cazh1 » Hands-On

Lost Weekend: Troubleshooting a MySQL Installation

Jim MacLennan — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Spurred on by Blogger’s decision to stop supporting FTP for publishing blogs, I have finally started the long process to implement a WordPress blog – hosted by myself, not WordPress.com. To be fair, I am making this longer than it necessarily needs to be, but I am continuing my efforts to maintain a comprehensive Admin guide for all of my development efforts – configuring servers, installing software, etc.

Needless to say, this adds overhead and time, but it’s worth the effort. I have invested around 40 hours of effort over the past four years on the document (an indicator of how often I get back to my development projects). Still, it pays off every time, because I have a reasonably well-developed SDLC and publishing process implemented, and I need to make sure each new project follows established standards – and adds to the standards when necessary.

Enter MySQL and WordPress – since I will be hosting my own blog, I need a new and different flavor of Development, Test, and Production environments. No more dabbling – I need to tighten up security and document the installation and maintenance processes for the database.

Which is where I hit a wall, of sorts; I could not successfully change the root password on the MySQL database, kept on getting the UPDATE command denied to user ”@’localhost’ for table ‘user’ message.

Hours of surfing, searching, starting and stopping, installing and reinstalling, to no avail. However, I had seen the AppArmor framework mentioned a few times, and had seen error and warning messages in the system logs that kept hinting at something in that direction. So I finally followed the advice noted in this thread, and disabled AppArmor during the MySQL installation process. A few notes:

Use the Synaptic Package Manager utility to enable / disable AppArmor; I didn’t want to throw the whole thing out, just needed to disable (Mark for Removal) and then Install (Mark for Installation), did not want to completely smoke it (Mark for Complete Removal).
After disabling in Synaptic (Mark for Removal), ran the mysql_secure_installation script from the command line for the umpteenth time – but this time, the password change for root user worked.
Rebooted the machine, and reinstalled (Mark for Installation) AppArmor in Synaptic.

A quick validation that I could use the MySQL graphical admin tools and phpMyAdmin, and I was back to getting the Dev instance of WordPress going.

Ah, but now I have to get ready for the work week, and time is ticking away …

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Development, Documentation, MySQL, Technology, WordPress

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Hands-On Project: Offsite Strategy

Jim MacLennan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:55:00 +0000

When I talk about having an “offsite strategy” meeting, I’m looking to get out of the office and have some good, “strategic” conversation over a cup of coffee or a beer. Back when I worked for a software development company, we did our best design work at a hot dog stand in Des Plaines, IL; since then, I’ve always found it more fun to conduct some “bidness” in the proper atmosphere …

This was the germ of an idea that suggested a solid (simple, easy-to-remember) domain name and an interesting excuse to get some hands on with newer web technology. I’ve wanted to build a Google Maps mash-up for some time, and I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff about jQuery on Twitter – so as a break from a high-profile project at work, I hacked together something over the past few months that was both fun and practical (because, of course, it’s important to be able to quickly locate a suitable meeting place …)

Lessons Learned

Actually, the practical lessons learned from this project have to do with understanding modern web technology, understanding technology at a reasonable depth, and discovering a new value prop for Twitter …

If you are just starting out, try developing with web APIs, and augmenting your HTML and CSS with jQuery, mootools, Scriptaculous, or Dojo. Code not your style? You should be looking at Google Wave and the Semantic Web – two other things on my radar screen.
If you are into code – well, this stuff is definitely getting more interesting. I found jQuery to be powerful yet complicated, definitely tricky. CSS for flexible layout is kids stuff – get ready to dive back into debug mode. The goal, however, is not to become an expert – just develop a healthy understanding of what is simple and what is difficult.
Twitter and the real-time web took on a whole new meaning for me – I use Tweetdeck, and often set up searches to watch a keyword like “SAP“, “master data“, or “jQuery“. This has become a great source for better plugins, but you can also get a quick sense of the market – the best code gets the most RT‘s!

If you are an IT leader, you simply must be getting in depth with this stuff as soon as possible. Your Sales, Operations, and Finance counterparts are desperately looking for the Next Big Thing in cost savings and/or competitive differentiation – grab a mitt and get in the game!

