Enterprise-friendly apps

by jbreazeale on January 30, 2009

Computer LockWhat if you show up to work and realize that the only browser you can use is IE6. That’s right, slow, clunky, and no tabs. For those of us used to spending a significant amount of our computer time working through the browser this can be torturous. Oh yeah, and you can’t install any software without calling IT. And you can’t log on to many online services, including your Google account… Aaaaaaa!

So, how do you create a minimally acceptable setup in this locked-down environment? I posed this question to some of my friends currently or previously in enterprise corporations. The goal was to come up with a list of some of the most popular and important applications and their possibly available alternatives  in the enterprise.

Note #1: This list is no way comprehensive. We all work differently on our systems and what’s a critical app to me may be something you’ve never heard of. I’ll grow this list over time as I work through more recommendations.

Note #2: Before you start downloading,  read your company’s IT policies and proceed with care. Companies take IT threats very seriously and you don’t want to be fired just because you wanted to try a new browser.

Note #3: If possible, get to know your IT folks. If they decide you’re not crazy and if they have some flexibilty, they might help you overcome some of the most annoying, but sometimes seemingly trivial roadblocks.

Ok, disclaimers done. Here we go…

Instead of Microsoft applications (IE, Outlook, Office), try Portable Apps.

My first recommendation for managing lockdown is to download PortableApps. Many of the apps you use on a daily basis are here including Firefox, Thunderbird/Lightning, OpenOffice, GIMP, etc. You can even run a “Mac-on-a-stick“.  In case you’re wondering what makes these apps different from their standard versions, here’s a definition:

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.

I’d recommend installing the Platform only and then installing your applications one at a time (because I don’t use many of the standard apps included in the Suite or Suite Light.) All of the versions are pretty small and can run from a local installation (like your “home” drive at work) or a USB device.

To simplify navigation of multiple drives and folders, try Keybreeze.

Once you’re familiar with a command-line launcher like Keybreeze, you’ll never go back to traditional navigation. One click on a hotkey, type a few letters, hit Enter and *boom* there’s your application, file, folder, document, website, etc… Whenever I’m doing tech support calls for my family and friends, this is first piece of software that I miss and often I’ll install it (at least temporarily) just to speed up the process.

Those of you familiar with these types of programs will ask, “What about Launchy?” Hey, I have no problems with Launchy (although I found it a little more confusing to use), but when you’re in IT lockdown there’s no way you’re going to convice someone in a call center at your company’s IT desk to install it (if for no other reason than that it’s not on an “approved” list in the tech support manual and therefore, you may have all sorts of headaches trying to get someone to approve it.)

Keybreeze, on the other hand, is (pun intended) a “breeze” to install. Although it’s not released under the PortableApps platform, you can choose to install it locally or on a USB drive (avoiding the tech support call altogether).  And if you’re using it for work purposes (or want some nifty extra features) then pay the $20 and download the business version; it’s worth it.

No iTunes, no problem. Try Pandora or Last.fm.

No iTunes does not necessarily mean no music. Sure, you can dock your iPod at your desk (adding some cable clutter to the mix, the risk of theft, and the risk of annoying your neighbors), or you can listen online to most radio stations (which typically broadcast commercials and may also contain DJ chatter). With Pandora (my fave) or Last.fm, each service builds a custom channel based on artists or songs that you chose, and plays music that they think you will like.  It’s not the same as playing the songs you’ve carefully handpicked to fill your iPod, but I appreciate the variety of songs and artists that I probably wouldn’t have heard otherwise.

Whew, I think this list is going to get longer than the one post I intended, so stay tuned for more enterprise-friendly apps coming your way soon!

