J. Cornelius

A few guys I work with and I have been mulling over the idea of creating a new organization for software authors for a while now. The existing predominant group is hopelessly submerged in internal politics and bickering, and is providing little if any value to it's members. One of the many issues with the that organization was the lack of a decent website. We knew if we started a new group, we needed a good Website, and we needed it fast.

Once the decision was made to create the Organization of Independent Software Vendors we had to create a Website. We are all busy people with very little time to spend on outside projects, much less those that pop into the schedule unexpectedly. So we all buckled down, ordered pizza, and went into overdrive. As it turns out, we were able to take the new Website (and organization) from concept to public launch in just 10 days. An astounding feat? Perhaps. Here's how it was possible.

We Planned the Result, Not the Process

Most project managers will tell you that most of the time of a successful is spent planning. I say if that's true you're not getting much real work done. Although Jason doesn't know it I've been working from the "getting real" mindset for years. Luckily, so has everyone else I work with. By focusing on what the organization and Website would and would not provide, we were able to create a clear list of expectations. We didn't add every feature under the sun. Software authors didn't need all that. They needed insight from people that have been successful in the business, and a place to interact with others in their field without wading through the politics and poor design of that other org; and they needed it in a way that didn't live in the 80's.

A Cooperative: collaboration is encouraged

We felt the key to the success of this new entity was free and open collaboration from all members. We knew it would be critical to provide a Website that not only encouraged participation, but didn't get in the way of it. So we trashed anything that would over-complicate using the site or joining the organization. No cluttered interfaces, no draconian membership requirements, no membership dues, no unnecessary editorial processes, no political hierarchy, no committees, no board members, no BS.

The Features

With all that in mind, we sat down in my office and came up with what we would offer.

1. Articles from members and a way for other members to comment on them.
2. Forums so members can converse with each other about whatever may interest them
3. News pulled from relevant sources to display in the sidebar of the other two sections

Two core content sections divided into categories that made sense for the audience. Marketing, development, distribution, business operations, web design & seo, e-commerce, and customer service. If it didn't fit into one of those categories, it probably didn't matter to our audience. The news is from a collection of RSS feeds and is a way to provide links to more relevant info the membership might not get otherwise, without being distracting.

Get to work

Now that we had our goals in mind we went to work. It was 3pm on Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend. Within the next 2 hours, I found a domain name we liked, created a new logo, and got a new server online to host the Website. While I was doing that Nick and Scott started calling potential sponsors to see who wanted to be involved from the start. Before we knew it the office was empty and it was getting dark. We called it a day and vowed to really get started in the morning.

A New Framework

Jeff and I have been tossing the idea of making a Ruby-esque MVC framework for PHP over the last few weeks but needed a clean slate project to really make it go; so I said "Now's the time". Over the first three days we did nothing but setup the basics: server, framework, database. If you're a programmer in any capacity you would appreciate the elegance of the code, and the framework it weaves.

Form follows function

We hammered away at the functionality of the site. First tackling the Articles section and all it's components. Since the general database structure and interaction mechanisms for Articles with comments and threaded Forums are very similar, we knew that once we had the Articles section done it would serve as the core for the forums. And we were right. Essentially all we needed to do when it came time to write the Forums controllers was add a few features for sorting, marking favorites, and email notifications and the functionality was done. Jeff handled the backend, I tackled the front side and we cranked out both sections of the Website from scratch in just 4 days.

...with any software project you are never 100% done so you may as well launch it at 80%...

Once everything was up and running to our satisfaction we started working on the visual portion of the Website. We already had the logo and branding done so building from that was easy. Using some handy tools like sIFR and Prototype we were able to create a nice look and feel in just a few hours. We used some AJAX magic for a lot of the interaction to make it easier for people to use and give a nice progressive feel to the site. Over the next 2 days or so we tweaked the styles, checked all the popular browsers for compatibility issues and polished the chrome a bit.

Push it Live in Beta

As with any software project you are never 100% done so you may as well launch it at 80%. We knew the members would request features and enhancements we already had planned, but when we hear requests from users we know how to get it just right. This is a far better approach than spending time making features 'almost right' or just plain wrong, then having to spend more time making them the right way.

By launching with everything functional, then listening to the people using the site we were able to focus on what the members wanted most and give it to them quickly. This is a vital lesson not just for developers, but also for leaders of any organization... You are not always right, and you can't think of everything. Listen to your people!

Infinity and Beyond

So now that the site is completely live, we've been adding various little features and tweaking things a bit. The members are very happy with the organization, and the Website. It's years beyond what was available for them before and we're just getting started. :)