Besides, I like to be able to understand the subtle nuances – what’s easy and what’s difficult – when the business starts to talk about collaboration, the cloud, integrations and interfaces, and usability. (Primarily so I can set their expectations correctly after seeing breathless demos and presentations from well-meaning vendors …)

A Work in Process

OffsiteStrategy.com is really best behaved in Firefox and Safari, but I have put a ton of time into the site to get it somewhat well-behaved in IE6 and IE7 (still a little quirky). I’ve still got a list of features to add:

I’m not stuck on the Chicago area – check out Boston and Cincinnati, for example. I am working on adding a Search box to the map, so you can find _your_ location, then look for my fave in your area. Next time I’m in town …
I don’t have as many photos as my daughters (14GB!!), but I have some that might be fun to share. Again, mostly just looking for a reason to mess with Picasa and the APIs available there
I’m still hacking away here at the blog, and over on Twitter – and I’ve looked at some interesting scripts to pull data from those two platforms over to OffsiteStrategy.com, for some interesting visualizations.

Of course, if you have any feedback – or suggested locations – please let me know.

Credits / Further Reading

Like any self-teaching hack, I’ve constructed the site as a mix of original stuff plus techniques cribbed from demos and samples of work from other web developers. In particular …

Google Maps

I’ve used the Google Maps API V3 as the basis for my Maps stuff. I have an API key, no big deal, but I just like the default navigation features that come with this version (try the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of the map – just like the real thing).
I got most of my ideas for the basic UI and map action from Marc Grabanski, but I had to augment a bit with stuff from this demo program to get the InfoWindows to work like I wanted.
I also needed this handy Lat/Lon tool to get the markers positioned exactly where I wanted them to go.

jQuery

A very nice library of routines, plus I’m amazed at how fast the universe of plugins is expanding. The important ones used on this site include …

Rik Lomas’ quickSearch plug-in, for the excellent filter action on the table of Locations
Christian Bach’s tablesorter – did you notice that you can sort the table by clicking the headers?
I have made some progress dealing with the shortcomings of IE6 – thanks to Andreas Eberhard and his PNG-Transparency fix.
The dropdowns underneath the icons come courtesy of jQuery Tools – good UI stuff. I think there is more there than tooltips, but that will be for another project.
I used Mathias Bank’s excellent plugin for parsing URL parameters – wanted to send nice-looking links in email to people, that would point them where we should meet.
When I’m done with a plugin (or my own code), and I’m keeping a local copy, I have used Dean Edward’s JavaScript Compressor web app. It works fairly well, although with some code I get quirky results with the compressed results – need to keep fiddling with that stuff.

CSS

This site got me back into practice with CSS – it’s been a while since I’ve worked in this area. I did add Eric Meyer’s CSS Reset to the site, another attempt at insulating the IE6 users from unfortunate look/feel issues.

Miscellaneous Tools

I also got a lot of mileage out of a couple of other web-based goodies:

There are many color tools online, but Color Schemer Online v2 was the best for letting me quickly go from hue to hex.
I got all of my icons from Iconspedia, a great source for free stuff. I did search a lot on the IconArchive site – good stuff, I just didn’t find any that I needed from there.
I’ve used the meebo chat widget before on my blog (up and to the right …); it’s pretty nifty, and I figured it would make sense to want to get a chat going while we are discussing where to meet up.

Source Code

If you are interested, just give me a shout (contact information here) …

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: APIs, Boston, Chicago, CSS, Development, Google, Google Maps, programming, software development

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Collaboration “in the Wild”: Some Observations

Jim MacLennan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:11:00 +0000

An Enterprise 2.0 dream scenario: implementing a complex project across multiple sites, in two different time zones, with a large team (well over 100). The team was reasonably savvy with collaboration tools; core team members were quite comfortable with Instant Messaging, and we have been relying on SharePoint for many months. A centralized, coordinated document repository; a single source, very public bugs/issues list – the foundation was in place for some time, so our “go-live weekend” experience was pleasantly predictable.

During this critical time, we had to coordinate with the multitude, and we did that with a highly structured “hour-by-hour plan”, regularly scheduled “all-hands” conference calls, and web-based meeting places so all could review Completed, In Process, and Coming Soon tasks. After a successful weekend, we received plenty of positive feedback, and some interesting suggestions for improvements:

Conference calls were regularly scheduled, and featured tight agendas – which tended to limit individuals’ ability to connect with the right person (until afterward). Since each location had a “war room” where the team gathered for the status calls, some suggested we leave the conference call open 24×7. I wasn’t a big fan of this one, primarily because I’m the guy paying the long-distance bill …
Few on the team are actively using Twitter, but one of the project leads noted that IM was quite popular, and imagined a Tweetdeck-like ability to see instant messages and responses that have gone out previously; “threaded conversations” that could be visible to all, helping collaborative problem-solving and knowledge transfer. I congratulated him on inventing Google Wave …
Like most decent-sized companies, we have a highly structured Process for approving code changes into production – and like most decent-sized projects, we noted a few instances where promotions to resolve problems were delayed (while they worked their way through the Process). Might there be some streamlining opportunities here, since we are working on a high profile project with lots of oversight?