{ 0 comments }

A few tips for those outside of the "enterprise"

by jbreazeale on January 27, 2009

Skyscrapers, Tokyo, Japan

I’ve worked for companies with various ranges of accessibility to “The Internet”, but my recent tenure in the uber-locked-down-enterprise-financial-services realm has been a real eye-opener. And if you’re working with people (customers, clients, or even friends/family) who are in the enterprise realm, here are a few things to consider:

1. Not everyone has webmail.

If you’re working with your client on a project for their organization, then by all means, use their business email. These centralized systems are often setup and maintained for a variety of regulatory purposes, so use them. For side projects or personal communication, stick to personal email addresses just realize that it may take longer to get a response.

One more thought on this… For all of you with a “contact us” form that generates an email from the user (as opposed to a fill-in form), not everyone can or is able to use work email systems for non-work purposes. So, when that blank email pops up, you may have just lost that customer. Better to give multiple options for contact, even if they eventually lead to the same place (contact form goes to jane@janedoe.com, or email to jane@janedoe.com).

2. Not everyone has Google.

<gasp>

Ok, I don’t actually know anyone who doesn’t have access to Google’s search functionality, but many people may not have access to Google’s services such as Gmail (see webmail note above), Gcal, Reader, etc.  Keep this in mind when creating “shared” calendars or project files that involve enterprise workers.  You may have the best “Church picnic planning list” in history, but if you’re sharing it on Google Docs, not everyone will be able to see it as quickly as they might have if you used a different service.

3. Not everyone has an RSS feed reader.

I know, there are lots of enterprise services out there – some you might even be able to install without going through tech support hell – but who wants to maintain two (or more) sets of readers? Google Reader for home, Attensa for work? Nah, too confusing and too time consuming to keep them in sync. This means that, for those of you who blog, add an email subscription option for your feed! It’s free and easy.

4. Not everyone has an easy way to share non-work info.

As far as I can tell, delicious.com still works behind the firewall and it’s a great option for maintaining your own bookmarks or sharing with other users who are actually using delicious.com.  Twitter’s another great option for sharing with users who are actually using Twitter.  Same with Digg, FriendFeed, Tumblr, etc. How are you enabling users to share your content? Can they email as well as using the common social services to share info?

Coming soon: Enterprise-friendly applications for those in lock-down

{ 0 comments }

Plowing through the roadblocks

by jbreazeale on January 23, 2009

roadblockI was watching the season premiere of Burn Notice last night and for the first time, saw a car actually plow through a roadblock (instead of the traditional “Oh no, there’s a roadblock! Let’s act like we’re playing chicken, but we’re actually going to skid to a stop before actually hitting the cars that are blocking the way.) Ok, they didn’t actually go through the middle of the two cars, but there was a reasonably valid option to go around the roadblock (while taking out some sort of prop-like structure) and they did.

So what, right? Well, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time lately thinking about building a new business — I’ve given a respectable try to “working for the man” and I’d really rather build something more lasting, more authentic, more interesting, useful, and fun. I’m just not quite sure what that is and it seems the more time I spend thinking about it, the more roadblocks I encounter (create?)  So this time, instead of stopping at the roadblock, I’m just going to go through or around them, even if it means sustaining a few bumps and bruises along the way.

Anyway, with that (long) introduction out of the way, here’s what I really wanted to share with you — some of my free-writing around the roadblocks I’m facing. (Note: I copied these excerpts from my journal and, in the spirit of free-writing, they probably ramble a bit and may be a little repetitive but the purpose is to capture my thought process not to be perfectly written or error-free.)

January 22 – One of the roadblocks I keep putting in front of myself is that someone’s already doing what I thought of doing. How crazy is that? As I walk down the street at lunch time I can see two hot dog cart vendors — like *that* hasn’t been done before! Of course it has, but there they are on their respective corners, each with a little crowd gathering. The pretty blond vendor has a few more men at her cart; the older male vendor has a few families, but there’s plenty of business at each. And on the larger scale look at Dell and HP, Boeing and Airbus. None of those founders went in saying, “Oh well, someone already makes [computers/airplanes/software/etc...], so I guess I won’t do that.” We wouldn’t have any businesses if that happened. So I just need to get over the “unique” thing — at least as it applies to the business idea because whatever I decide to do will be unique because I am unique (just like everyone else). No one in the world has the exact same package of skills, experience, personality, etc. that I do, but because we are all universally more alike than we are different there *will* be people who recognize in me and my words and my works, themselves. Those are my customers, my clients, my friends, my “target audience”.

