Eating your own dog food

The only way to develop a great product is to actually use it
Simple hack

In the previous post I mentioned that we have been using a development version of activeCollab 1.0 for our own project management needs. We are really happy (while being 100% objective :) ) with it, although it’s not yet completely finished.

We think that the only way to develop a great product is to actually use it. Having said that, we started using activeCollab 1.0 as soon as we built features that are essential to our development process – task management and the platform for writing and sharing content. From that day we discovered and fixed a ton of small details that we missed during development.

Here is a little example – I already wrote that one of my favorite features in activeCollab 1.0 is ability to star (bookmark) objects and have them all listed on one page.

During the first few days I noticed a glitch with a specific feature. When I select a task, unstar it and mark it as completed -  it’s a three step process - obviously. But, if you have JS disabled - it means 3 page reloads. That is too much for something that you do over and over again so I sat down and less than 30 minutes added a simple way to select as many objects as you want and edit them in one click, including unstar and complete. The process of unstaring an object and marking it as done now takes just a few clicks (to mark objects and select the action), as well as no page reloads if you have JavaScript turned on.

Small tweaks such as the one I mentioned really make a difference. The only way to notice a need for such a tweak is to actually use your own product and that’s why every development team should use their own product, not just build what software architects and management order them to build.

Posted on: 2007-07-20 6:03

Comments

avatar Guest 2007-07-20 8:54 #1
Ok, release when?

We needed to move back to Basecamp due we need some extra stuff and current version doesn’t allow plugins and that.
avatar Davor 2007-07-20 8:58 #2
But of course, it is easier to use a product that is made for development collaboration when collaborating on development than any other kind of product… Anyway: keep up the good work! (don’t forget to drink a lot of coffee)
avatar Ilija Studen 2007-07-20 11:04 #3
@Davor: Yeah, good thing is that it can directly benefit us. It will help us stay on track and we’ll know what sections need to be improved because we are using it every day.
avatar Guest 2007-07-20 11:52 #4
As soon as they release the categories for messages feature I’m in.
avatar Guest 2007-07-21 6:03 #5
As you have implemented the “star” feature, why don’t you add the “tag” feature? Tagging the tasks would be also very very handy.

Tagging is actually better than categories on my opinion, especially because you can assign many keywords.

Of course tagging alone is usless, you should think away of filtering tags, e.g. copy the behavior from del.icio.us.

Practical example.

I would use as tags the following: personal, opensource, work.

The nice thing on del.icio.us is that you can filter more tags (AND) as follows:

del.icio.us/username/work+opensource (+=AND)
that would be cool to not show e.g. personal+opensource so that you can actually see only what is related to work…

think about it ;)
avatar Guest 2007-07-21 6:25 #6
Looking forward to the Beta!!!....and love the Tag idea the Paolo mentioned above
avatar brendan_rice 2007-07-21 5:46 #7
Starring the objects sounds like a nice idea. I believe tagging would be great as well. I have had some problems with uploading file in the current version I have installed and it may be a permissions issue bu tI cannot pin it down. Details can be seen in the post:

[http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/1749/]
avatar brendan_rice 2007-07-21 5:49 #8
@Davor

You make a good point. Developers cannot always use the software they develop as their users would. I am a developer in an insurance software provider company and it would be impossible for me to use the software as clients do unless I set up an office similar to theirs. This is frustrating though as developers becoe detached from the product and do not understand how everything works in it. I would say in this case the proper training would be needed to ensure developers are familiar with the software.
avatar Guest 2007-07-22 4:11 #9
You tease!
avatar Guest 2007-07-22 6:09 #10
I’m with Nick. I’m going to need counseling if I have to read any more blog entries talking about cool features in the upcoming release. Put us out of our misery already. Must… get… version… 1.0!
avatar Guest 2007-07-24 7:29 #11
One thing about sys requirements. As we use AC a lot, I had to add :

***********PHP CODE IN THE HEADER OF INDEX.PHP**************
set_time_limit(2000);
ini_set(“memory_limit”, “128M”);
*********************************************************

There should be an option in Configuration that enables user to increase these values as the system grows. I know to code in PHP, but 90% of AC users don’t.

Important feature: “Variable shortcuts”, which enables administrator to set shortcuts for quick addition. Why? ALT+S in Firefox2 is linked to HISTORY, so I can’t use the shortcut anymore.
avatar Guest 2007-07-25 12:47 #12
Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet? Is it summer ‘07 yet?

Sorry… It’s just my daily “Is it summer ‘07 yet?” seizure.
avatar Guest 2007-07-26 2:24 #13
hi,
first thanks for keeping the work going on!

Regarding the “usability issue” you mentioned: I think the “With selected …” method should only be an additional way to do things. Because for the ordinary user it’s not very intuitive. (clicking an element and then modifying it in another place makes the user think about the interface – never make the user think! ;) )

mg
avatar Ilija Studen 2007-07-26 2:35 #14
Of course, there is a “slow” way where you go to object page, unstar it and than mark it as completed. Not that bad if you need to work only with one object, but if you want to unstar and mark as done multiple objects then “With selected…” can save you a lot of clicks and time.

I would like to see the study that says that average users are not familiar with interfaces that involve doing operations on multiple items. “Never assume anything” is as good as “Never make the user think” ;)
avatar Guest 2007-07-26 3:39 #15
Hi,
ok, sorry, I didn’t know that you have to go to the objects view to unstar the object. I thought it was just in an overview list: click on the star to change star state. Like marking emails as important/unimportant in Thunderbird.

Hm, I have no study available, it’s only about experience with watching untrained users :(
avatar Ilija Studen 2007-07-26 5:13 #16
You don’t need to go to object page to unstar it. There is a nice little star button next to items. You click it and object gets starred / unstarred without page refresh.

What I was talking about in this entry is the combination of actions that I use a lot and that I would most probably missed it if I haven’t actually used activeCollab – unstar and complete. Without automation it goes like – unstar, object page, complete, back to starred page. When you have to do that a lot it starts to get annoying so I added a nice little shortcut that lets you do all of that in two or three clicks without page refresh.

There are tons of small tweaks like this one that we added (and keep adding) to activeCollab while we are using it. That is why using your own product is a good thing.
avatar Guest 2007-07-26 10:00 #17
Um not to be a broken record but … when do we get it????

(BTW – thanks for the great software)
avatar Guest 2007-07-26 6:39 #18
Hello Im using activeCollab 1.0 and i find it very useful, but i have two unsolved questions: why cannot relate task with milestones, and how to filter users in each client to cannot see other users in other clients or even in the company…if anybody can help i wolud apreciate it
R
avatar Ilija Studen 2007-07-27 1:20 #19
@Ricardo

You are not using activeCollab 1.0, but 0.7.1…

In activeCollab 0.7.1 tasks cannot be directly related to milestones, but task lists can. User can see members of companies they were involved with in some project. This is checked on company level and you cannot hide specific users from one another.

Comments are locked

If you have something important to say about the issues discussed in this post please write at hi@a51dev.com.

News and AnnouncementsSubscribe

Developer BlogSubscribe

Company Blog Subscribe

activeCollab Blog ArchiveSubscribe