Of course, #3 was a non-starter, but the first two generated some good discussion, Yes, it’s conceivable that we could augment our SharePoint site with a few new extensions or plug-ins to address the first two – but I’m actively working against any changes to our collaboration environments for a very simple reason – we’re not finished with the big project. Phase 2 of 2 is coming in just a few weeks.

Am I being close-minded? Not really, I’m a huge driver of collaboration tools in the company. But, I’m also a realist – and I know two significant factors that argue against change at the time:

Prioritizing “Improvements”: We are implementing ERP and other highly intrusive / foundational systems, and there’s a lot of change that comes along with that. I understand that an organization can only take so much change at once – so why not focus on the stuff that’s bringing real (ie. quantifiable, bottom-line, significant) business value.

New Collaboration Tools need Lead Time & Practice: Eight months ago, sharing files by e-mail and ad-hoc, unstructured meetings were the norm. To be fair, we were working smaller projects with teams of 10-20, and usually in no more than two locations. Over the past few months, as we were teeing up for Big Go-Live #1, we’ve been introducing the newer tools in small bits. For Go-Live Weekend, the team was already familiar with going to SharePoint for status updates, or recording a new Issue in the SharePoint list. The mechanics were old hat, and folks didn’t need to think about it – which was nice, since we need them thinking about their Tasks. If we introduce new collaboration tools with little lead time before the Big Go-Live #2, Tasks will be interrupted with people struggling to remember how to communicate.

In the right setting, collaboration tools can clearly add value – even for the most conservative jaded technology users. However, you can’t introduce something so new and expect people to “get it” in the short term. Better approach is to introduce the new tools early in the process, when there is no pressure. This lets the team build familiarity, understanding, and skills by the time you need to rely on these tools for critical communication.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: agile, Collaboration, collaboration environments, collaboration tools, collaborative problem, Communication, different time zones, ERP, hands on experience, IM, instant message, issue tracking, meetings, MS SharePoint, PMO, Project Management, SAP, Wave

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Introducing … Google Wave

Jim MacLennan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Thank you for signing up to give us early feedback on Google Wave. We’re happy to give you access to Google Wave and are enlisting your help to improve the product. To accept your invitation, sign into Google Wave at the following link …

Well, maybe not the most exciting email I’ve received over the past few years, but it was nice to get the [sorta] early notice. I’m definitely in the second wave, but I’ll not look a gift URL in the mouth.

Of course, no early impressions just yet – the interface upon start up is spare, looks like Yet Another Email Client. I will check out the introductory video(s) – I typically do my best learning by playing around a bit (without reading any manuals), then watch a demo or get an expert to give me a quick tour – and then I’ll get serious. Something to do this weekend, or while waiting around during the Next Big Go-Live (project at work).

Like previous Google apps, this one came with invites – but this is 2009, man, and I’ve got Tweetdeck at the ready! Soon after receiving the invite, I put the word out (via LinkedIn, too), and got a number of responses from fellow adventurers looking for their own golden ticket.

I have no idea how long it will take to close the loop – my Wave page/inbox/site/thingie makes it look like I’ve added these folks to a List of Indeterminate Length, with no ETA on delivery. Still, I think it might be interesting to gather their feedback into a mini review of this newest communication technology. More to follow …

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: collaboration environments, LinkedIn, Wave

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Real Business Users and SharePoint

Jim MacLennan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:22:00 +0000

Introducing buzzword-compliant technology like a wiki, or integrated collaboration spaces like SharePoint, will typically go well with a motivated audience like your internal IT department. But if you really want to understand how this stuff works, try it with “real people” – line employees in sales and marketing, operations, and finance.

Sure, you’ve heard complaints from these folks (they have better PCs at home, the SAP/Oracle UI is brutal compared to Amazon and AT&T U-Verse, and why can’t they just connect their new iPhone to the corporate mail server?). Be warned; demanding users are not necessarily technically savvy when it comes to groupware.