Another roadblock I create is around being “not good enough” or having a “lack of skills/experience”. Well, there will always be people out there who are smarter than I am, who have more experience, who are more savvy, who are friendlier, who are better at sales / finance /accounting / etc., so what? There are also plenty who are at the opposite end of the scale. I mean, seriously, I have three degrees from some top schools, strong recommendations from colleagues and mentors, and I’m always trying to learn something new and improve my skills — I think I’m fine. Maybe I won’t be a neurosurgeon or a rocket scientist, but otherwise I should be okay, I can learn what I need when I need to and my experience will come from trying.

Also, why would I ever acquiesce to someone else’s definition of knowledge/experience (or my perception of such)? Am I not qualified to perform XYZ task just because John Doe is already doing XYZ task and he has a website, pages of accolades, lists of speaking engagements and white papers and seminars and books – all that means is that he person was willing to take the time to put something together, create valuable and meaningful content, and take the risk of sharing it with the world. That doesn’t mean I can’t learn from those who’ve gone before me and those who are making progress now, but it does mean that I am capable of doing the same thing. I am capable and qualified to express my opinions and share them with the world and I should do so, because no one else can…

Photo credit te.esce. Available under a Creative Commons license.

{ 0 comments }

Moving to a new platform?

by jbreazeale on January 22, 2009

I’m working on a project with a client who uses a single, semi-customized solution for their web presence. This has some real benefits (such as single sign-on and having all of your information in one place), but also some pretty significant drawbacks (not user-friendly at all, difficult to update/customize).  I know I’m not the first person who’s been faced with these challenges, so I thought I’d lay out the issues as I see them. Hopefully someone smarter than me can help me fill in the gaps!

One versus many? What’s your geek factor?

If you’re using one tool to handle this many disparate functions, I guarantee there are better point products out there but, how do you decide when to use the “Uni-tool” or use multiple tools? Does it matter if your clients are tech-savvy or not? A higher geek factor may lead to more willingness to use multiple tools but with this group you may be headed for ideological warfare – e.g. Everyone agrees to use a wiki for the internal documentation system, but then spends a month debating over installed vs. hosted vs shared hosted, Java vs PHP vs Ruby, etc.   Then, you have those people who know just enough tech to be dangerous — they’ve learned the system they have (and by golly, that was cutting edge just five years ago!) and it works for them so why make any more changes.  I’m guessing 80% of all people who work in an office fall into this category; so this is not a group to be ignored.  The last group are those who still have AOL and use it to send you chain emails with multi-colored letters and cute puppies and kittens and inspirational settings. Any technology change you’re looking to make will probably go unnoticed by this group, so while I wouldn’t ignore them I also wouldn’t spend a lot of time trying to customize a solution that meets their needs.

So now I know my clients, how do I decide whether to recommend changes to their “Uni-tool” or add / replace functionality with additional tools?

One tool to rule them all

Having a single tool can provide you with one place to manage multiple functions for your organization. Everyone has their own login (which they use only once); they knows where to go and what to do. Sure, there may be a steep learning curve, but once you know the system, stuff works… or does it? Maybe you can send a monthly newsletter to all active members, but what if they want to receive information more frequently? Can they subscribe to an RSS feed? Can they get emails when an update is published? What if you’re looking to get your membership more involved — can they comment or add feedback on your site? Are you participating in networks where your members are? (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn)

So, does that mean the more the merrier?

