we just do our best by gathering market data and reading the tea leaves.
Recently, I blogged on our approach for validate market directions with sketches (Sketching the Future). Now I’ll show you how we are working to locate those potential directions. Our goal for each market is to simply understand: Is anybody out there there?
Sketching the Future
February 23rd, 2010 by allumsI, like most folks, am fascinated by the future. The reason is pretty clear. All present possibilities may become realities in the future. Years ago, I was happy to wait for others to create a future for me (Thanks Steve!). I began creating a future for myself back in college; began shipping a future to other people in the form of WebWorks Publisher in the mid-1990s.
Lately, I’ve been working with the rest of the WebWorks.com team to improve our process for realizing the future. We started back in 2009 with the RoundUp 2009 feedback session. This year, I asked for reader’s help in last month’s Focus, Focus, Focus blog entry. Those ideas have been added to the great material users submitted as enhancement requests on the WebWorks wiki since 2006.
It’s time to start turning those possibilities into reality, one sketch at a time!
Keeping Pace with ePublisher
February 5th, 2010 by allumsBack a few weeks ago, I wrote “2009.4 and the missing feature“. Customers gave that post some great feedback. People seemed to understand our goals for end-of-year releases. It made sense to them that we dedicate time in our annual release cycle to focus solely upon stability.
As validating as it was to receive that feedback, concerns were expressed regarding the pace of ePublisher releases. The message?
Slow down!!!
Focus, Focus, Focus
January 27th, 2010 by allumsIt never fails. We ship the quarterly ePublisher release and the challenge begins anew:
What are we going to ship THIS quarter?
Marketing is analyzing, Sales is requesting, and Support is demanding. And on the other side of those groups are our customers. Some, we will delight. Others will curse our names, shocked to find that we have chosen a challenge other than the one they face. The choices are never easy even when the strategy is clear:
All we have to do is choose wisely.
Bugs and Car Talk Syndrome
January 15th, 2010 by allumsBugs! Isn’t that a great topic to blog about? Well, maybe not. Still, I wanted to talk about this subject because we’ve been missing out on an opportunity to learn from each other, make people happy, and improve ePublisher. There is one catch. Making this change happen requires a partnership between WebWorks.com and you.
2009.4 and the missing feature
January 8th, 2010 by allumsLife here in the Engine Room continues on as always; a combination of brimming potential and vexing challenges. I love creating new things. I love to solve problems. Sometimes I get to do both at once. But not this time.
Contracts, Commitments, and … !@#$?
August 17th, 2009 by allumsAbout two weeks ago, on Wednesday, August 5, I had an “unfun” conversation. One that I and every engineer here at WebWorks.com labored to avoid. Our contract licensing system encountered a glitch and a customer was left in a lurch.
Where are my keys!?!
Gulp!
2009.2 – Confluence and Continuous Improvement
July 22nd, 2009 by allumsWhew!
We’re putting a bow on our 2009.2 release and prepping it to roll out next week. ePublisher 2009.2 includes support for FrameMaker 9 and a new wiki format, Atlassian’s Confluence. We’re a bit delayed from our original ship date of 2009-06-30. This was caused first by our Q1 slip implementing our new contract licensing service. That has been going very well, though there is a bit of FUD out there which we are working to correct. The second cause for the delay involves our documentation. Hooray!
Why the heck would I be happy about a documentation delay?
Just a few more to go…
May 8th, 2009 by allumsWe’re down to 85 key assets on 40 accounts left to review. The sales team has been plowing through the list and done a great job so far. About half the list is comprised of international accounts which may require feedback from our partners to get right.
Thank you for your feedback and patience as we complete this transition.