Case in point; we are working a rather large project (many months in length, over 200 people throughout the business) using SharePoint as our collaboration space – and learning an awful lot about what we thought we understood about ease-of-use and intuitive user interfaces. Our collaboration space is a basic SharePoint project site, featuring the usual suspects – a Shared Document library, an Issues list, and an Announcements section. Simple right? Well, maybe not …

Documents Check In, but they Don’t Check Out

Just kidding, the actual check-in / check-out mechanism works fine. It’s just very interesting that this basic concept of version control is lost on most end-users.

But let’s start with the document library itself – it looks like a really nice version of File Explorer, but becomes very frustrating to folks when they try basic tasks like drag-and-drop. Yes, we found the simple solution – there is an option to open the folder in Windows Explorer, but since this menu option is buried right above the file list, it’s hard to find – certainly not “intuitively obvious”.

Version control was a difficult thing to explain – thank goodness for the tight integration with Office 2007. We found it easier to show folks how to edit documents with a simple double-click – that works just like their shared folders on the old file server! You can explain the concepts of version control quite easily, but the whole check-in / check-out, keep-a-copy-on-your-local-drive thing just gets too complicated. We did have to deal with the one-time task of checking in a new document after you upload it, but after that, they just open the files directly, and that’s it.

There is one feature of Shared Document libraries that I really like – the ability to add custom attributes to documents that can appear as columns in the view. Makes it easier to sort / select / search on documents, and people “get it” relatively quickly. Just go easy on the version control.

… Here’s a SharePoint Tissue

I think the most powerful and elegant feature of SharePoint is the flexibility you have with basic list management – even with WSS. Truly, this stuff should cover over half of the “fancy” automation tasks that folks are are asking for. However, I’m still surprised / dismayed by the fact that SharePoint doesn’t include a standard graphical indicator – you know, the classic “stoplight” (green is good, yellow warning, red means um, er…). I’ve written about this one before – why can’t I have a simple datatype (vs. putting together a sneaky little script to make it work).

I also have a significant warning / insight about trying to do too much with your Lists. Do you realize that most end-users in a typical SMB have older CRTs? I’ll bet you still have a large number of 15″ CRTs with slightly foggy tubes, on their last legs (but too expensive to change out for all but the executive staff) (ok, and IT too, sorry). In addition – well, let’s just say that I’m not the only one whose eyesight is beginning to fail them; I can’t tell you how often I’ve tried to talk folks into moving their screen resolution higher than 800×600 – but it just doesn’t work.

What’s my point? Before you put too many columns in your Lists, or too many gadgets on your Site, check with the average user to make sure that it looks okay on their Screen. Heck, before you even begin your design, use SMS or a simple script to poll the user community and find out what kind of screen resolutions have been set. Catering to the lowest common denominator is not a cop-out, especially when the point of a collaboration site is to get people to actually participate!

Push vs. Pull Messaging

(Another opinion:) I think most powerful aspect of collaboration sites is the aggregation of all knowledge about a project into a single, searchable repository. When people send project updates or resolve issues / hold discussions over e-mail, all that knowledge is buried and quickly lost inside people’s inboxes. In SharePoint, a typical Announcements web part (yes, I know it’s just another kind of List) is quite practical as a messaging medium, because folks can sign up for e-mail alerts.

Don’t underestimate the attraction of the e-mail. People are used to getting information delivered to them in their inboxes – it’s expected! All I’m saying with my Announcements list is that you have to subscribe to the information and pull it towards yourself (versus expecting me, the project manager, to remember to push it to you – and everybody else that might be interested).

Real-world learning: this concept didn’t take long to grab hold in our project. It makes sense, people understand it relatively quickly.

On The Good Side

Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of good that’s going on. Now that the larger project is getting used to this new collaboration space …

… our issue tracking list gets better every time someone touches it – and now we have consistent consolidated issue lists for all aspects of the project
… we are advancing our state-of-the-art for shared authorship; there is a lot more visibility to who is working on what, and we’re getting more participation than a normal project
… the combination of all these different pieces – shared documents, issues, announcements, and other things – are massively facilitating communication, and it is noticed by the folks on the team

Yes – these collaboration tools will definitely will bring huge value and streamline communications to your project. Just don’t think it’s easy or obvious.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Change Management, check in, collaboration environments, collaboration tools, Content Management Systems, dashboard, document management system, enterprise search, groupware, GYR, knowledge transfer, managing change, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, MS SharePoint, SAP, shared folders, status flags, status indicators, traffic light, version control, WSS

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Field Notes: Video Conferencing for Business Conversations

Jim MacLennan — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:52:00 +0000

This past week saw my first experience with video conference calling – something obvious to consider in these tight economic times. Some observations –

