Slack: What Great Execution Looks Like

For those of you who know me, I’m a huge fan and user of Slack; both the company and the product. Here are some things that Slack has done and continues to do right:

  1. Social Media: They know how to use social media to connect with their users. They respond to every tweet and do their best to help you. If they can’t help you they connect you with somebody within Slack that can help.
  2. Integrations: Out of the box they offer an extensive list of products and services that they integrate with. This is a HUGE one as I use many of these integrations when I setup my new Slack groups. Oh, and did I mention that they work and they work as you would expect to work.
  3. API: The Slack API is very well thought out and documented. I have developed several bots, some simple and some quite complex using their API. There isn’t much you can’t do.
  4. Just enough features: Slack doesn’t try to be all things to all users. I’m hoping that Slack continues to carefully craft the user experience in the same way that they already have.
  5. Mobile, Web and Desktop: Right out of the gate they offered first class desktop, the web and mobile clients. All that worked very well.
  6. App Store/App Directory: Need I say more.

It’s these six things that make Slack a company and product to admire. There are so many companies trying to take on Slack and there are some other products that do what Slack does. Bottom line is that they are not Slack the company and Slack the product.

I expect in the forthcoming weeks, to see other companies announcing products to challenge Slack’s dominance and I’m looking forward to seeing how those new products align with the six things I outlined above, if at all.

Now Open For Business

A few months ago I re-opened my professional consultancy and here’s what I have to offer companies and executives:

  • Provide an honest assessment of your information technology operation
  • Offer executives a “plain English” explanation of technology
  • Personalized executive technology coaching and training
  • Help you answer the question “IT tells me everything is perfect but is it really?”
  • Offer you the cold hard facts about social media
  • Provide opinions and constructive feedback for new software and hardware initiatives
  • Help you learn more about the “cloud”, its benefits and how it can be implemented
  • Assist you in determining if your company’s data is secure
  • Provide you a motivated and expert speaker for company events and conferences

Here’s a partial list of the companies I have and continue to work with:

  • US Department of Agriculture
  • Washington State Department of Utilities and Transportation
  • Social Security Administration
  • Vulture Street Innovation
  • Systems Advisory Services
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • IBM
  • TNT Shipping Services
  • Pricewaterhouse Coopers
  • HSBC
  • Agfa
  • Honda Research
  • EPIC Aviation

Let’s talk.

Liberate Your IBM Notes and Domino Data!

Just in case you missed the LDC Via webinar earlier this week on how to liberate your IBM Lotus Notes and Domino data, you can watch it right here, right now.

Without completing a migration successfully, you can be left with an expensive-to-own infrastructure that delivers limited value, where the necessary skills to maintain and enhance it are increasingly hard to come by.

LDC Via completes the migration picture by providing an ideal new home for data and applications previously on Domino.

The time is now to really consider the future of your Notes and Domino data and applicaitons.

You Won’t Want to Miss this, Seriously

On Tuesday, January 12th, 2016, LDV Via will be hosting a webinar entitled “Introducing LDC Via”. I highly encourage that each and every IBM Notes/Domino customer attend this webinar.

In this webinar you will learn what LDC Via is, and why it’s a great fit for Notes / Domino customers and technologists. Then we will delve deeper into how to work with LDC Via to build collaborative applications.

Seriously folks, take an hour out of your busy day to see how LDC Via can liberate your IBM Notes and Domino data.

Register Now >

Year 4

Today marks the beginning of my fourth year as a college instructor at Clark College. I’m amazed at how quickly the time flies by. Here are a few things that I have learned about teaching at a community college that I thought I would share with you:

  • Seeing students graduate from your program and getting jobs is awesome.
  • Office hours are a thing of the past. Virtual office hours are seven days a week.
  • 10-30% of your students truly want to learn and the others simply go through the “motions” of school.
  • Teach to the “middle” of the class.
  • Teaching people who range in age from 13 to 75 is extremely rewarding and challenging; especially when they are all in the same class.
  • Excuses are a constant.
  • Classroom management is not as easy as people think it is.
  • Developing the right mix of assignments, testing, labs and other assessments takes time to develop and constantly needs tweeking.
  • I love what I am doing.
  • I’m always learning new things.

I highly encourage anyone who is thinking about teaching at a college or university to do it. Your first couple of semesters will be rough but, once you realize the impact you make on students lives,  you will embrace and love doing it.

I’m always available if you want to talk about becoming a college instructor or want to learn more about the web development program at Clark College.

I’m Very Proud

Recent Clark College Web Development graduate Troy Uyan was part of a five person team that designed and developed the new Clark County website.

clark.wa.gov.png

Troy graduated with a degree in web development and was a student in my HTML Fundamentals, Intro to Programming, JavaScript, PHP/SQL 1 and PHP/SQL 2 classes. Troy initially served as an intern at the county and then was offered a full-time position. Troy was in the web deveopment program for two years.

Troy’s role in the project was that of front end developer and co-designer of the site. Troy also produced all of the training videos and other resources.

I’m super proud of Troy and what he has accomplished.

You can check out the new Clark County site here.

Startup Weekend Vancouver, WA

Startup Weekends are open to all!

They are 54-hour events designed to provide superior experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs.

Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, Startup Weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations. Participants create working startups during the event and are able to collaborate with like-minded individuals outside of their daily networks.

All teams hear talks by industry leaders and receive valuable feedback from local entrepreneurials. The weekend is centered around action, innovation, and education. Whether you are looking for feedback on a idea, a co-founder, specific skill sets, or a team to help you execute, Startup Weekends are the perfect environment in which to test your idea and take the first steps towards launching your own startup.

When:  January 29 – January 31
Where: Clark College – Vancouver, Washington

Learn more about Startup Weekend >