Argumentum ad populum is that the best way to beat your competitor is to one-up him. If he has 2 features, you need 3 (4 would be even better). If he is budgeting 1 x $ on his solution, you need to spend 2 x $.
In The API Train Wreck Part-1, I discussed API design factors such as KPI, performance measurements, monitoring, runtime stats, and usage counters. In this posting,
Developing a commercial grade API wrapper around your application is not a trivial undertaking. In fact, in terms of effort, the development of an outbound
To hit the market early and within budget, your feature development strategy must focus on creating the bare essential functionality. So in this vein, you should make it prove itself to be a “worthy survivor”. Your features need to be tough, resilient, and lean. I have come to embrace the U.S Navy SEAL’s “hell week” screening approach before letting any one of them into my development cycle.
Your customers are no different than the people who are looking to buy a specific tool for a job. To deliver the right product functionality without getting lost in the technology jungle, you need to develop an understanding of how successful products are developed in other fields.
What you lack are not more lines of code, rather it’s architecture and a road. To substitute quality with speed, Is the motto of the code monkey creed….
After participating in and leading many painful software design meetings, I have come to the realization that the best way to sell the top design idea is to first share some of the alternative and inferior ones.
Most failures in software usability can be attributed to poor decisions at the executive level, which are promulgated due to a culture of silence. Developers and designers should be encouraged to think critically about their work and be provided with official channels for expressing their opinions (in a non polemic manner).
The greatest engineering feats are the ones we don’t notice. The hallmark of a great designer is his ability to translate complexity into simplicity. The automatic transmission in a car represents significantly more engineering effort than a manual transmission, but it positively transforms the average user experience. The best consumer electronics always focus on hiding complexity, not showcasing it.
Its not enough to capture and display errors. Real quality of service goes beyond just acknowledging your application’s faults. My rule of thumb is that there is no such thing as an “informative error message”. A good error is one that has been eliminated through error-handling code and product design.