I got quick feedback that my original camera position was disconcerting for the others. I had put it off to the side, which made me look “off camera”, almost in profile, while in conversation. As I thought about it, I agreed – because if I was looking at me, it would be weird / annoying. I do not like it when the person I am talking with is not looking me in the eyes.
On that note – when we’re in a conversation, I’m typically looking at a 6” circle around your eyes. When on a business / working video conference, however, I’m looking at a 2 x 2 inch square picture of the speaker – because we all have other windows open, looking at documents / programs under review. It’s feels more like a “talking heads” newscast than a conversation …
… but you have to take the good with the bad. The ability to bring up a spreadsheet or presentation or application on a shared screen is quite powerful – participants can “see what I see”. You just need to understand that this is a multimedia conversation, and not simply a replacement for a phone call.

On the other hand – my family uses Skype to stay connected with our daughter away at college. When we make the call, we’ll flip the video feed to full screen – and since the web cams on our respective laptops are perched right above the screen, our eyes are focused reasonably close to the other person’s face. Simple conversational video calls, without the multitasking overhead, are reasonably effective.

Microphone configuration is also very important; some folks are using headsets, while I use the microphone incorporated in the video camera. I prefer this arrangement; I’m already comfortable with using a speakerphone on normal calls, and prolonged use of an earpiece gets a bit annoying. The key, however, is to get everyone to correctly configure microphone settings. Everyone’s volume was a little different, and it impacted the smooth flow of conversation.
We are using inexpensive web cams, not highfalutin’ conference calling hardware. In this scenario, the system does a reasonably brilliant job of flipping camera control to whoever is speaking. This seems obvious, but I noticed that when I was speaking, your remote view doesn’t bother flipping to your feed – it stays on the last speaker. This can be a tad disconcerting if that person reverts to typical conference call habits, and looks away / does a little multi-tasking.
I also noticed that people were much more cautious, or overly polite, about talking over one another. I assume that as we get used to holding conference calls in this format, we’ll get more comfortable with the interruptions.

Later in the week, I had a long conversation with a colleague in Germany. Here, the video call format is very effective. Typically, I prefer face-to-face conversations to phone calls – you can react when someone’s facial expressions signal a lack of agreement or comprehension. Of course, this is not practical with meine freunde in Deutschland, where language differences exacerbate the situation. The video call solves that problem immediately and effectively – I found myself communicating in face-to-face mode now, with hand gestures (ex. air quotes) and facial expressions indicate agreement, keep the conversation moving along.

Like any bit of technology, reality is not as smooth as the sales pitch makes it out to be, but still a very effective tool, and something that can be experimented with quite inexpensively.

Experimentation leads to experience, leads to effectiveness.

Previously …

International Meetings – Pick a Convenient Time (April 1, 2005)
Challenges when demoing / training / pitching complex systems (May 23, 2005)
eMail on Blackberry Changes Definition of Acceptable eMail (September 19, 2005)
Hand writing recognition – harder than colored bubbles (November 19, 2005)
Waiting outside their office (February 14, 2006)
Catching up on Mind Mapping; collaborative tools and some “market research” (May 13, 2007)
Alternative KM Tools (3 of 3) (September 25, 2007)
Power Outage Follow Up – Observations (March 28, 2008)

Technorati Tags: collaboration, hands on, Knowledge Management, productivity

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags:

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Low Tech SharePoint Hack: Project Status Indicator

Jim MacLennan — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:06:00 +0000

I’m doing a little hacking in SharePoint that is pulling together a few ideas from the past:

Keeping my tech skills sharp
Knowing when to search for the answer (vs. stubbornly sticking with DIY)
Communicating status tersely but effectively

Apparently, I’m also trying to answer a question that is meaningful to many others, as it is used as an example in the Help files for Microsoft’s online SharePoint guides, the add-on Web Parts we use here, and many other places. Why doesn’t Microsoft make something like this a standard feature?

Note that I had some fairly specific requirements in mind for something that I would consider “low tech”. this should be an approach that the average (read: non-IT) SharePoint site admin could use. I don’t want to require third-party controls, nor do I want to require the use of SharePoint Designer. I’m also shying away from image files – little GIFs to show red, green, and yellow icons; I have established a style for displaying project status in that works great with PowerPoint and Excel, and I want to use the same images consistently on the collaboration space.

Of course, I wanted to get to a solution in a reasonable amount of time (ie. Speed to Value, or being proactively lazy). A few Google searches turned up a number of resources with different approaches. The best resource was this site, loaded with excellent SharePoint hacks – including one simple concept that requires me to tweak my ground rules, just a bit. To get this to work, I have to include a JavaScript routine on the page; however, I learned a nifty trick, one of those things that is fairly straightforward, but still has to be pointed out to you before you “get it”.