Well, not exactly. Using different tools for each task – even if they’re superior at that task – makes even less sense than just using one. We’re already overwhelemed trying to remember the different usernames and passwords (they are different, right?!) for our bank(s), email accounts, Facebook, user groups, newsletter subscriptions,  etc. Adding to that pile just adds to the confusion. And, with multiple tools and purposes, who in your organization will manage those tools? Does the same person who manages the internal document repository also manage event annoucements on the website, Facebook, email newsletter, etc.? Do you have multiple editors or one? How do you manage the people who manage the tools and the content? How do you keep track of it all?

Well then, what’s the solution?

Not to dodge the question, but the answer really is “It depends”.  If one’s not enough and ten is too many, here’s  one way to figure out what the right number is for your organization.

  1. What are the tasks / features / processes that you need the technology to accomplish? Be as specific as possible, but make sure each task is actionable (i.e. “Content Management System” isn’t a task, “Ability to subscribe to website updates via RSS” is.)  This would also include technology requirements such as – must be Linux-based, must be hosted, open-source, etc.
  2. Is this task “critical”? This can be the make it or break it question – if all of your critical tasks can be handled by the uni-tool, then use the uni-tool. If it’s critical and not well managed by the uni-tool, then perhaps that’s worth the investment for a multi-tool. On the table below I made critical items worth 3 points versus the standard 1 point.
  3. Who’s better at the task? If you weren’t specific before, you’re going to be in trouble with this one.
  4. Total your scores.

You should be left looking at something like this:

Task Is It Critical? Who’s Better? Uni-tool Multi-tool
Admin can send newsletter to members Y U 3 0
Admin can manage documents and versioning M 0 1
Users can subscribe to updates via RSS/email Y M 0 3
Admin can update the site w/WSYWIG editor M 0 1
Users can purchase items M 0 1
Users can register for events Y U 3 0
Admin can track event attendance U 1 0
Users can search fior information Y M 0 3
Users can search for information within documents M 0 1
TOTAL 7 10

I’ll be refining this assessment process over the next few months and I look forward to posting my results and findings!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Technology + Kids Nonprofits in Denver

by jbreazeale on January 21, 2009

A friend was looking for some volunteer opportunities around kids & tech in the Denver Metro organization (specifically rebuilding computers and redistributing them to underserved kids), I didn’t find exactly what she was looking for, but I did find some great organizations such as:

LifeByte Computer Ministry
Lifebyte is composed of a group of spiritual techies who use the gifts and direction of God to acquire, restore and deliver free computers to those without. We are a mission who believes in helping our local Denver and world communities. Your support will give individuals and families in the Denver area and around the world hope and opportunities through computers.

So the religious angle can be a deal-maker or a deal-breaker for many people, but this group seems to be well organized and well intentioned and very effective.

Denver Tech for All
Tech for All makes available to individuals in the community the means to become skilled and competent in computer use; to gather donations, collect and recondition used equipment, identify qualified recipients and place the appropriate equipment with them solely for their use and at no charge.

Similar to LifeByte without the religious angle. Wow, they really need a new website though!

Third Way Center
Third Way Center’s mission is to provide a continuum of services in a home-like environment where high-risk, homeless, mentally ill and disadvantaged youth can work through their problems, learn to take responsibility for their actions and become productive members of society.

This one came from a reference of a local parenting group member who had volunteered at the Center. Like many organizations of this type, funds are always tight and must first be used to meet the immediate needs of their clients. Donations of time and technology are a welcomed perk and much appreciated.

KidsTek
KidsTek connects the resources and opportunities of the technology sector with the identified technology education needs of kids in Colorado’s underserved communities.

This group focuses on directing its support to existing school systems / technology programs. I like where they’re coming from — basically, we’ve solved the hardware and accessibility problem, but if you don’t maintain that infrastructure and continue to engage the kids, you’ll end up with old computers gathering dust on the floor — but it’s a pretty new organization and still getting up and running. I’ll be interested to see where they can take it.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Setting up a website for your portfolio or small business

January 20, 2009

How to setup a basic website and email using a personalized domain name, webmail, free blog software, and RSS/email subscription options.

Read the full article →