The JavaScript Trick

You don’t need SharePoint Designer to install JavaScript routines or special CSS on the page. All you need to do is install a Content Editor Web Part (CEWP) somewhere on the same page as your list. You can bring up the Source Editor and insert any scripts, you want, nothing will display about the routines will be available to the other controls / web parts on the same page. I’m not going to copy the code here – these guys deserve the web traffic for their work, so, go to this page to copy the script.

A Lot of HTML for a Little Indicator

The actual HTML for the “green” indicator (~) looks like this:

Unfortunately the font changes based on which indicator you need – this table shows the various components for all of the status indicators.

Status	Code	Font	Color	Result
Green	˜	Wingdings 2	green
Yellow	p	Wingdings 3	#FFCC00
Red	n	Wingdings	#DC143C
Complete	ü	Wingdings	black

My solution adds three calculated columns to the list. Why three? Well, yes, you could do the whole thing with one computed column, but the nested IF statements would be brutally complex, and I was hoping for something “self-documenting” (ie. clear and simple).

The SharePoint list in question is a typical Issue Tracker – and the first step is to define what the different statuses (statii?) are going to be. Here, I am only allowing Open (Red, Yellow, Green) and Closed – nothing like resolved or in process or proposed – we’ll keep it simple.

I then added three Calculated columns, and defined the formulas like this:

Status_Char = IF([Issue Status]="Open - Green","˜",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Yellow","p",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Red","n","ü")))
Status_Font = IF([Issue Status]="Open - Green","Wingdings 2",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Yellow","Wingdings 3",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Red","Wingdings","Wingdings")))
Status_Color = IF ([Issue Status]="Open - Green","green",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Yellow","#FFCC00",IF([Issue Status]="Open - Red","#DC143C","black")))

I’ve tweaked the colors – standard yellow and red don’t look good with a white background. (I burned at least 30 minutes fiddling with the color tones, to make something that was visibly yet subtle. Gotta know when to go fast and when to dither over the details …).

Add a fourth column for the actual status indicator; we use the CONCATENATE function to build the HTML string as specified above. The surrounding

is used by our borrowed JavaScript function to signal the browser to turn this little bit into true HTML.

Status_Color = CONCATENATE("<DIV><font size=4 color=",Status_Color," face='",Status_Font,"'>",Status_Char,"</font></DIV>")

Effectiveness Testing

Yes, this could have been done with a single calculated field – it’s just a little bit easier to debug this way. In any event, it s a relatively large amount of code for a fairly simple effect – was it worth the effort? The ultimate test came when reviewing the list of open issues with the project team – and folks understood what was being communicated immediately. No explanation necessary – the conversation focused on the item marked “red” right away. If we just displayed the words “green”, “yellow”, or “red”, it would take a bit more mental effort to understand what was being communicated. I really want folks to think about the solutions, and not waste brain power trying to understand the problems. A little extra effort in the code is just right.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Application Development, Development, hack, Presentations, Project Management, SharePoint, Tech Management

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Hacking the Google Chart API from Excel

Jim MacLennan — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Click to enlarge ...

a bit of code on a Saturday night …

I’ve written before about a simple way to measure and report IT value to the business – quantifying alignment with strategic initiatives project spend in context. It all culminated with a single, simple slide – numbers, with some Tufte-esque Sparklines thrown in.

Well, technologies come and go, and without going into the boring details, I’ve had to come up with a new way to generate the mini-bar charts along the left side there. It ended up being a relatively straightforward task in Excel VBA – yes, of course the table of data is being driven from a spreadsheet.

Here’s the macro that does the trick – I just create a little HTML file that generate the bar charts in series (please excuse the hard-coding) …

Sub CreateSparklinesDisplayFile()

Dim sOutFile As String
Dim iStartRow, iStopRow As Integer
Dim iStartCol, iStopCol As Integer
Dim i, j As Integer
Dim sDataString As String

sOutFile = Range("rOutFileName").Value
iStartRow = Range("rStartRow").Value      ' First row of data to be graphed
iStopRow = Range("rStopRow").Value        ' Last row of data to be graphed
iStartCol = Range("rStartColumn").Value   ' First column of data to be graphed (includes column of series names
iStopCol = Range("rStopColumn").Value     ' Last column of data to be graphed

Open sOutFile For Output As #1

Print #1, "BizUpdate Sparklines>/title>"
Print #1, ""
Print #1, "Sparklines for last 12-months spend, IT Projects, by Initiative"

' Loop thru the lines in the table to generate the separate sparklines

For i = iStartRow To iStopRow
Print #1, "

" & Cells(i, iStartCol).Value & "

"
Print #1, "

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?" Print #1, "chs=100x35" " alt="" height="" />

sDataString = "&chd=t:" For j = (iStartCol + 1) To (iStopCol - 3) sDataString = sDataString & Cells(i, j).Value & "," Next j sDataString = sDataString & "0,0,0|0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0" For j = (iStopCol - 2) To (iStopCol) sDataString = sDataString & "," & Cells(i, j).Value Next j Print #1, sDataString Print #1, "&cht=bvs" Print #1, "&chbh=a,2" Print #1, "&chco=CCCCCC,FF3300" Print #1, "&chds=0,100,0,100'" Print #1, "title='" & Cells(i, iStartCol).Value & "' />" Print #1, "" Next i Print #1, "

"
Print #1, ""

Close #1

End Sub

The output file looks something like this (a simplified version …)

BizUpdate Sparklines

Sparklines for last 12-months spend, IT Projects, by Initiative

Data runs from through

Integration

Growth & Innovation

Total IT Project Spend ...

Generated on Sun, Jan 08, 2012 at 12:53:22 pm

Some things I noted when constructing this stuff …

The Google Chart API seems to be picky about the order of the various parameters. I had some troubles getting the charts to work unless I output things just so
I can control a lot about these graphs, but I couldn’t get rid of the x-axis. Yes, there is a chart type for “sparklines” (cht=ls), but that’s for line graphs only
I am calling out the last three months spend in the table, so I want to highlight them in the charts, hence the little hiccup in the j loop

(Updated January 8, 2012: I have published a sample spreadsheet with the code above on my Projects page – check out the VBA Excel section …)

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: APIs, Art, code, Edward Tufte, Excel automation, Google Charts, graph, hack, hands on experience, HTML, infographics, metrics, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Presentations, sample code, Science, sparklines, Tufte, VBA

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Third Time’s the Charm? Blackberry Bold

Jim MacLennan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:11:00 +0000

I recently had to part ways with my Blackberry Pearl – some heartache, I suppose, but time and product innnovation march on. There is a lot to like about the Blackberry Bold – I am definitely happy to have made the change …

Acceptable Form Factor: Yes, the Pearl was “perfect” because of it’s candy-bar size – unlike the classic 7200 series, which felt strange when held up to your ear as a cell phone. Bottom line – the Bold still fits comfortably in jacket, shirt, and pants pockets. Plus, when I’m using it as a phone, I’ve typically got the Bluetooth headset plugged in.
QWERTY is Back: You can get used to the predictive typing on the Pearl’s compressed, two-letters-to-a-key keyboard, but the Bold’s “standard” layout has help reduce my typos considerably (alas, I have to take ownership of misspelings again).
So That‘s What WiFi is For … It didn’t register until I connected to my local Tomato to get out to the intarweb – much faster than anything I’d ever seen before, very useful.
Improved Screen: More real estate really helps here, and the applications are much more useful. Not just the “native” Contacts, eMail, and Calendar clients, but the web browser as well; pages just render better on this thing. I mean, it was usable before, but now it’s actually quite effective.
More Applications: A few more games, big deal – I don’t play in meetings anymore. However, there is a wide range of free, Blackberry-aware apps that are really useful – the Google suite, of course, plus Facebook and the Wall Street Journal. I’ve even re-downloaded Twitterberry, which has made a few updates since I last played with it (trying microblogging again …)

Subtleties that Really Deliver: No, I’m not an iPhone hater – but I have discovered a number of little features – not widely talked about, but spot-on useful – that apparently are not matched in the BBKWT. Face it – the Blackberry is spooky self-aware that it’s a phone, first and foremost; open up an eMail, and if a phone number appears in the body, you can click on it to initiate a call. Or start a conversation with Messenger, and click the green phone button – a pop up asks if you want to call the person you are chatting with. Nice.
My Desktop: I also like the fact that I can add custom folders and rearrange icons, even moving them within these new folders. The home screen gives me space for six icons, so I’ve got a folder for messaging apps (email, gmail, IM, SMS, and tberry), Internet apps (browser, Google apps, WSJ, Facebook), plus direct licks to calendar, contacts, and Google Maps (my fave application for the handheld).

No, it’s not perfect – I don’t understand why I can’t create shortcuts for my favorite web sites (Bloglines, Ping, Weather Underground, etc.) in the folders – but I can see myself growing more independent from the luggable [notebook]. If I could only get a decent VNC client …

Previously …

eMail on Blackberry Changes Definition of Acceptable eMail (September 19, 2005)
My first month with the Blackberry Pearl (February 26, 2007)
Rare event: Design problems with my Blackberry Pearl (May 24, 2007)
New Twitter features starting to make things more relevant (June 3, 2007)
Communication is the responsibility of … (August 19, 2007)
Innovation That Matters – Substance Over Style (January 12, 2008)
The Innovation Generation and User Interfaces (April 9, 2008)
Stretching Your User Interface Design Muscles (April 16, 2008)
Finally! Relevant Applications for YouTube and Twitter in the Enterprise! (July 11, 2008)
On the Road: Business Travel, Fall 2008 (October 13, 2008)

Technorati Tags: blackberry, design, hands on, innovation, productivity, technology, twitter

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags:

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License

Best Practices for Requirements Gathering Sessions

Jim MacLennan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:05:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve led an interactive requirements session for an interactive application – but it’s kind of like riding a bike. After a few minutes, the old habits come back, and the iterative ideas and cascading creativity starts to flow. What has changed, however, is the application platform, the office environment, and the various knowledge capture tools at our disposal.

So, in the spirit of knowledge retention and sharing, here’s a brain dump of ideas that make for a better requirements gathering session …

Think of it as an interactive presentation – so all of the classic prep rules apply. Arrive early, get set up and have everything running before people arrive
Make sure you can bring the original application (if it’s a rework) up on the screen: check in advance that you can attach to the network
The best sessions are interactive, with application mock-up tools. Have a copy of Visio, PowerPoint or something similar ready to go – so you can paint screens and interactively work things while they watch
Use a room with a big screen TV or projector, so your audience can “see over your shoulder” as you work. However, if possible, you should face your audience – have them look behind you at the screen / projection, while you look at the display on your laptop.

This allows you to have a conversation with the folks opining on needs and wants, and lets you see their facial expressions as you dummy stuff up.
This also allows your audience to see what you are typing. They are proofreading your work – not for typos, but to make sure their understanding of the words / ideas you are talking about are being captured correctly.

Make sure you know where the local printer is, and can print to it. Waiting for a series of changes to be “painted” on the screen may take too long; it might be easier just to take a print screen and mark it up

When sketching on paper, have a couple of different color pens on hand, and color-code your scribbles; red = follow up / things to fix, blue = talking points, etc. When capturing ideas on the hard copy, your fixes & follow-ups are easily distinguishable. A highlighter might be good idea, too.

re: typing / data capture: Consider using a simple text editor, Notepad or something similar. Key is not to worry to much about formatting the text or correcting typos. As long a you can decipher your hacking, that should be ok

However, a spell checking word processor might be preferable to Notepad – your typos will get automatically fixed up

Always number your requirements / items to attack. Then you have a finite, trackable list of stuff that is either go or no go

Consider creating an auto-numbered spreadsheet for a Requirements list – you can bring it up on the screen as well. Create additional columns for notes, resource assignments, effort estimates – stuff like that

Bring a digital voice recorder to the session. Let the folks know that they are being “taped” – but it’s only so you can go back and replay the discussion while cleaning up your notes. This will also allow you to stop typing and continue the in depth conversation – which is where all the value is
Set clear expectations of what you want to accomplish in the meeting – and set a time limit; iterative work is easily digested when taken in small bites

There is a lot of power in truly collaborative requirements sessions – the ultimate users of your system will readily accept the results when they are truly part of the design process and experience.

Previously …

Three Best TLAs of all time, the hegemony of Excel, and the Intuitive Front End (August 12, 2006)
The Iron Triangle – Quality is a Feature that We Choose to Omit from Projects (October 28, 2006)
Another caveat for the erstwhile agile developer (January 15, 2007)
Innovation That Matters – Substance Over Style (January 12, 2008)
Do you want it good or fast? Prioritizing Time-to-Value over Requirements (February 10, 2008)
Facilitating Innovation: Establishing an Environment of Possibilities (August 22, 2008)
Agile Methods in a Waterfall World: Speaking In Code (September 29, 2008)

Technorati Tags: best practice, design, development, innovation

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send mail to webmaster at cazh1 dot com
© Jim MacLennan for cazh1, 2008. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags:

All articles, blog entries, and other content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons License